Looking Back: The Privilege Behind My Internship Abroad

Interning abroad seems like an exciting opportunity at first: you get real-world experience you can put on your resume highlighting your intercultural communication skills and travel the world at the same time. However, that is not the case for many students who do not have the same resources to make it possible. 

Now that I am back home, I’ve had enough time to reflect on my experience abroad and it is bittersweet. I am incredibly grateful for the opportunities I was given, but I am also more aware than ever of the privilege it represents. The awareness that it is not only my hard work that got me there, it is a combination of different factors that opened me the doors to such experiences. 

Looking back to my internship experience, I did many things that locals wouldn’t necessarily do. During lunch breaks with the other IES Abroad interns, we often wandered around the area, trying different cafes and popping up to different stores, or even museum exhibitions. Every little discovery felt like an adventure, almost like a treasure hunt. Upon returning from such adventures, we would tell our coworkers, local interns about the places we’d visited, they would often be surprised. They would say, “I’ve never heard of that place.” “Where it is?” And most of those places were walking distances from our office. 

Another instance that stayed with me happened one afternoon during our lunch break, when I was scrolling through TikTok searching for potential weekend activities. As I showed it to my coworker, she said: “You see fun, I see money.” That simple phrase entailed so many things: the same experience carried a very different meaning for someone else. As if we were living two different lives, living in two different Cape Towns. 

"These small moments were powerful reminders of the privileges I carry, such as financial stability, freedom to explore, and institutional support that shape the way I navigate through my experiences in the world."

I would be lying if I said I didn’t feel guilty at times. Whenever my colleagues expressed surprise about the places we discovered by walking around or told me that they have never explored that area of the city, I felt a knot in my stomach. One of my initial goals was to explore as many places as possible in Cape Town, but as my time in Cape Town passed, my goals changed. I wanted to connect with people through conversations, and not necessarily about visiting places that tourists recommended to visit on TikTok. It also made me wonder if my excitement about discovering new places came off as insensitive, as if I was showing off that I have the means and the freedom to explore. And I am sure many other students interning abroad have felt the same way. 

"No one really teaches you how to deal with guilt. It’s easy to let the guilt take you over, but it doesn’t change anything. What helped me was reframing it into responsibility, I decided to let it push me toward awareness and action, using my position to open doors for others, to share resources, and use the skills I have gained to contribute towards greater good."

 

Skills, Awareness, and Responsibility

Apart from technical skills in research, project management, and communication, interning abroad has given me a clear understanding of how opportunity, access, and privilege shape people’s lives. 

So, how am I planning to apply these lessons in practical ways? 

1. Inclusive Research and Analysis: As an Economics major, I look forward to using the perspective I have gained to consider diverse contexts, especially when evaluating policies or programs in underrepresented areas, such as Central Asia.
2. Mentoring and Sharing Knowledge: I want to work with students who aspire to study or intern abroad by navigating through the application process and looking for funding opportunities.
3. Sustainable decision-making in nonprofit programs: I have seen firsthand how access influences outcomes for the vulnerable members of our society. I am hoping to carry this awareness into designing projects that are realistic, sustainable, and impactful.
4. Intercultural communication: I now understand the importance of listening first, understanding the background, and respecting local knowledge. Whether I am in a professional setting or a community project, this skill will help me to collaborate and contribute to the success of the project thoroughly. 

For me, interning abroad was never about just building a strong resume. It was about noticing privileges, acknowledging similarities, and embracing the differences, as well as learning what it means to act responsibly with the opportunities I am given. My time in Cape Town gave me so much more than I could have imagined. It gave me skills, memories, and friendships, but more importantly, it gave me a clear outlook that opportunities are never equally distributed, and it is up to you what you do with the privileges you are given. After all, with great power comes great responsibility.