Pia from Germany joined us in 2018 for our Internship Program where she worked for a local media outlet. This is her story…
Ever since I started studying Literary and Linguistic Studies in University, I knew that I wanted to collect some prolonged work experience abroad before finishing my bachelor’s degree. Besides being an obligatory part of the course studies, I have always looked forward to being autonomous enough to go to another country and experience it to the fullest extent possible.
When I started researching countries and placements and discovered Mente Argentina, it quickly became my favourite option. Friends and family kept asking me why I had not picked another country of which many other interns dreamt: Great Britain, Australia, or New Zealand, for example.
To me, however, it was always clear that I wanted to take a much larger step out of the bubble of Western culture which I have lived in all of my life. In today’s times, where global understanding and communication become ever more relevant, it is my firm belief that it is beneficial for every single person to change their perspective from time to time and to collect ever more experience that enables them to broaden their worldview.
In the past, I have already been able to collect some experience in this field. My six-week internship in the press board of a local NATO component provided me with an opportunity to work in an environment which brought together people of 17 nations. Working there entailed a multitude of tasks including mediation between speakers of three different languages, which really gave me an idea of what working in an international environment can be like.
Furthermore, as perhaps evident in my choice of course of studies, I have had a longtime interest in literature, which I now analyze on a regular basis in university. After all, that is part of what I would like to be doing professionally one day. Regardless of the specific field, I want to be helping to further international communication.
In order to accomplish those personal and professional goals, I consider work experience abroad to be of vital importance. Knowledge of other cultural areas, other ways of life and other viewpoints, to me, are crucial for understanding even such abstract things as pieces of art.
To me, that is one of the most important qualities to have in today’s world, which relies so much on international communication and understanding the other. Living in a Spanish-speaking environment the culturally differs very much from the one to which I am accustomed appears to me as an amazing chance to broaden my horizons.
