Makayla Wu

Ask Me About…

• Interacting with MANY other interns, local and international
• Working a rigid 9-5 every day
  Group-work focused internship
• Adapting to Taiwanese work culture
• Going on field trips and site visits to immerse in Taiwanese culture
• Interacting with members of the government
• Having many mentors/government staff to support
• Job shadowing
• Being part of a developing internship

My Experience Abroad

I think coming into this internship, I was more interested in government and policy but not trying to pursue a full career in government. I think the government interacts with almost all sectors so it’s important to understand how it works. Gaining this insight into the functions of a local city government, especially one I grew up familiar with, was very interesting and it definitely puts this city into context.

This experience helped me understand how cross-cultural communication and collaboration could work. As someone who wants to work internationally in the future, this experience was invaluable in many ways, including the ability to work with other internationally-based US students, Japanese university students, and local Taiwanese students. After this internship, I would say that I have a more clear idea of what I want to do in the future, even if it is not within the public sector. This internship solidified my wish to work across cultures and borders, and potentially in Taiwan.

Other Highlights

• Forming a tight bond with the other interns. The internship has a total of 6 American interns divided into 4 groups. Despite being in different groups, we all got to know each other and the American interns formed an incredibly tight bond. We got to explore the city together and get to understand our respective schools (Penn, Princeton, and Harvard). Not only did I form this bond, I also grew close connections to my policy proposal group, complete with a student from Princeton and 3 local students. We ended our internship by taking a trip to the East coast of Taiwan together. We had amazing team chemistry and collaborated very well.
• Finally presenting our policy proposal to the mayor. The internship experience culminated with a policy proposal presentation to the mayor of Taipei City. This was a very unique and nerve-wrecking experience, but one that we spent the initial month and a half working up to. This was very rewarding and I was very proud of the work my group did.
• Hosting a session for the Global InnoYouth Summit. Since we were interns in the Taipei City Department for Youth, we got to participate in the various events held over the course of the internship. One notable one was the InnoYouth Summit, where our program hosted a workshop for the participants. The participants hailed from many different countries and spanned from ages 15-45. We got to hear talks from astronauts, startup founders, and many more inspiring individuals.