GRIP, Internships Abroad My First Two Weeks!

América Solidaria - Argentina

Having the opportunity to work for an NGO abroad has always been an aspiration of mine. There is so much to learn when you place yourself in a new community with a different culture and but also similar values. I have always wanted to broaden my global mindset and the first part of that is to be immersed in a new place, new ideas, and new people. This opportunity in the first week has already done this. My supervisor is so educated on the status of health and poverty issues in Argentina and really wants to help. She is so open to discussing the issues and sharing what their organization has done so far. As I continue my work, I am so excited to get further involved in this organization finding new ways to help and continue to learn every day. As of now I have begun work researching issues within Argentine and will continue this and add global issues and the solutions of other NGOs in an effort to compile creative and effective solutions. I think this experience will be vital to my future career path. Currently, I am majoring in international relations and neuroscience at Penn, and to most that might seem like an interesting or uncommon combination, which considering there is not a single overlapping course may be true. However, it is through work in a global health NGO that I really believe that this combination will be most useful. Not only that but my lifelong goal of helping others can also be accomplished.

Another special part of my internship is that it is completely in Spanish. I have taken the language in high school and placed out of the requirement at Penn, but as a result, I have not had the opportunity to continue to work on my language skills. So, this opportunity allows me to strengthen these skills and to work to improve my conversation and reading proficiency, something I think is very important.

So overall, this opportunity has allowed me to work in a position that I have always wanted to and to continue to improve skills that are so important. I am so excited to continue my internship for the next six weeks and plan to soak up every moment. I am going to meet as many people as I can, learn as much as I can, and appreciate this amazing opportunity.