An Intern’s Perspective: How Life Changed in the Time of COVID-19
How has life changed for you in the last month? A PATA Intern reflects on the changes at work, and in her own life, during the onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic.
This article is guest authored by Yujin Son, a PATA intern for Marketing sponsored by the Korea Tourism Organisation. PATA supports youth empowerment for the sustainable future of tourism through the PATA Internship Programme and other youth initiatives.
Due to coronavirus, many things have changed in our lives. When we look around out there, we hardly see the gathering of people or tourist groups. People are trying to keep social distance from each other. Not only has our daily life changed, but our working environment has changed in many ways.
I’m currently working remotely from my home in Busan, Korea as a PATA intern for Marketing. At the beginning of January, I was working in Bangkok, Thailand.
Back then, everything was normal. I worked in the PATA office. My role was to help the official PATA website to be updated and to upload the blog posts on the website. With COVID-19 infection rates increasing rapidly around the world, most people had to wear masks and follow the sanitary rules to protect themselves. I was aware coronavirus seriously started to spread all over the world in the last month. Many international flights have been canceled and new policies about COVID-19 were updated everyday all over the world. I didn’t make any plan to go outside and stop traveling in Bangkok on weekends. In the meantime, there were some changes in both my work and life plan.
One of the biggest changes in PATA was that the PATA Annual Summit 2020 had been postponed. In addition, we started to work from home in the middle of March. I was supposed to extend my internship working in Bangkok, Thailand until June, but I changed my plan to work in my country, Korea instead. I had no choice but to move to my country because my family was worrying about me living alone, and I was not sure I could get health treatment as a foreigner if I were infected by the coronavirus. This change of plan was distressing news to those who especially loved to work in Thailand like me.
I had to check the temperature before boarding on the plane. Only people who are under 37.5 degree had been allowed to depart to another country. I filled out the paper ‘Health Declaration Form’ and ‘Travel Record Declaration’ to be submitted on the airplane. In Korea, Every person who comes from another country is recommended to quarantine for 2 weeks and report their self-diagnosis through application. I also did self-quarantine and didn’t go outside although it was not mandatory back then. Now, policy has been changed that every person entering Korea has to do self-quarantine.
After returning home, I got a call from the city hall to check my health for 2 weeks. What I had to do is to report my health through both an application and a phone call. The Republic of Korea (ROK) was well aware of the treatment of COVID-19. Luckily, I didn’t have any symptoms of the virus. I actually felt like this virus situation is under control in my country, especially in my hometown. There is no confirmed case until now. I would say my hometown is COVID-19 clean zone. However, I think we still have to take precaution until COVID-19 has completely disappeared even though we are doing good.
I have been through these experiences caused by the COVID-19. Although there are many unexpected changes in my life, I thought we can use this time more effectively. Crisis can be changed to opportunity. In my personal life, I have spent a lot of my time with my family thanks to COVID-19. With the excuse that I was too busy, I didn’t spend much time with family for a few years. During this time, I felt comfortable and well-connected by sharing time with family. I think people sometimes forget what is really important in our life. I understand our work and money is really important in life but ultimate happiness is a relationship structured with strong bonds. Additionally, I can save lots of time and money for traveling to the office by working from home. I decided to use this time to learn new skills and prepare for the future after this internship.
In the scope of safe guidelines, we can change our perspective of this negative and annoying situation caused by the virus. It could happen in the future anytime. We cannot anticipate. I chose to be a prepared person mentally and physically. I have seen that many people are suffering mentally and physically due to prolonged coronavirus. We don’t even know when this will end. However, I believe if we try to look on the bright side of everything when we are in bad situations, something is going to change and good things will happen. I believe that It will probably get back to where we were before. Before that time, being prepared and spending time more effectively for the future will be helpful so that we can manifest a positive change in the world.
About the PATA Internship Programme
PATA offers on-the-job training opportunities for graduate and post-graduate students worldwide to enhance their academic experience through the PATA Intern Associate Programme. The standard duration of internship is three months on a full-time basis, and inclusive of all nationalities and academic backgrounds. Interns are incorporated in PATA’s day-to-day work as team members under the supervision of the department heads, performing operational, supporting and administrative roles.
