I had the honor of being GBSN’s first international intern, moving to DC from Germany. I study Communication and Media Sciences at the University of Bremen and I was searching for an internship to complete my studies, preferably in the US, because an American internship on your CV is always a big advantage.
Having a strong interest in development work and aiming to work for international NGOs after graduation, GBSN turned out to be the perfect opportunity to gain practical experience and work with people around the world.
As the International Communication and Event Planning Intern I worked closely with Nicole, the Administration and Communication Officer, on our communication and marketing strategies.
During my time at GBSN we organized the GBSN 2017 Annual Conference as well as the Learning by Doing Summit in Peru and started planning the Teaching Entrepreneurship Summit in Morocco. It gave me the opportunity to learn how to plan and execute a conference step by step and improve my own organizing and managing skills.
Being able to participate in the Annual Conference and meet with many representatives from the member schools was definitely one of the highlights of my whole internship and showed me once again the importance of worldwide collaboration and innovation.
Furthermore, I was responsible for the Social Media accounts which means staying on top of business news, trends in higher education and what our member schools are doing. I shared recent news and promoted our own events as well as membership opportunities and business updates. On important issues I also wrote blog articles and updated our event and opportunity sections on the website.
Maintaining the website, especially when it came to organizing the 2017 GBSN Annual Conference and summits was another main responsibility of mine. I acquired a good knowledge of WordPress, Salesforce and other common programs which is always great because it is not taught in university but crucial for further internship/job applications.
Next to my daily tasks I had enough time to develop my own ideas. To experience that your ideas are actually valued and implemented into the daily work was a great motivation and hasn’t been the case during other internships so far.
All staff members were incredibly helpful when it came to problems within the office or any troubles I had adjusting to my life in DC. Besides the visa process, moving to another country for work purposes requires opening bank account, filling countless tax forms, applying for a social security number, etc. It is easier to stay in your home country but in the end getting out of your comfort zone is definitely worth it.
Next to working at GBSN it was a great experience to live in Washington, DC for six months. I had the opportunity to see more museums, memorials and political institutions than ever before and it has been quite surreal to read German online newspapers about events that actually happened down the street. And of course I was able to visit other cities along the East Coast, as well as my friends in Illinois where I spent a year during high school.
I can’t thank the whole staff and especially Nicole enough for giving me the chance to join their team and experience Washington, DC. It encouraged me to work in the field of international development and I now have practical experience that will make the start much easier. Thank you GBSN and everyone that contributed to my time in Washington, DC! 
