About the Author

Making the Most of Your Opportunity

By Amanda Poole
This article was printed in Abroad View Fall 2005


As an International Relations and Economics major with a concentration on Europe and international organizations, my advisers at Syracuse University encouraged me to study abroad even though it was not a requirement. Before I knew it, I was headed to Strasbourg, France—one of the five sites in which Syracuse manages its own center.

At first I had no idea what I was getting myself into. For someone who originally thought Strasbourg was a city in Germany (and not the capital of the Alsatian region in France), I was pretty worried about how I would survive an entire semester—but I had wanted to study abroad ever since enrolling in college.

When I declared International Relations as my major, I was required to take at least two semesters of a foreign language. French was a logical choice, since I had studied it in high school and had an interest in traveling to France.

Strasbourg turned out to provide the perfect study abroad location with its mix of culture, language, and education. Through Syracuse’s Department of International Programs Abroad (DIPA), I enrolled in classes that directly fulfilled my major requirements. My professors were employees of organizations such as the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights.

Since I only took one intermediate/advanced French class and all the rest were classes taught in English that would complete my International Relations degree, I decided to stay on for a second semester to concentrate solely on learning French. Through the Syracuse DIPA program I enrolled in the French program at the Université de Marc Bloch in Strasbourg for international students.

I also took advantage of the Syracuse Strasbourg program’s internship offerings. I had heard about students interning at the Centre de Réfugiés (Refugee Center), and after taking a class on Human Rights the first semester, I knew that this was an area I was interested in pursuing. As an intern at the center, I was responsible for helping two new Chechan families learn French.

We managed to communicate little by little as my home visits to these newly arrived refugee families progressed. Many times we resorted to pictures or other tactics to get our points across to each other.Our visits became more personal each time I visited them. We shared stories about our life experiences in our respective countries and tried to persuade each other that not all Chechans and Americans fit into the typical stereotypes the world has created. By far, our brief cultural exchanges were some of the most important experiences of my life.

In addition to my internship at the Refugee Center, I was also awarded an internship—and was eventually hired for the summer—at the Council of Europe, in the Pompidou Group division. The Pompidou Group’s primary mission is to combat drug abuse and the illicit trafficking of drugs. Some people may confuse the Council of Europe with one of the European Union’s organizations, but in fact it originated in 1945, before the EU ever existed. It works with the European Union but focuses more on social issues such as drugs, youth, education, racism, and human rights. The Council of Europe has approximately 45 European member states, including Turkey and the Russian Federation.

My focus was on youth education and drug prevention. In this role, I had a number of interesting and useful projects, such as writing a manual or “tool kit” for staff trainers in Russia’s juvenile detention centers and youth residencies.

I also wrote two mini publications on youth participation in drug prevention programs. For one publication, I focused on the benefits and values of youth participation, and for the second publication I concentrated on guidelines for consultative processes between young people and adults. As a youth myself, I was able to incorporate my own values into the projects. For several weeks I researched these issues throughout Europe in order to create a well-rounded document that would apply to several different cultures. In the end, it was translated into French and Russian, and both the Director of Youth at the Council of Europe and the Russian Federal Drug Agency requested additional copies. It was gratifying to see the conceptual work that I had begun in January transformed into action.

For the duration of my internship, I focused primarily on preparations for a forum that would be held in Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation. This was the first year that the Pompidou Group would issue its European Prevention Prize, the purpose of which is to recognize drug prevention projects created and managed by young people throughout Europe. Given that there were no precedents for the Prevention Prize, it was my task to create an information pamphlet to describe the criteria that each project needed in order to be considered. I also had to create an application form with questions that would assist the jury when it reviewed and judged the projects.

To our delight, more than 44 applications were submitted. I then went to Hamburg, Germany for a two-day meeting with the jury, which consisted of six youths from all over Europe, including Romania, Russia, Portugal, Germany, England, and Finland. Four professional experts helped the jury assess whether the projects advocated drug prevention policies effectively. It was the first time that a meeting like this had taken place, and by all accounts it was extremely successful and the selection procedure highly effective.

After the Hamburg meeting, I participated in the preparatory meeting for the October 2004 conference on polydrug use in Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation. Through a grant from Syracuse University, I attended this conference, in which more than 100 young people and experienced professionals participated. For three days, the participants met and worked together in order to understand and learn from each other in the hope of combating the growing plight of drug use throughout Europe and Russia.

By the end of this more than a year-long journey—through service work made possible by my studies—I realized that my greater interest is not international relations but working on issues involving youth. Perhaps this is why I ended up choosing to work for Teach for America as a first step that may eventually grow into work involving larger global issues that affect children worldwide.

Tips for a Successful Experience

To have an educationally rewarding study abroad and internship experience, you have to be as proactive about seeking opportunities in your host country as you would on your home campus—and maybe more so given the language and cultural differences.

Get to know your mentor or supervisor. As trite as it may sound, your exceptional experience begins with the relationship you create with your adviser. Being shy about your relationship will only hinder your ability to work effectively and efficiently with each other.

Get to know your colleagues as well. Although they may not be proficient in your particular field, they too possess a wealth of knowledge regarding other aspects of the field and, most importantly, about the organization itself.

Seek more work. I insisted on doing as much as I could for the Refugee Center and the Council of Europe. Rather than waiting for someone to hand me projects all the time, I tried to think of ways in which I could improve a particular task by either going into more detail or thinking of a better way to convey the message.

Be willing to go outside of your comfort zone. Honestly, I was a little nervous about visiting refugee families because I would not be able to communicate fully with them. But by making the effort to visit the families on a regular basis and calling them to schedule appointments, I was able to show them that I cared. In the end, we built a rapport that involved many laughs and more and more communication.
Seek help from others who are not a part of your internship. This allows you to gain a different perspective. Sometimes it’s useful to hear the opinion of others who are not used to the structure and rhetoric of the organization you work with.