It's strange to think that this time last week I was gearing up for my last day at LIberty Mutual, already it seems like a lifetime ago. Thankfully Hurricane Earl decided to behave itself and we got home safe and sound on Sunday morning. 

Since then I've been spending my time resetting the body clock (a 14 hour sleep on Sunday night almost doing the trick), catching up with friends and family and adjusting to life back in Glasgow. The repatriation has entailed eating copious amounts of haggis, properly playing football for the first time in too long and a trip to Hampden to watch our momentous win against the mighty Liechtenstein! There's nothing like booming out Flower of Scotland pre-match, or jumping about like a lunatic and hugging the random strangers around you in celebration of a 97th minute winner, though everything in between is better off forgotten!

The free time has also allowed for a period of reflection on the last two months, and I am a little amazed at quite how much I have learned. On a basic level, I've been able to gain some first hand experience at a Fortune 100 company, doing practical work that really has contributed towards the operation of the Personal Markets SBU. It feels great knowing you've made a worthwhile contribution which has added value to the work, rather than being a hindrance, or being given a side project just to keep you busy. I've been able to apply my studies in a practical environment and gain an insight that you just can't get from a textbook.

I am certainly starting to fully appreciate the importance of networking, and I am now able to benefit from having several contacts over at Liberty with a vast array of knowledge and experience. I've met so many amazing people over there, and will certainly be doing my best to keep in contact with them all. We were all treated so well, and even in the correspondence I've had with them since, people are bending over backwards to help you out.

It has also given me a great amount of confidence. At no time did I feel overwhelmed or out of my depth, and that was a big thing for me. During the Senior Forum we were interacting with our American equivalents, students in their penultimate year of study. These were the elite Liberty Interns, and although there was no indication as to their technical qualities, you could compare some of the core skills from the activities we took part in. Again I didn't feel out of my depth at all, and that is reassuring. 

I am now returning to my final year at Strathclyde with a renewed enthusiasm and determination to succeed. I've sampled what could be in store for me if I apply myself and endeavour to make the most of what I've been given. That's something that Helen Sayles talked of in our lunch conversations, that we should strive to do the best in everything we do, which will in turn create more opportunities for ourselves. Coming from someone who has climbed from a basic entry level position to senior vice president and manager of HR, it is certainly advice worth remembering.

The last two months have been such a worthwhile experience. I think being placed into such an unfamiliar environment outside your comfort zone, you're bound to learn a lot about yourself. I feel like I've been able to truly identify my main areas of strengths and weaknesses, and know what I can work on to improve myself. One thing I hadn't really considered beforehand was the sort of personal reflection that can happen. You become sharply conscious of how you appear to others, "to see oursels as others see us" as a famous bard would say. I think this is intensified with the presence of other interns, spending two months with people you'd hardly met before and seeing how you come across to them. Thankfully we all got on really well, but I have learned a lot. 

I think the challenge now is to translate everything I have learned and picked up over the last two months into my 'normal' life back in Glasgow. It is all very well talking a good game, but it will count for very little if I rest on my laurels and don't carry it forward into Honours year and beyond. I feel equipped now to deal with anything that is thrown at me over the next year or so, and am actually looking forward to the job search that is already under way. Some of my friends have already sealed graduate positions on the back of their summer internships at home, but I can say without a moments hesitation that I wouldn't have swapped this experience for anything, On that note, and without wanting to turn this into an Oscar-esque speech, I'd like to thank everyone at the Saltire Foundation and Helen Sayles for creating this opportunity. I really feel enriched for the experience, and look forward to giving back to the Foundation in anyway I can. A big thanks also to the guys at Liberty Mutual, I've left a lot of good friends back there. And finally to Alison, Camilla, Chris, Christine, David, Lynn and Steph (and an honourable mention to the New Yorkers) for making it such a fun summer.

I better go before it gets any soppier! Catch everyone in a couple of weeks.

Cheers

Colin