EXPERIENCED BY PALALOID SUKSANONG

MORE THAN THE INTERNSHIP IS A LIFE EXPERIENCE

“People say when we start working, we grow up to another level” and I strongly agree with that. As an intern, I have seen a lot of changes in myself. Before an internship, I was so shy and kinda a quiet girl. I have been searching for a foreigner company with a nice environment where I can improve myself along with learning on the job that suits my plan as much as possible. Luckily one of my friends, his name is Jean ( A cool surfing guy from France ) who used to do the internship at TBF, recommended me to apply to this company along with I have a high interest in outdoor sports like surfing

Me and my friend had been preparing the document to prove to the university team but it seems like they are not really happy with the idea that we want to do the internship out of Bangkok during Pandemic. Finally we did it! Thank you TBF team and Tim for helping us during this hard time like The flight was canceled by the airline so we decided to go there by the train and Mr.Dylan, our manager came to pick us up without wearing shoes.>< I was so surprised by that :D Wow Super chilled! I could feel the beach vibes now! After that we have a small conversation and go to buy all the provisions together for our quarantine. During the quarantine it was a bit boring. But we tried to find some things to do like cooking, exercise and trying to understand the project that we got and start planning the work flow. Suddenly there is one staff member who walks past our house with a drink in her hand. Sira! Our big sister came to say hi to us with those drinks! So nice!!

Finally time to be free! We went to check the factory and say hi to people over there and check the area a bit. The sun here is super strong! A normal sunscreen 50 PA+++ could not protect me from getting burned! It’s so neccesary to have one good sunscreen in your bag! The beach here is super nice, just like the people here. They alway give us a hand when we need some help with a smile on their face!

Back to the factory. I have been talking with Martin, our big boss about the project. So we mainly focus on designing and marketing with the skateboard that we want to sell. He tried to give us a lot of knowledge and strategy. So I learnt from him and Dylan then adapted with our work. It was quite stressful and hard to understand for the first few weeks as we needed to understand the product which is quite new to me. Everyone had a differant accents and I need to pay attention a lot to understand what is the point in this work. Especially communication is really important in work. If I don't talk or if I don’t speak they wouldn’t understand my purpose that I want to adapt in the same direction with them. So this forces me to get out of my comfort zone by sharing my thoughts with less fear. And I was really happy that they always wanted to have a conversation with me and allow me to practice more english.

My work was quite a big project that needed to be done in 3 months so we have to be more careful on how we are going to do the internship along with the university project and balance all the things around me like more socialization,management,and learning new things. Which is quite crazy for me but I love it!

Moreover, Since I have been doing the internship in TBF for a while. I want to take it seriously on how to skate as I really like it and I’m interested in how to be a surfer after I saw my colleague jump into the water everyday. And the only thing that I can do is look at them everyday. So Nok Konsek taught me to skate, Tim and Ansgar taught me to surf. I know that I’m afraid of things underneath water. But I’m down for it.

My internship is going well. My friends at the factory are so nice. They took me out for a small vacation at phuket with the boat trip and sometimes we had parties together, enjoy dinner together. This shows me about their work life balance. When they work they pay attention a lot and when they know that it’s time to have fun just enjoy it and live their life in the moment.

Meanwhile I live my life on my craziness and fun. I was so furious. I rode the scooter pretty quick and slipped on the sand on the road on the way to Gecko bar. Luckily I didn't get anything bad so just some scratches on my body. I was a bit fine in a few minutes and still able to bring myself to the hospital. After that I continued to go to gecko bar and back with my friends. I took a day off to heal myself for 1 week and it was quite painful and I couldn't walk that much. P’Mod and Sira come to visit me to help me clean the wound and she is super nice! And after that for a few days she took me out to see the world with a nice dinner.

The farewell party was on christmas. Everyone gotta wear a fancy outfit and they all look so amazing. You may be wondering what I’m gonna wear to the farewell party with my wound on me…Oh yeah i turned myself to mummy >< it was a bit funny but nothing is better than this now hahaha.

Time to say goodbye. I hugged everyone that I could. It was a bit sad when you were going to leave the place where you felt comfortable. I packed my bag and the car came to pick me up at 3am as my flight to Bangkok was in the early morning.