Another phase of my internship (a.k.a. capsule sorting) is over. I don't really adore capsule sorting that much (but someone has to do it), but at least they were colored. I finished almost all by myself within 4 days - and taking my own sweet time on top of that. I don't feel like leaving the lab I was working with, because it's full of fun young people! (Yes, they call themselves 'aunties' and 'uncles' but actually they are all less than 10 years older than me). The lab I was in is actually a combination of two different labs from different plant sites. Since I was working with packaging, I got to visit an actual packaging lab too, and the chemists there (who were also very nice).
Today when a colleague asked if I would be coming back again tomorrow, I was so sad I had to say no. (Would have to freeze in front of my computer seat instead, as my work in that plant site was over.) That colleague has been through this capsule-sorting process with me, and all through those 4 days I was around, I had talked to her a lot about a multitude of things (basically about life-after-school). I'm going to miss her company a lot. It was very kind of her to bring me around when she was visiting her colleagues in the other plant site for tea break and such, because she knew I was bored.
I guess it's only after these four days working in the Biotech facility that I realized how much I crave company in my workplace. Take my desk for example. It is right beside the door, isolated from all the other seats (but at least I get to say hi to the people walking through the door, and I'm always the first-pass for 'who's seat is where' when unfamiliar people come looking for other colleagues). The only seat near me (behind me) is empty. =.= I only get to talk a little bit through Instant Messaging or when other interns come up to deliver stuff or look for the secretary.
Location apart, I guess I am to blame also for not being naturally chatty and friendly, and taking the initiative to talk to people (it gets rather tiring making forced conversations after a while). I think the main problem is the age-gap, and that most people already formed their social circles too. The thing is, while I can talk well with people one-to-one, in a group I tend to be more quiet, mainly because I feel that it is not nice to interrupt when more senior colleagues are conversing. I guess I need to make a small change to this somehow. It helps to be able to communicate naturally (instead of making small, polite exchanges only), to people not from my generation.
Anyway. I shall miss the free tea during teabreaks, the rather frequent breaks, and the conversation and lightheartedness of the lab. :( What's more the air-con isn't so icy-cold too. But on the bright side, I was really glad to know these people before I ended my internship. It somehow, made the experience more complete, if you know what I mean. :)
