The last of something you quite enjoy is always extremely bittersweet. The time I had in the Czech Republic was beautiful, rejuvenating, and worthwhile in so many ways, but the end was always set in time. As time closed in on my last days, I had a strong want to remain where I was, despite the fact that I had so much waiting for me back in the U.S. With the possibility of my final year of university coming up, I also did not want to return to that possible ending. I suppose when you’ve been in school for almost 20 years, the thought of what comes after is quite terrifying. Still, my last week was full of excitement and work, like the rest of my time in Prague.
Monday and Tuesday led to the end of my weekly conversation classes and the introduction of a small project for my final week at NTK. I truly hope each person I got to meet with in those meetings feels like they got something out of it, I know that I did sitting and just chatting with them, even if it was only an hour a week.The laughter and camaraderie of a freeform discussion can have such positive effects.
Tuesday led to our final mini training, which meant a presentation about my path to 
NTK and the internship that I held this summer. It was also the first of many times I was almost brought to tears by my colleagues in my final days. In our usual warm up for the course, the entire group went around saying something they learned or liked about me. Talk about emotional, and then I had to present, which is not something I’m ever comfortable doing. I discussed my path to the University of Michigan and the internship at NTK and then about the library system in Michigan that I work in, which were many of the themes we have had in these trainings as we all try to learn from the experiences of our international colleagues.
I spent most of Wednesday and Thursday on the small project I had been tasked with at the beginning of the week, getting my things in order, and making sure the projects I was leaving were where they needed to be and all information was with someone else. The small project was to set up a better resource for our consultation staff to use when recommending reference resources to our patrons. I created the skeleton and examples for the project and then met with fellow interns on Friday to pass it off for continuation.
Friday was my final day at NTK, which meant I got a late start and ran most of the day leading up to my farewell party. Still, my last day was full of drinks, fun, and laughter. I was gifted a lovely notebook from my colleagues with pictures and sentiments from my time in Europe this summer. I then provided my own gift, hopefully starting a type of “Intern Survival Kit” for the interns that remain and those that come after me. I thought of this as a way to connect more and make each subsequent interns’ lives a little easier. By providing a small token from your time at NTK that would have made some aspect of your stay easier, we build a way to make the next intern’s experience better, or, at least, that is my hope. I gifted a sušak, or a dryer, which would have made organizing my laundry days much easier on me. I also provided a small notebook so we could share these stories with those who come after us. It is my hope to return to Prague one day, and, hopefully, new stories and items will await me from across the world of the interns that have been capable of working at NTK.
