30 Days

With only 30 days left in Kenya, I find myself reflecting on my time here. Was it worth it?

Pros

• Learning a lot about the East African markets and about the company I work for
• Having an excellent supervisor 
• Meeting absolutely wonderful friends, who often helped me forget my homesickness
• Having wonderful room-mates and cozy movie nights 
• Getting to travel to Zanzibar and Rwanda, and making two short weekend trips outside Nairobi
• Finally getting my projects at work up and running

Cons

• Missing home a lot (especially when loved ones have not been well)
• Sitting alone at the office a lot when my boss has been travelling
• The culture shock I experienced, even though I thought I wouldn't 
• Bad weather: the rains have been heavier than in years and we've been experiencing same temperatures as Helsinki
• Worrying about finances and not having a budget to do everything I would have wanted to do (weekend trips to the coast, the more expensive activities in Nairobi and a vacation in Uganda had to be crossed off from the list)
• Worrying about the future and if this internship will really open the doors I was hoping it would
• Getting my projects up and running too late, with no time left to see them through

Looking at this Pros/Cons-list one would be tempted to draw the conclusion that it's not been worth it. However...

Before coming here I had two goals for this internship: do a great job and get someone from the inside to recommend me for other similar jobs in the future. After 5 months of all those cons listed, I am relieved (and somewhat proud) that I can say that I've reached both goals. My supervisors have been very happy with my work and are going to be my references in the future. This makes it worth it all.

So what's next? In 30 days I will return home to my L and my family. I get to see my grandfather and all the five precious babies my friends have had during my time here. I can't wait.

It remains to be seen if this internship turns into concrete professional opportunities, but at the moment I'm inclined to feel optimistic. I have a couple of leads for jobs in Helsinki, but if none of them work out, I'll just focus on finishing my Master's degree.

That's not a bad plan either.