After now being in Melbourne for over a month (which I am finding it hard to believe), I'm here to do a half-way update of what I've been up to and what I've learnt!

Most of my third week was taken up working in the shop that we had previously set up in week 2 (I now have so much more respect for retail workers). I switched between jobs of welcoming customers, cleaning up the store, bringing new stock out and working behind the till (my favourite being behind the till, as I didn't have to keep re-sorting the same shelf every time someone new came in...).

One of the most significant days included a large group of high-school students coming in to volunteer. On this day it was just myself, Bernadene (Big Group Hug's CEO) and another intern working- meaning that when Bernadene went for her dinner break, I was left in charge. This was a new leadership experience for me as I was already drained after being in the shop since 10am, and then had to control a group of students who also didn't want to be there. I think I did an okay job of suggesting jobs for the boys to do (instead of throwing clothes at each-other) and telling them to get off their phones (after they'd invited half of their high-school in to laugh at them), but looking back I think it was a time I could've stepped up a bit and separated myself as more of a leader. I sometimes struggle to have the confidence in myself that I know what I'm doing and have the ability to control a situation, which I think comes with feeling 'too young'. I know that this isn't true and I have so many skills and experiences that allow me to be a good leader (sometimes I  just need to consciously remind myself of that). On this day, I also learnt the importance of  accepting you can't always control every aspect of a situation. Bernadene wanted to drop me off at the station to get back to the city, rather than having to stay at the shop until 9pm, but this meant leaving the high-schoolers in control. I was so panicked and kept asking her if she was sure, I thought the shop would be up in flames by the time she returned! But sure enough, it was all fine. 

Myself and Bernadene decided to cancel the baby-wear sale due to an unexpected lack of excess baby clothing (however, my planning has not gone to waste as a sale is now going to be held by some volunteers at a later date), this meant my fourth week focus was on the FutureFIT project. I have slowly been working on developing the business plan, whilst making sure I'm aligning it to what Big Group Hug and ReadySet (the charities that are collaborating to create FutureFIT) want it to be. To make sure of this I had some chats with Bernadene and also organised a meeting with ReadySet's CEO Cynthia, who spoke to me about her ideas. I'm really enjoying this aspect of my volunteering as it really feels like I'm doing something 'proper'. I think my focus for week 5 now needs to be getting as much of the business plan done as possible, so that I can present my work to Bernadene and Cynthia next week (lots of to-do lists incoming...). 

I actually really struggled during week 4 with home-sickness and feeling down about things that have gone on in my personal life, meaning some days I struggled to even leave my flat. However, I spoke to my Mum on Friday and got some tough love, as she reminded me of what I'm here to do and that I need to make the most of the experience. She also reminded me that I'm returning to uni from my placement year when I'm back home, and that I will have to push myself to get on with things if I want to do well in my final year, so I should start applying that mindset now to help at Big Group Hug. At the weekend, I then met up with some of my friends to make signs and go and support Juliette who was running her first 10k on Sunday. I told them how I'd been feeling, and after hearing some of their stories I was reminded that many people go through horrible things but it doesn't mean you can give up on the good parts of life. I also really enjoyed watching everyone cross the finish line at the race on Sunday, and was just thinking how all these people with different stories have just achieved this shared goal. With all of these positive ideas, I feel a lot better entering week 5 (my last full week here!), and am ready to persevere and get things done. : )