IE3 Global Internships

Alfonc Rakaj is a senior at Oregon State University, majoring in Political Science and International Studies. Alfonc interned for the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, Scotland through IE3 Global Internships.

During spring ’12, I interned at the Scottish Parliament located in Edinburgh, Scotland. Although, I was only there for ten weeks, the amount of learning, self-discovery and experience complimented my studies and enriched my perspective of the world, which lead to a profound level of self-formation. An internship like the one at the Scottish Parliament is truly a learning process, whose essence can only be attained through experience.

Even though I was born and raised in Albania, the experience furthered my understanding of multiculturalism. What I have come to adopt as normal for Albanian culture and the American culture, which has become my own to a certain degree as well, was put to the test. While Scotland shared similar cultural attributes to other European countries and the United States, it was fascinating to discover how Scotland was very unique in its own way.

As an intern, I participated in various activities: exit polling in suburbs of Glasgow, (yes, there were times when I couldn’t understand a word they were saying), parliamentary sessions, meetings with various parliamentary committees and receptions. Also, I worked on some very interesting legislative topics. I conducted research on various topics from the history of the Sikh to complex topics, such as the regulations of the European Union on the licensing of Notified Bodies, who are responsible for conducting conformity assessments, directly linked to the products used for plastic surgeries. At other times, I read submissions of interest groups on specific pieces of legislation that was being considered, particularly health care reform. It was vital to stay informed about current events.

Overall, the research allowed me to better understand Scotland’s culture. The process helped me connect with the office staff that I was working with. I was struck by the sincerity and dedication they work with to represent the interests of the residents in Scotland. I found this particularly useful as I have encountered a multiple situations where people have prejudged me based on my field of interest. I now have personal evidence that there are good politicians in this world. The international internship not only encouraged my carrier goals to become a politician, but also revived my passion of why I originally wanted to be one.

The Scottish Parliament internship is unique in the opportunities it provides for professional and personal growth. It compliments one’s studies, while furthering one’s knowledge about the world around us and most importantly ourselves. As it was the case when I came to the United States from Albania, I grew to appreciate Oregon State and Corvallis more due to the distance. While costs, rightfully, may make a student hesitant to go abroad, it is important to remember that it is through traveling and experiences, such as an internship, that we become richer.

Charlie Thompson majored in Business and minored in Spanish at Oregon State University, and participated in the IE₃ Global Internship program in Summer 2008 at Asociación Ajb’ atz’ Enlace Quiché in Guatemala. Charlie is currently serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Dominican Republic.

“Tu eres Ingeniero en Sistemas,” I am told by Dominicans when I explain what I do in the Peace Corps, “you’re a Systems Engineer.” It is one of several unearned titles — along with Professor and Technician — that I’ve been given since arriving in the Dominican Republic more than year and half ago. I learned long ago that there is no use in trying to contradict such a proclamation. I may as well assert that not all Americans are white or that New York is not a synonym for the United States.

Charlie Thompson in Dominican Republic — Charlie (lower left front row) with friends in Dominican Republic

The problem with correcting these misconceptions is that people just don’t care. If you’re talking about the United States and call it New York, that’s close enough. Even after I correct them, most people still don’t make a distinction. When I learned about this phenomenon in my organizational science classes at OSU, they referred to a cultural dimension known as “uncertainty avoidance”. In cultures with low uncertainty avoidance, like the Dominican culture, people aren’t very concerned with specifics. In most cases, a general idea will do.

During my time as an intern with IE₃ in Guatemala, I experienced the opposite end of the scale of uncertainty avoidance. Guatemala, with its centuries of tradition dating to pre-Columbian times, has developed an elaborate system of cultural identities by which society is ordered. The country has 26 native ethic groups, each with its own language and traditional style of dress. The result is a population accustomed to recognizing and interpreting nuanced differences between people.

Despite this and other pronounced differences, I’ve found that my experience in Guatemala prepared me quite well for the work I do here in the DR. As with my internship site in Guatemala, my current host organization was also founded by Americans but employs almost exclusively host country nationals. My relationship with my supervisor, while it requires a different style of communication, quite resembles the one I had in Guatemala. You never know when the skills you learn might come in handy down the road.

