After interviewing Sarah, the intern supervisor, I realized that although all interns are given similar tasks, we are welcome, actually encouraged, to take initiatives to work on our own projects. For instance, Stacy, a fellow intern, is interested and therefore, is doing Grant Research. I’m knowledgeable about the issues in Myanmar and interested in teaching so I’m developing a curriculum on Myanmar.

The Center for Global Studies (CGS) internship has given the interns the opportunities to volunteer at various community events from World Stories Alive and many lecture series. Out of the many events I was able to attend, the most fascinating one has been the lecture with Dr. Emile Bruneau of University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Bruneau studies the psychology behind inter-group conflicts among other things and as I am already involved with the research on ethnic conflicts, the lecture widened my perspective and introduced an innovative solution to the problem.

I learned to communicate effectively and I’m also finally learning to manage a social media platform. I initially underestimated the time that is necessary to manage a social media account and as a result, I was unable to make announcements in a timely manner. As I found new ways of making announcements about upcoming events, which involves a lot of planning and organizing, I have begun to effectively manage the page.

The internship has been a great learning experience as well as a fun one as the interns and co-workers work effectively with each other. There’s a lot of laughers in the office and it is a good environment to work at.