AIESEC

So there’s this giant piece of fried dough. Sounds delicious? Not really. Is it delicious? By far the most simple, creative and unique foods I have had in my travels. They call it Lángos. It’s a rolled out piece of dough that is deep fried. After frying it, sour cream is spread on it and cheese is sprinkled over the top to melt.

Followed by this, you can add whatever other toppings available. I tried this in the Central Market of Budapest and there were so many other possible toppings including Hungarian sausages, a variety of vegetables, other sauces and so much more. It was probably the biggest struggle for me to decide what I wanted on my Lángos. It was delicious, and for 2-3USD you’ll be bloated.

Because I was on a program through AIESEC, the network of AIESEC members and employees in Hungary really showed me what it is like to be a Hungarian in Hungary and not a tourist in Hungary. We went to all the local stores, restaurants, markets and bars.

I was taught basic Hungarian in my first week in Budapest and throughout the entire internship program I was learning more and more while communicating with the AIESEC members there. I was taken to other cities that tourists normally wouldn’t have on their agenda, where food was cooked over a fire outdoors, and families hosted me for weekends.

Only two weeks into the program, I knew all the local storeowners, chefs and bartenders by their names and they never treated me like I was not Hungarian.

My program has really allowed me to become more independent. Prior to taking my program through AIESEC, I’ve never traveled abroad on my own before.

But with AIESEC, I spent 10 weeks working abroad without being able to go home to have my mom’s home-cooked dinners. I’ve learned to be a lot more independent and self-sufficient and grew as a communicator.

On the contrary, while I did learn to be independent, I also learned how to be more dependent and trust others around me. And it was only because I was able to learn to be independent and to be dependent that I really enjoyed my experience abroad.

Coming back to NYC, I walk more confidently and I am able to share my experiences and really have conversations about my travels because I found that this was something I was extremely passionate about.

What made this opportunity so unique and special was that although I went abroad alone, when I got there, there were 11 other interns working for the same company I worked for through AIESEC. They were all living similar experiences.

These interns were countries across 6 continents, which made my experience phenomenal. Not only was I able to immerse myself into Hungarian culture, but through AIESEC I was able to learn about Portugal, France, Turkey, Indonesia, Australia, India, Mexico, Hong Kong, Egypt and Canada and I did all of this in Hungary.

The interns I worked with really challenged me to understand cultural differences, embrace them and finally make the best of all the experiences we shared.

In some ways, I'd like to re-do my college study abroad experience in France—not just because I had such a great time and love that country, but also so I could make even more out of it. You know, do all of the things I know now and I wish I'd known then! If given the opportunity to have another study abroad experience, I'd learn Arabic. Maybe in Jordan or Egypt. That's a part of the world I've never been to and want to know more about.

Advocacy is essential. That is important for everyone involved with global engagement and international education to know: every student who's been abroad, every study abroad or international education organization, anyone who cares about U.S. engagement with the world. While the number of Americans studying abroad continues to rise, it's still less than 10% of all enrolled American undergrads.

And while more and more policymakers are beginning to understand the necessity of global competence in all Americans, we still only spend 0.016% of the federal budget on international exchange programs. This will change only if we—the broad community in support of global engagement—raise our voices in support of international programs. And it's more important now than ever—not only as the stakes for engaging globally continue to rise, but also as political pressure to cut federal funding increases.

The community. The ability to network, share best practices, collaborate, and innovate. The Alliance has grown significantly over the past decade—both in the number of members we have and in the services we provide. We've seen tangible and significant successes in improving programs and influencing policy through our combined efforts, and I think our members greatly value working together as a community.

Continue to lobby for increased global engagement. And not just lobbying your elected officials, though that is important. Lobbying of other potential influential supporters of international exchange in other key sectors.

The guiding principles by which the Alliance operates were formed more than 20 years ago, when key leaders in the international education and exchanges field came together with the goal of creating a membership and policy association that could represent their collective interests in Washington. Simply put, the Alliance and our members believe that mutual understanding, international cooperation, economic prosperity, and the growth of knowledge that comes from international exchange programs are essential to activities in a global 21st century. We believe it is our responsibility to conduct exchange programs that embody the highest standards of quality, integrity, and safety, as well as to advocate for public policies that support the growth and well-being of international exchange programs and U.S. global engagement with the world.

Some of the challenges we're looking to tackle include creating opportunities for more and more participants to have a significant international experience, no matter the constraints (financial, geographic, course of study at college/university, etc.), and increasing the number of policymakers and other influential people who we can call true champions of exchange and global engagement.

I'm probably biased, but the Alliance Policy Monitor and Twitter feed are excellent resources! Following the Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) is a great way to stay on top of U.S. government international exchange activities. The U.S. Global Leadership Coalition (USGLC) provides excellent information on political developments as they relate to U.S. global engagement and foreign assistance as a whole. The ICEF Monitor is a useful resource for international education trends. Additionally, very useful publications for education and political trends include Congressional Quarterly (CQ), the Chronicle of Higher Education, and Inside Higher Ed. I also recommend following (Twitter is the most useful, I find) any organization that you're particularly interested in or passionate about!