Denise Risdon is a senior at Oregon State University, studying Anthropology and History. Currently, Denise is interning for Heritage Malta in Malta through IE₃ Global Internships for six months. Below, Denise provides an update of her time abroad. (This blog was originally posted on the IE3 Field Note page).

After having some time to settle in to my host country of Malta, I have absolutely fallen in love with it. This little island is truly a hidden gem in the Mediterranean. The beauty can be found everywhere in this country, especially in the people, the architecture, the gardens and harbors. The capital city of Valletta is like an open air museum, full of history at every corner. It is this history that has brought me to Malta. I am interning with Heritage Malta, the National Agency for cultural heritage. I am placed at the National Archaeological Museum which is situated right in Valletta. At the museum, I am working in the section for Phoenician, Roman and Medieval archaeology and I could not ask for better curators in this department.

The work I have been doing is interesting. Before I learned of this internship, I must admit that I had little knowledge of this tiny little island and since my arrival I have basically had a giant history lesson on the entire country. The most exciting project I have been working on has been excavating the Roman Baths at Ghajn Tuffieha, which is located on the western side of the country next to two of Malta’s nicest beaches. This site is presumed to be dated from 50 – 100 AD and it was discovered in about 1929.

The site has been closed to the public due to the excavations going on. I feel enormously privileged to be working on a site like this. I have had the opportunity to take part in preserving history for future generations. The site consists of a number of rooms and many of them contained intricate geometrical patterned floor tiles made of marbles and stone. Sadly, the site is in pretty bad shape, and needs serious work, but I am proud to be a part of this project.

I never thought that I would actually be able to work doing my dream job, but here I am, on the other side of the world, loving every moment of my adventure. Unlike most interns, I will be staying here in Malta for six months and I will be able to really see what life is like in this amazing little place. I will be able to dive deeper into this culture and embrace it. I await any opportunity that comes my way with an open mind and a smile.

Elizabeth Ragan is a senior at Oregon State University. She is pursuing a degree in Public Health and Anthropology with a minor in French. Elizabeth recently returned from Kampala, Uganda, where she interned for Prometra Uganda through IE3: Global Internships. Below is a reflection summary from her blog.

My final day in the village. Waving goodbye as the last truck of traditional healers rounds the corner of the dirt road and disappears out of sight. I know that they’re going home, and I’m going home too. But I’m struggling, because I can’t help but feel like I’m going home and leaving home all at the same time.

As the sun dips below the surrounding hills, I set off down the road, needing to walk, needing to think and clear my head. All of my senses are magnified, like I’m trying to absorb every final memory with bound determination. The sounds of the night seem to keep time with the rhythm of my breath and the pounding of my heart, my heart which is in a silent struggle between happiness and sadness.

Making my way through the airport. Some internal instinct or motor memory instructs me through the motions, but I feel like a stranger in my own body, like I’m observing myself from a distance. Security checks, customs, gate transfers, coffee shops, loudspeaker announcements, the whirring sound of suitcase wheels on hard floors, small talk and strangers. I’m in a transition between worlds and I can’t help but feeling sickened at just how easily I’m slipping right back into it, all of the excess, the naivety, the ignorance. People living in their comfortable bubbles, happily ignoring the world around them. The population around me has changed so dramatically in the past 24 hours, from the morning I left Kampala on my way to Entebbe to where I sit now in Heathrow.

3am, laying in my bed at my parents’ home, staring at the ceiling. It’s not just the 10-hour time change and jet lag that is keeping my mind awake. The middle of the night and I have become familiar companions over the course of the summer, my mind busily milling over all of the experiences that I had, trying to make sense of it all. The one thing I simply can’t get myself past is the disparity and the blatant ignorance. How great the divide is between being concerned about when you’re going to get the new iPhone 4, that new pair of leather boots, or new dining room furniture, and the fear of not being able to feed your family or losing yet another child from a preventable cause.

