I am currently working at Eurasia Group, they’re a geo-political relations firm. Before that I worked at a national security firm. After the Cape Town experience I did two Master’s experiences. My time in Cape Town is why I wanted to do these programs.

It showed the importance of things like compassion and being open to other people’s situations. I learned a lot about the structural inequalities in Cape Town. It was such a gift to be able to spend the time with those people, otherwise it was a group that most people would never get to interact with. It really was a good experience at understanding people and understanding kindness.

It really just solidified that I really wanted to work in something and study something that helped the people around me. I applied for grad school after this program so at the time it was really informed by my time in Cape Town.

I was forced to learn so much more doing the internship abroad because you’re not just in a school bubble. I did a study abroad program in Brussels at an English speaking school with a bunch of other American students within a larger public university there. It’s a bunch of other people from home, it’s kind of like college, but in Europe. Whereas the Cape Town experience was very gritty, it was such a good experience, I met wonderful people there. I’m still friends with a lot of the people I met in Cape Town. Because it was such a different experience it really was such a good time to meet the people that were doing your program with you. Actually when I moved to Dublin, it was a total weird coincidence, but the person that I ended up living with during my Master’s degree program had actually done the Connect-123 Cape Town program the year before. We had even lived in the same apartment it turns out!