Absolute Internship Abroad Alumni - NSCS Testimonial

Post-Barcelona Blues

Hi! My name is Makayla. I’m a member of The National Society of Collegiate Scholars and a past Absolute Scholarship awardee. I embarked on an internship last summer 2019 in Barcelona, Spain, and I was interning for a non-profit organization called APSOCECAT.

My trip to Barcelona with Absolute felt like a dream come true. I still can’t fathom that I was lucky enough to have lived in one of my dream places for a month. On another side, my internship opened my eyes to other aspects of my field and afforded me several new opportunities.

“My biggest takeaway from this experience was learning how much my passion for dance can be applicable outside of a typical performance and choreographing setting.”

 

Being Part of a Non-Profit Internship Program

As a non-profit intern at APSOCECAT, I formulated a guide on the benefits and methodologies of introducing dance to the deafblind community. This enabled me to see how dance is a language understood by all people. Although I was aware of this, I have never had first-hand experience evaluating the effect it can have on people with various disabilities.

Through my time at the company, I was provided not only a wide array of reading material to familiarize myself with but was able to accompany a group of deafblind people on their excursion to Hort d’en Queni, where I witnessed the power of aromatherapy. Observing this activity opened my eyes to the use of senses, ways of communicating and moving with the deafblind.

This entire experience helped me also find my passion for dance research as that is what most of the work I did was. I have now tasked myself with learning different ways I can introduce dance to people of different backgrounds and abilities.

 

How Interning Abroad Will Increase My Employability

My internship in Barcelona has given me the ability to use this experience on my resume.

“Not many people can say that they have done an international internship at my age. My resume has not only been enhanced, but I can speak about this internship in a multitude of professional settings.”

For example, I received the opportunity to speak on a panel at a dance conference where I was able to discuss what I did in Barcelona. As a National Society of Collegiate Scholars member, this internship helped me to bear witness to and experience the global connectivity of the organization. I am not always able to attend meetings or other events and by participating in the Absolute Internship program I was able to reap the benefits in another way.

By maintaining my connections with people within Absolute and APSOCECAT, I hope to continue expanding my professional network.

“One aspect of the program that could never be stressed enough is the power of networking. “

Going on this trip enabled me to meet people from all over the world. These could be people I meet later on in my professional field or when they could be the hiring manager for a potential job. You never know how much the people you meet now could help you in the future. I am hoping to travel back to Barcelona within the next year and hopefully stay even longer!

I encourage everybody to go global and open themselves to international experiences instead of limiting yourself to local opportunities. I recommend the Absolute Internship Program to whoever wants to gain valuable work experience before graduating, and live and travel with an awesome international community.

AMAZON + NSCS

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