Hi, my name is Emily Doyle and I am a Behavioral Neuroscience Major and Spanish Minor. I am interning for a company in Merida called Green Shine.
I was remote for the first week when I was in quarantine for COVID-19. Now, I come to the store around 9 AM and work in person until lunch time, which is anytime between 1 PM and 2 PM. While in the store, I help with customers, and I make graphics when there are no customers there. I take a collection of photos throughout the morning to use for later graphics.
After I go home for lunch, I work for at least an hour or so on graphics and videos. I help in the store when customers come, but my main responsibility is making graphics and videos on Canva to make Green Shine more present in social media. This will hopefully increase customers and sales, as their goal is to increase monthly sales by 50% by the end of 2022.
The most helpful thing I have learned is practicing my speaking and listening skills with other employees as well as customers. Being able to learn a new array of vocabulary in Spanish has made me feel more confident when having conversations with the people here. I also think these conversations and making graphics has allowed me to think differently and in writing short phrases for advertising.
One experience I would like to share with others is when I had a one-on-one conversation with a customer at Green Shine. I interviewed her about what her favorite product was at the store. She was so nice, and she was interested in what I was doing there and how my experience was in Mérida has been so far. She made me feel welcomed and wanted me to share with her about my internship.
After reflecting on my internship, I think I have become a more well-rounded individual by working in a company that I was not interested in before. I study neuroscience at Centre, which is very different from working for a sustainability company making graphics and working with customers. By being flexible, I was able to find things in this internship that are applicable to my future career, such as practicing my Spanish and researching health benefits of using cleaner and biodegradable products.
I would recommend this internship experience for future students, but I would say to keep in mind things may occur differently than you expect, like getting COVID in the first few days. Being sick in Mexico definitely altered my experience, but I think there were some lessons learned from it that has made me a better person now than when I first arrived here.
Being open to changes and being flexible with an internship is something that future students should know because internships are opportunities to work with locals and help their companies, but things are constantly evolving and changing.
To a student coming to Merida for the first time I would say be open and be patient. The way of life here is very different and much slower than what I was used to in the United States. It is not a bad thing, but it is something you have to adjust to. I would also say be opened to going to new places and trying new foods because you will surprise yourself in the experiences you least expected.
Overall, my favorite part about living in Merida has been the weather. I love the weather here and being able to walk to almost anything I need from my homestay. If I cannot walk there, it is a short and inexpensive Uber ride to further places, like the Centro and places in the north. I also loved living in a homestay and being able to fully immerse in the living and culture of a Yucatan family. My mama, Doña Lety, made me feel welcomed and found ways to make me feel comfortable and at home.