In the 2012 fall semester, I went to Singapore to study as an exchange student. The courses I took in Singapore included marketing 101. The marketing class was literally an eye-opener for me. What I liked most about marketing was that we can apply our own ideas and try something new and different. In the marketing class, all the students were encouraged to bring up their ideas freely and see the things in a different perspective. I became so passionate about marketing.

After finishing the exchange program, I earnestly looked for marketing-related internships to maintain and strengthen my enthusiasm for marketing. Fortunately, I started my work as an intern for a cosmetics company. What was the reason I chose a cosmetics company? Actually it didn’t matter to me at that time but it turned out that it really would later. I was so naïve to think that I had finally found a type of work I would like to do after graduation. It didn’t take long before my passion faded away little by little. Marketing still seemed interesting, but what didn’t interest me was the industry: cosmetics. I am not saying the cosmetics industry is boring, but I wasn’t interested in cosmetics products and all the products looked similar to me, it was really difficult to get motivated and immerse myself in my job. The lesson learned through this experience?

The industry we work in is as important as the type of work.

From a utilitarian point of view, my internship could have been a waste of time because I didn’t like working in the cosmetics industry. However, from a slightly different perspective, it was the internship which made me realize that marketing was still intriguing but my personal interest did not match the industry. I would not have been able to know the cosmetics industry was not my cup of tea until I tried it.
 
Before we actually do something, we can hardly get the hang of it, so often, we have too many thoughts to challenge new things. We worry a lot. Out of anxiety, we ask other people too much for their advice which cannot be satisfactory because they haven’t experienced what we would like to experience. Therefore, I want to tell you: “let’s try and do something”. It can be voluntary work, student club activities or part-time jobs. If you are successful in finding the meaning in your work, that’s great, but even if you aren’t, it is okay because at least we can figure out which one suits and