My internship abroad experience

By: Neysa Herrera Cuello

Leaving my country, my family and friends; living in a very different town from my natal Cartagena has been the scariest but amazing experience of my life.

The idea of moving to another country with a different language, style of life and a whole different system, creates a great deal of anxiety. The labor world will always be unknown and a bug source of fear for senior students expected to be in the labor market soon, even more if your first contact with that world will be in a country with different culture, norms and values in the work place. So, as a twenty years senior student from Cartagena, Colombia, that never had traveled out of the country without her parents before, my biggest fear was not to be able to adapt myself well in the United States and to function in a location that is thousands of miles away from my comfortable zone with friends, family and the system I am used to. It was a rare combination between fear and excitement.

It has been three months now since I started my internship in the Liberal Arts Career Development office and I can tell I have learned a lot more about myself in this three months than I did in the five years in my home university because of facing the unique and real challenge that this experience represents. Every day at my internship is a testing one, the fact that I have been able to go through the obstacles and learn from the mistakes I have made, has contributed to make me a mature person with an increased confidence in myself, capable to lead in a global environment respecting and valuing other cultures in order to learn from them.

The cultural immersion that this internship has provided me with a strong understanding of business practices and learn more about what it takes to be successful working abroad as well as giving me the opportunity to network with professionals in another part of the world.

Speaking about the benefits that this experience has brought to my life, I have to tell that not only I have gained professional skills in an international context, but also I have developed language skills related with business communication in the best environment possible – a place where I speak the language in real situations and I am forced to do it.

Interning abroad has provided me with personal life enrichment and fulfillment that I am sure it will stay with me for the rest of my life. I feel confident to sell myself in front of employers as the one asset that they are looking for, and I am not afraid to prove it. I believe that tomorrow’s companies need employers with the capacity to understand global environments, and this type of experiences give you that value in your Resume. My internship in the LACD office has been a continuously learning experience and a life training. It has been a journey where I have met very capable and skilled people who I have learned a lot from. Also, I have gained good friends. You don’t get all experiences at once by always living in your comfortable zone. My tip is: Take the chance, go out and explore the world by yourself!