We’re brought up in a fast-paced world. Our society has taught us to be concerned with what’s in front of us, and I’ve found that you have to work hard to learn about the problems of low-income nations. I force myself to remember all of the problems that Americans do face, like recession, unemployment, unaffordable health care, declining social services, rising costs of higher education – all serious problems that leave people powerless. But then I take these things and line them up to the concerns of people in Uganda, like infectious disease, hunger, clothing, drought, shelter, clean water, primary education. I believe that it’s our responsibility to be a world citizen and to treat everybody as human and to fight for their basic rights. We must become critical of ourselves and the lifestyles that we lead, accepting that our actions and decisions have ramifications that will trickle down far beyond our perceived reality.

Coming to a country like Uganda does something powerful to you. It is indeed a rare opportunity, one that many people will either never get the chance to take, or may decide not to take out of fear or apprehension. But there is great potential in taking such a step. If you allow it, Uganda will lay bare to you all of your weakness, misconceptions, ethnocentricities, and the blinders that America and all of the comforts of home have been allowing you to wear your whole life. Then you will be given an option, approach a crossroads of sorts. Do you stay on the same path that you have been walking along up until this point, knowing that you are ignoring what your eyes have been opened to about the world, or do you change your direction and become a person that has a deeper understanding that in this world, we are all human, and we are all connected. Travel the world, learn about the struggles of the people, and as a consequence, learn about yourself.

“There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.” – Nelson Mandela

Marissa Uriarte interned for Center for Social Medicine in Loni, India, through IE3 Global Internships in Summer ’12. She is pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Health with an option in Health Promotion and Health Behavior, and a minor in German. She is now working as an International Ambassador for the office of International Degree and Education Abroad (IDEA).

During my internship, I had the chance to work in a wide range of projects that focused on medical care, public health and social development in the rural and tribal areas of Maharashtra. Before I go more into depth about my work at Center For Social Medicine I wanted to note that I cannot sum up India in a single story. India is filled with a life full of color from the saris women wear to the the paints on the animals during a holiday. It is filled with noises from the people bargaining at the market to the honking on the streets, and it is filled with smells from the food cooking on the sidewalks.

However, I can tell you that interning abroad challenged every aspect of who I am; it revealed not only my strengths and weaknesses, but questioned my knowledge and beliefs. I met heart-warming people that I will keep dear to my heart and learned that life is precious and we all need a helping hand.

There are an infinite amount of memories I will hold, but I would place working with the staff at the Mobile Clinic in one of my favorite. Here, I visited a daycare center for children under the age of five years old. I assisted the pediatrician in charting their growth development to prevent malnutrition. Also, I performed regular health check-ups for pregnant women, which consists of finding the position of the fetus, measuring the fetus length, listening to the fetal heart beat and checking the women’s health status.

The Mobile Clinic was very impressive, because the doctors and nurses went to the people. It addressed the transportation barrier and really emphasized that the patient’s health is their number one priority.

I had the chance to do and see things that people only see on TV. And I don’t believe this is an exaggeration. The culture and atmosphere is new and enriching; it’s completely different from anything I have ever experienced.

The Center for Social Medicine truly offers unmatched opportunities for international interns. I was able to use the knowledge and skills I acquired at Oregon State University, as well as build new skills that will contribute to my professional aspirations as an international public health nurse.

I want to stress that I would not have acquired this chance to intern abroad without the support from the staff at International Programs Department and the scholarships I received, such as the Benjamin Gilman Scholarship and the Nicodemus Scholarship. I believe that anything is possible if you are proactive in your career aspirations.

Lauren Forbes (Biology, ’11) went to South Africa in Fall ’09 through IE3 Global Internships and participated in a CFHI medical rotation internship in Durban and Cape Town. She is currently an MPH student at Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA. She is in the process of applying to the Fulbright program.

I always thought I wanted to be a doctor; in college at Oregon State University I was a pre-med student and I had aspirations of going on to medical school to become a pediatrician. Little did I know the things that interested me most about the health field were more in line with public health than medicine.

