Students’ years in college always seem to zoom past, and before they know it, they are ready to graduate. Somehow, they managed to complete all of their academic requirements and a lot more along the way. They cherish each experience that makes college the crazy and fulfilling ride that it tends to be.

An international internship can serve as an experience that continues to resonate with a student long after they leave his alma mater. For undergraduate and graduate students alike, there are endless opportunities to find internships all around the world.

Kaori Nakamura, a senior in LAS, went to Wuhan, China, in the summer of her sophomore year to teach English to high school age students.

“While I was teaching English to Chinese students, I felt it was more of a cultural exchange,” she said in an email. “We talked a lot about the differences between China and America and I was able to learn just as much about Chinese life and Chinese culture as my students learnt about the U.S.”

Not only was she able to gain experience abroad, but also she didn’t have to do it alone. She found the internship through AIESEC, a student group on campus that works largely in the subject of international internships, volunteer positions abroad and global leadership opportunities.

“One thing that’s very different about our internships is when you’re (in a foreign country for an internship) … you’re always going to have people that you’re surrounded with, and they’ll take care of you once you’re there,” said Victor Lim, president of AIESEC Illinois and junior in Business.

Since AIESEC is an international organization, there are thousands of different AIESEC student groups in 113 countries around the world, Lim said, including 34 chapters in the United States.

“There were Chinese AIESEC members who supported me when I arrived in China by picking me up at the airport, taking me to my housing, and spending time with me throughout my time in China,” Nakamura said. “There were other (student) teachers there from all over the world … It was my first time living in this sort of international environment and it was intriguing.”

Students can bring back these experiences long after their internship is over. Nakamura said that her internship in China was a unique and valuable opportunity to “develop both professionally and personally through being in an unfamiliar environment.”

Other students who wish to find an internship abroad can apply through AIESEC. If they are accepted, their name will be put into a large database of students and global internships, so they can potentially be matched up with a global employer.

“AIESEC actually originated after World War II,” Lim said. “It was like an effort to get people more culturally aware … and just creating more global leaders, global citizens and stuff like that.”

The four most popular internship fields are business administration, information technology, teaching (often English) and working with universities. Although historically the organization began as a business-centered organization, it has now grown to accept students in a larger range of fields. In fact, AIESEC welcomes diversity.

“We have around 50 percent business students, but the other 50 percent are global studies, engineering, MCB (molecular and cellular biology), science, art, everything that you can think of,” Lim said. “So what we look for in terms of our members is just people who want the global mindset and cultural experience.”

Moreover, while these internships may be paid or unpaid, oftentimes the students will end up breaking even, when they add up the stipend they receive abroad.

Other international internship resources on campus exist; a student just has to know where to look.

“The Career Center can do a lot as far as pointing students in the direction of resources that can help them find international internships,” said Tori Spring, assistant director of the Career Center. “We have a good page on our website under ‘Work Abroad’ that lists quite a few different resources where students can start to look.”

Ultimately, it’s up to the student to do the preliminary research on what field they would want to work in, which countries they have in mind and what type of internship will be most suitable for them, Spring said.

Bharath Gopalaswamy is the associate director of the Program in Arms Control, Disarmament and International Security. He works with students to find internships abroad, partially on his own time. Gopalaswamy used to work in Europe, and he also has ties with the Asia-Pacific region. Through these networks, he personally helps students locate internships that interest them.

“(Looking for an international internship) is kind of vague and open-ended to some extent, but at the same time, you can only help people who help themselves,” he said. “So what I can do is, at that time, try to locate if any of my networks and their personal networks … know anybody that I can link (the student) up with.”

Currently, Gopalaswamy is working with a student to try to find an internship in South Korea with an international crisis group. He is also in connection with the United Nations office in Vienna, Austria to make potential connections there.

Since Gopalaswamy’s area of study is international security, he often helps students who are in similar fields. However, there are international internships available in virtually any field a student can research.

“Internship searches in general are very student-specific and very interest-specific,” Spring said. “So depending on what you wanted to do, it’s going to depend on where you’re going to look and how you’re going to go about that search.”

Oftentimes this search would include talking to advisors, professors, the study abroad office or students who have been abroad, Spring said. A student can also look up specific international companies and organizations and contact them directly through websites like goabroad.com.

Gopalaswamy said that some internship positions abroad “have to be manufactured,” meaning that the positions did not exist before the student contacted the international source or company. Through a network of communications and interactions, these positions can end up being created uniquely for the student.

This same concept holds true for any internship, but global internships especially. Both Gopalaswamy and Spring said that oftentimes the positions are not posted, so the student has to do most of the digging.

All in all, these experiences abroad are often rewarding and extremely memorable for students, and the preliminary research and preparation tend to be worth it, Lim said. At first, Nakamura said that she didn’t know what to expect in her international internship, but at the end, she felt that her “experience was fantastic.”

“One thing that’s definitely different about international internships as opposed to domestic ones is you’re forced to adapt to the culture,” Lim said. “You really get to experience their culture there. And that’s something that we really love about the program.”

Reema can be reached at [email protected].