SSCC Intern Eileen's Lessons on How to Intern While Isolating

Millions of people around the world have been adjusting to new routines and the idea of a ‘new normal’ of temporary self-isolation. As a university student spending a semester abroad, I have certainly felt a lot of changes in my life over the last month! Unfortunately, my programme was cancelled in mid-March, as my university brought all students who had been abroad back to America and moved on-campus classes online for the remainder of the term.

Of course, this was a necessary measure given the circumstances, but like so many other students, it has resulted in my needing to adapt to both learning and working from home, as I finish both my classes and my internship 3,000 miles away from London.

As everyone is doing their best to figure out how to make their new arrangements work, I thought I would share some of what I’ve learned over the last month of interning while isolating, and hopefully it will be helpful to others who now find themselves working at home!

1. Separate work from relaxation.

Keeping my ‘working space’ separate from my ‘relaxation space’ is definitely something that’s taken me time to figure out. One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned over the last month is how important it is to create separation in your physical space. I know for me, it was all too tempting to watch a lecture or write work emails while sitting in bed, but I soon learned that that simply was not going to work. Having a dedicated room, or at least a table or desk, that becomes your space for work will make it much easier to be productive during work time and to relax during free time.

2. Try to make it similar to your normal work schedule.

When we’re all staying at home all day, every day, it’s easy to lose track of what day and time it is. This is a strange experience, and it definitely is not helpful in keeping productivity. Once I figured out a structured routine for myself, however, I was able to regain more of a sense of normalcy. During the week, I make sure to set an alarm and wake up at roughly the same time every day. I know which hours of which days I dedicate to each of my classes, and which I spend working with Smart School Councils.

Another important aspect of this for me has been to separate the week from the weekend. Of course, as a student, there is always some coursework to be done on the weekends, so I can’t take the whole time off! But making more time on the weekends to hang out with my family and virtually see my friends has made it easier to keep the week and weekend separate, keeping another aspect of normalcy.

3. Stay connected.

The strangest part of being away from the workplace is the sudden decrease in interaction everyone has with other people. When staying at home, you get to spend a lot of time with the people who are at home with you, but not really anyone else. It’s easy to feel disconnected while working from home, which makes it incredibly important to continue to communicate online. At Smart School Councils, frequent video calls and text conversations throughout the day let us stay connected and make it easy to work together even when we’re no longer in the same physical office. We’re lucky to be in a time where technology makes it incredibly easy to stay connected, so take advantage of it!

Self-isolation can certainly feel frustrating at times, but I hope that the lessons I’ve learned from the last month of interning remotely can help other people make the best of the current situation. Best of luck to all those who also find themselves working and learning at home!