As I continue into my spring semester, I need to decide what happens next. Once this semester is over, I will be leaving the place that has begun to feel like home and make decisions on what the reminder of my time before school starts back in August at my home institution will look like. In a few short semesters I’ll be graduating and hopefully going on to complete my masters but before that I need to make sure I’m using my “free time” wisely. This is why I have been applying for internships. Because I’m not sure what I actually want to study for my masters, I am leaning towards international relations or affairs, I think finding a internship in those fields would be best. If i had been a better planner I would have tried to use my summer volunteering abroad, instead I will be and have been applying for internships back in America.
There is one internship in particular that I am very interested about. I truly believe it will help me reach my long term career goals and help me gain the experience needed to thrive in any work environment I ultimately end up in. It is a very competitive internship and even though I put a lot of effort into my application the possibility of me receiving it is still unknown. Despite this, I have been very positive in how I view the possibility. Outside of this particular internship, I have also been looking into others that my school personally offers. I’m not too sure what my summer will look like but I want to make sure I am being proactive in reaching my goals. Studying abroad was always suppose to be the jump off to help me propel myself into other unknowns. I knew that if i could successfully do this and do it well then nothing else would be out of my grasp and while I still have a semester to go I am very happy with the things I have do so far.
Outside of preparing for the summer, I am also trying to take advantage of the local events that are taking place in Oslo. Today, I was fortunate enough to attend a forum at The Norwegian Nobel institute called ‘The Critical Decade: Ideas that will shape the energy transition.’ It was a very informative three hour discussion with key note speakers, Rutger Bregman, author of ‘Utopia for Realists’ and Jody Freeman, Professor at Harvard Law School along with others who spoke very passionately about actively working towards clean energy. Events like these are common in Oslo and being in such an international city means you get specialist who are truly passionate about what they’re speaking on.
I really hope to attend more events in the future and learn about topics that interest me like clean energy options. Up next is UN Theme week which is created by my host university. It is a week of lectures, work shops, and debates on topics ranging from fighting against sexual violence, gender equality, and even volunteer opportunities to help Oslo become a cleaner and safer place. I’m sad my time here is close to ending but I plan on filling it with more moments of personal development and joy.