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Internship, Life, Love; The Enamoring Story of Helena
Love can find a way through any kind of situation, including a sweet internship moment. Just ask Helena who found friends, family and her significant others whilst her internship this year in Bali."I learned to be more open, say more yes than no which I think was the most meaningful thing that led me here. I came to Bali to eat and pray, love was never on my list. But I left Bali heart full of love" Helena.
Leaving the comfort of home for something bigger
Leaving the comfort of her hometown in Finland, Europe, Helena's wish to gain global work experience brought her to the island of Bali in April 2022. "I started my internship on 18th of April." Helena recalls. "My first internship day, Bali Internships' program coordinator, Rima, welcomed me warmly at my homestay and we went through the program papers and all the things that I needed to know about my internship". Soon after the welcome checklist with Rima, we went to my future-office, to the restaurant, and I was introduced to my future boss and mentor, Miss Lia, to discuss further about my task as a social media intern.
"At first all the tasks sounded to be so much for one person to do in one day" said Helena. "I remember thinking,'' How will I manage?”. Then we checked that I can get into all platforms needed, Instagram, Facebook, Tiktok, Google, Canva and Tripadvisor." Eventually, Helena gets the grip of her role and starts to do the task daily without any difficulty. She quickly adapts and gets the idea about what kind of style the restaurant is looking for on their social media and what works best. Eventually, the workload becomes lighter and there are days that she has more free time to socialize and learn about her local friends.
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Just by the second to third week of internship at the Restaurant, Helena already caught the working rhythm and knew the precise time to do different kinds of tasks. She can handle her position well even when her boss and mentor, Lia, were busy with the opening of a new restaurant in Seminyak. Helena also shares several areas that the internships had to specifically focus in the role of Social Media Manager. "You must know how to manage your time, being creative, meticulously observing what others are doing and, most importantly; to remember to have your own free time." The latter is absolutely true, since as an Internship in Bali, you will be encouraged to do other fun things as well. :)
My internship experience and Bali adventure
A large part of the working day was taken up by meetings with clients, which were regularly very time-consuming. Most of the meetings were consultations, such as on founding a company or buying a plot of land in Bali, but there were also signings of contracts, which were also attended by a notary. The meetings were mostly held in English, but in some exceptional cases also in Indonesian or French.
I also took on the correspondence with and the acceptance of new clients. This includes written contact by e-mail or telephone and recording the data of new clients (in English). Finally, I still performed general office tasks, such as creating new files, filing files, maintaining the calendar and deadlines, or preparing the conference room for meetings. My tasks here included preparing the meeting room (providing drinks, snacks and writing materials), writing and completing the minutes during the meeting and finally sending them to all those involved. My tasks also included translating emails and personal meetings for German clients.
"I had so many good weekends that it is hard to choose," said Helena about her weekend in-between the internship period. "But one was when I had two days off and went to one yoga place in Ubud. The place is called Yoga Barn and is all about yoga, healing and healthy food. I went there alone and wanted to do nothing else than yoga and relax. The energy in that place was something else and I had one of the best and relaxing yoga sessions there."
Reflection on my internship in Bali: new career, new family and love
After finishing her internship, Helena makes the best of the rest of her time in Bali by going on a bike trip with her native Finland friend, Karoliina, whom she met on the island. "We took Karoliina's bike and drove from Canggu to Jatiluwih, Lovina, Kintamani and Sidemen," said Helena. "We basically saw the whole Bali with different kinds of sceneries, weathers and environments. We saw of course rice fields, went to see dolphins, waterfalls, mountains and the jungle."
After the Sidemen trip, Karoliina went back to Canggu but Helena decided that she still needed to explore the rugged beauty beyond Bali and continued her trip solo to Gili Air island. "Gili Air was on my list as a number one place to go as I had been there once before some years ago. I stayed there for 5 days and could have stayed even longer. The most amazing thing was to see turtles and to meet all the nice people on the island. I know I want to go back as the island is my paradise"
In the end, Helena admits wholeheartedly that she loved every moment of her Bali Internships experience and will definitely come back to the island in near future. 'Enamored' is the right word to describe her experience, since Helena also found her love here--that she longs to meet again along with other local friends who she considered as 'big family' in Bali. "At the moment I am waiting for my Working Visa to be approved. Hopefully coming back to Bali by the end of October. Looking forward to working again with Miss Lia and the team at the Restaurant I was interning for and seeing all my dear friends there" she concluded.
See you again very soon, Helena!
By Billy Bagus
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