The Graduate Baruchian

Visualize the streets of Spain last week as Spanish youth celebrated España´s Eurocup 2012 victory.  Picture spending summer weekends at Mediterranean beaches and European Museums.   Now imagine that Baruch paid for your plane ticket.  Wishful thinking, a dream, a hoax, you ask.

It so no hoax.  It is a dream, come true!  Thanks to the Weissman Center for International Business travel grant, I am in Valencia, Spain (sometimes referred to as the Vienna of Spain) and have experienced all of the above mentioned.  The best part is that I am building my CV (aka résumé) at the same time by interning at Farmamundi a Spanish NGO.  Farmamundi is an organization dedicated to providing pharmaceutical supplies to non-profits, governments, and religious organizations for disaster relief and humanitarian aid purposes.  So while I am gaining international CV experience, I am also getting to work for a great humanitarian organization and expand my knowledge of International Business Practices.

So how can YOU travel and gain international work experience?  The process is actually pretty simple.  And it is also open to both Graduate and Undergraduate students at Baruch.  The grant’s guidelines are very reasonable; your Internship must be at least 4 weeks in length and you must be returning to Baruch the semester after your Internship.  The only downside is that you have to purchase your plane ticket and then wait for a reimbursement check. But hey, it is great to have a check waiting for you when you get back to the states to help may off those credit card purchases abroad.

The Weissman Center has many connections with schools and companies abroad.  My internship came through their connection to ESTEMA Escuela de Negocios (Business School Estema) part of Laureate International Universities. Stan McDaniel-Director of International Relations at ESTEMA has helped me with housing referrals and continuously checks in on me to see how the internship is going.

For more information on interning abroad and the travel grant contact the Weissman Center located in the building next door to the library.

I highly recommend Weissman center staffer, Romanowski “Romi” Jules-Work Abroad Coordinator, who helped me through the entire process of finding an internship and obtaining reimbursement for travel.  She is helpful, professional, responsive, and friendly.