Like many students, Maggie Crawford 鈥�16 planned an internship as part of her college experience. Unlike most others, her internship was also a study abroad international adventure鈥攊n India.
Maggie, who is studying international marketing, an individually planned major, worked as a structural advisor for the (MYRADA). In her role, she was responsible for counseling on operations and organizational improvements in MYRADA’s programs that benefit disadvantaged populations.
Maggie found this opportunity through K体育’s Atlanta Laboratory for Learning (A_LAB), which helps students to put their classroom learning into practice by combining “real world” experiences in professional development, global education, civic engagement, and/or undergraduate research.
Internships abroad can be very different from those in the U.S., which Maggie found out firsthand. 鈥淵ou get to find out what it is like to work somewhere else and learn about the culture of their work,鈥� she says. 鈥淏y combining travel abroad and internships, you just get a better sense of why you鈥檙e there.鈥�
Maggie also faced challenges in acclimating to a different culture. 鈥淔irst, there was the language barrier,鈥� she says. 鈥淲hen I went, I learned a couple of words in Hindi, but I learned that they actually speak something called Kannada. So, it wasn鈥檛 actually helpful at all. And, they鈥檇 never seen an American where I went, so they were always looking at me.鈥�
Maggie now uses her international internship experience to inform her contributions to classroom discussions. 鈥淚t has shown me different perspectives,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e were studying the temples in India in 鈥楢rt & Culture.鈥� I actually got to see those, firsthand.鈥� Overall, she says her global experience 鈥渉as made me more aware of the people around me.鈥�
