Japan: Chloe Kirk
Program: Osaka Gas Bio & Chemicals Research Intern, Spring
To explore international internship options available to UW-Madison undergraduate students, visit the interning abroad webpage or meet with an Intern Abroad advisor.
Chloe’s Major: Legal Studies, Molecular & Cell Biology
Describe your internship, research, or fieldwork and how the experience helped advance your career or studies.
I spent 5 months as a bio & chemicals team research intern at Osaka Gas where I learned how to do independent research. The experience made me realize how much I loved research and should continue pursuing research in graduate school. It was one of the topics I was most asked about interviews and I still refer back to the experience regularly.
What is a custom, food or tradition from your host country that you are taking forward?
Loving ramen and sushi!
I learned how much I loved independent research, how I should pursue graduate school to be able to do more of this, and it opened my eyes to better work communication practices (writing emails clearly and more concisely, reporting to supervisors and working with lab colleagues).
What challenges or barriers did you face as you prepared to go abroad and/or during your time abroad? How did you work through them?
The biggest challenge I faced was not being well versed in how to adapt to a new culture. I had never visited Asia before, didn’t know Japanese, and was quite a picky eater so didn’t like most Japanese food. However by throwing myself into this experience, I picked up some basics for communicating in Japanese (hello, goodbye, thank you) and made friends with girls in my dormitory and work colleagues who helped me learn the culture and appreciate the amazing food!