In my junior year, I had the opportunity to go to South Africa on an IE3 internship through Child and Family Health International. I spent 10 weeks there, five in Durban and five in Cape Town, living with host families in both cities. This was one of my first international experiences and it really sparked my passion for global health by showing me the stark reality of global poverty and how sociocultural and environmental factors influence the health of the community. Spending time in both Durban and Cape Town allowed me to experience the best of both cities—Durban and its uniquely Zulu influences and Cape Town, an amazing city, rich in cultural diversity. While the clinical experiences at the community health posts and hospitals provided me with invaluable health experience at the front lines, the stories and factors surrounding the patients, influencing their health status was what most intrigued me. One elderly man that I attended to had a dangerously infected ankle wound and had walked nearly all day to reach the hospital for treatment. For many people like him, the cost of treatment and the fear of an undiagnosed illness causes them to avoid seeking a doctor when they get sick. These public health issues are just a few of the environmental factors that influence the health status and outcomes of the South African communities in which I worked. The experience in South Africa was life changing and it helped me to grow personally and professionally, preparing me for other international experiences.

Lauren (r.) with her peers and colleagues in The Gambia

The opportunity for me to go abroad again came last spring; Drexel University had some existing ties with the Gambia, a small country in West Africa, and they wanted to send a group of public health students there to assist at a rural hospital. Myself and four other students were selected to go; we came together and formed and organization called Leading Outreach Through Volunteer Endeavors (LOVE) Abroad to help support our mission to the Gambia. Because of my experience in South Africa, I was better able to process the things that I observed and heard about while in the Gambia, such as the blatant poverty, health disparities, and gender inequities. In the Gambia, I saw the same abject poverty, but I also saw a baffling resilience and hopefulness in the communities in which I worked. This experience abroad not only allowed me to put my public health training into practice, but it also allowed for a mutually beneficial international partnership to be reinforced between Drexel University and the Gambia.

My international experiences in South Africa and the Gambia have been incredibly enriching, and have inspired me to pursue global maternal and child health as a career. This year, I will be completing my MPH degree and I plan to pursue fellowship opportunities in these fields upon graduating. I definitely encourage anyone who is considering studying abroad to go for it; the chance to experience another country through a service-learning opportunity is an invaluable experience that you will remember for the rest of your life.

In 2007 I decided to serve an LDS mission where I spent 18 months in Southern Argentina. For the first time I was completely immersed in a whole new language and culture. I saw things like one man with four kids on a bicycle, a dog that rides on top of the car (and barks at people), penguins that walk around your feet, and huge whales alongside the dock. Argentina became a second home to me. Upon my return I determined that just visiting a foreign land isn’t as amazing as living in one. This experience later led to studying abroad at Macquarie University in Australia, and completing an IE3 Global Internship experience with the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia, Africa. It is safe to say that I am completely addicted to traveling abroad.

Now as an International Ambassador and IE3 Peer Mentor for OSU I have the opportunity to help other students prepare themselves to go abroad as well. As I talk to other students about where they want to go, applying, preparing, and everything else to travel abroad, I want to make sure their experience is as spectacular as possible. Traveling doesn’t have to empty your bank account, be a frightening experience, or ruin your plans for getting a degree.

Being an Animal Behavior and Psychology major I had no clue how much traveling abroad would actually help me with the my hopes for a future career. I was able to take classes specifically on animal communication in Australia that isn’t offered here at OSU.

Later I had hands on experience doing research with cheetahs in Africa.

Working with the International Programs is like the dream job for me because I frequently get to talk about my experience during the First Steps Meeting, help others make a plan for their own experience, and learn about all the amazing programs offered at OSU. The only unfortunate part is that I hear about so many amazing programs I just want to go abroad every second! Going abroad really is the experience of a lifetime.

OSU Abroad

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Category Archives: IE3 Global Internships

From Albania to Corvallis…to Scottish Parliament

From IE3 Global Internship to Peace Corps

IE3: The Hidden Gem of the Mediterranean

A Summer in Uganda

In Depth in India

IE3 Alumna Continues Her International Journey Through Graduate School

Life as an International Ambassador

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