I worked at Rita’s Italian Ice from July 20th 2021 to August 2nd 2021. Although my time there was short, I learned many things. Not just skill sets. Although skill sets were a big part of what I learned. My daily responsibilities in the morning included setting up the sink for dish-washing, prepping the ice, setting up the toppings station, turning on the custard machine, restocking the front of the store, turning on the menu, and most importantly, making fresh ice. The first part of the setup took around 30 minutes, so I had to start the ice before anything else and time it accurately. Each batch of ice took around 15 minutes to make from start to finish. First, I’d mix the water, sugar, mix-ins, and flavor syrup together. There was a different recipe card for each flavor which made this quite easy. Each flavor of ice required different textures, which meant I had to check on the ice every few minutes whilst juggling other tasks. With all of this in mind, that meant I could make four buckets of fresh ice before opening if everything went to plan. Obviously, things rarely go to plan. Usually, I would make three buckets of ice before opening and then continue to make ice after opening. Closing just meant doing all of that but in reverse and then mopping the floor and cleaning all of the sterile surfaces. As with any place that sells food, memorization was huge. By the second week, I had memorized the ratios and combinations of custard, cream, water, toppings, and ice that created the main nine menu items. I’ll admit, though I learned a lot of technical skills I made very few connections. Though I tried, the personalities of the other people who worked there didn’t seem to work well with mine. The culture there reminded me a bit of middle school. In addition to this, my coworkers rarely wore masks and neither did the customers (despite the mandate at the time). Yet, in the end, all of that doesn’t really matter. I got work experience and made the beautiful discovery that working in an ice cream shop during a global pandemic was not what I wanted to do. I believe there are two kinds of internships. The ones that show you a future you want, and the ones that show you what you don’t want to do. This internship was the latter. Since then, I’ve been thinking more about what types of jobs I would feel fulfilled by, and what personalities I want to be around. This has really helped me while deciding what I want to do with my future. What to get my education in. What my next job should be.