Intern Abroad HQ

My #1 favorite memory from the internship was my second meeting with my supervisor. During this meeting, they told me their experience as a Arab-Palestinian Israeli citizen. The story was raw, sometimes tragic, sometimes triumphant, always inspiring. Overall, it served to bond the two of us early-on, which boosted our success and compatibility down the road. My internship role was to perform extensive research on a recent election and write a report on the reactions to it. This included assessing media and press from across the world, across every demographic and to the most extreme points of the political spectrum and everywhere in between. The written report I formulated informs the organization for which I work on global thoughts on the election that recently rocked their country. This internship has aligned in every way with my long-term goals. Not only does participation in an internship boost my chances of entering university (one part of my goals), but it also makes me all the better suited to my dream field of study: international relations. As a human rights and anti-racism internship, the global perspective, research skills, compassion, and critical thinking skills that accompany this project is ideal preparation for not only an academic, but professional career in the field. Working with an issue as complicated as the one featured in my internship (the Israeli-Palestinian conflict) is excellent training in listening to multiple sides of a story, a critical skill in any diplomatic position, which I aspire to one day hold. Moreover, the type/form/style of written report required in this internship is one I will certainly have to perform frequently in my long-term goals, and is therefore a great source of practice.

The remote internship was a wonderful experience because I was able to explore a particular area of my studies which I am very interested in, in an exciting context! I loved working with the team and was very well supported by the staff. I found communicating with the team very easy, despite the remote nature of the internship. I look forward to continuing my work with the AIMC this year and potentially in future years to come. I would recommend this internship to anyone with a passion for conservation or law.

My Environmental Conservation internship in Costa Rica has been inspiring and exciting. I was surprised by everyone's kindness and all the attention that I received from my host family. My host mother was a great cook, so I enjoyed every meal in the house! During my internship, my main job was to collect butterfly eggs and store them in a laboratory, then release larvae on specific plant leaves. This meant educating myself about various types of plants and butterflies to collect and match them back to the correct plant. I had to ensure all the butterflies had enough fermented food and that their sanctuaries were clear of spiders and snails. I also helped with the plantation of medical plants and orchid identification. This internship allowed me to develop a deeper understanding of my field of interest. Most of the skills I gained relate to maintaining a conservation area and studying different flowers and medicinal plants. I believe that these activities can be used in the fields of environmental conservation or science for me in future! My favourite internship memory was my decision to do the internship. Every day was priceless and unique.

My internship experience has been great! I felt comfortable talking to my supervisor and my team and I communicated well despite the language barrier between us. I was very impressed with the level of commitment from my supervisor and internship placement. Upon receiving my very first task, I could see that they were well-prepared and organized, and were ready to answer any of my questions and concerns. The most important task I was involved in was report writing, and other skills that I learnt along the way included communicating with clients. My internship experience went a long way in developing my time management and communication skills. All these skills work in both the short term and the long term, as the long-term goal of the organization I was paired with was to build multicultural relationships and gain expertise from other countries, so I helped in expanding the knowledge and expertise of the company in this regard. I am currently training to be a consultant in the field of occupational safety and health, and now I am qualified in terms of my degree, and my practical experience from this placement.

I had the opportunity to work with Community and Social Work Forum for a period of five weeks as result of my social work internship application with Intern Abroad HQ. My experience with Community and Social Work Forum has been unique. This is indeed the word the best describes the five weeks I have spent working with the organisation.

Although I have completed my internship remotely, thanks to the two professionals representing the organisation, I gained an original taste of the work that social workers do in Tanzania. Since our first interaction, I have been welcomed with kindness and I immediately felt part of the team. The whole internship program was person-centred, based on my personal and professional goals. The two professionals have been keen to ensuring that each and every activity that we conducted contributed to the achievement of my objectives. By way of illustration, I have always been encouraged to share subjects of interest to me to be discussed within our sessions. Furthermore, thanks to the support I received and by virtue of our discussions, I have managed to identify areas of improvement in my practice. This fact in itself has enabled me to become a better professional. In this context, I have also felt very comfortable with sharing some of my struggles in terms of the work I conduct with my clients. These have been received with a non-judgmental and extremely supportive attitude, leading the professionals to share some of the struggles they have themselves encountered during their fascinating careers along with techniques and methods to overcome them. The two professionals have always been ready to share their wide expertise and knowledge with me. They have provided me with extraordinary advices and guidance which I am now applying in my work.

It has been an immense pleasure to work with such valuable, caring and open-minded professionals. With honesty, I would be honoured to work with Community and Social Work Forum again. Thus, I strongly recommend Community and Social Work Forum to anyone who is interested in making the world a better place and who is looking for a unique internship or volunteering experience.