Stories
An Intern’s Notes: Part 5
I am exactly halfway through my internship today. I do not want to think about the fact that from now on I will have more time behind me than I have to look forward to. This is a good in-between stage in my internship to reflect on what I have learned and to look forward to what I hope to learn; I have learned a lot and there is still so much to learn.
I have had so many different experiences during the past five weeks that when I reflect on what I have learned, I don’t even know where to begin. There are so many aspects of homelessness. Before working here, I just thought about housing, job training, and psychological care. I now know that there is so much more than that. There are rules, laws, restrictions, and policies that must be adhered to.
One thing I was not expecting was how many different organizations exist that are centered around homelessness. For some reason I thought that there would be a more unified force fighting against homelessness. All of the different organizations are good at what they do, but there are just so many of them. If I were homeless, I wouldn’t even know where to begin.
I also learned some of what goes into organizing an event, but I will include that in my list of things I look forward to learning. The reason for that is that none of my events have actually happened yet. I have leads, but I have not nailed down a community walk yet. There is a No Wrong Doors training that is coming up in two weeks, and all is going well with that so far. I look forward to seeing the results of all the planning going into these events! I am also looking forward to seeing where my outreach takes me. I have been to so many organizations for meetings, I can’t imagine how many more doors will be opened.
I do not want my internship to be over, and the fact that it is halfway over is disheartening, but I still have so much to look forward to. I cannot wait for the next five weeks, and at the same time, I don’t want them to come because they will be over as quickly as the last five weeks have flown by.
