My experience with Connect-123 was wonderful.  I would recommend interning in Cape Town and the program to any law student (or other student).  Planning my summer abroad, the staff at Connect-123 was fabulous.  With the tough legal market, I knew I needed a placement that would provide me with substantive and practical legal research and writing experience.  After conveying that sentiment to my assigned Connect-123 team member, she sought out and provided me with wonderful options.  The placement process went smoothly with Connect-123 facilitating communication and helping to ensure that all necessary paperwork was in order.

Additionally, before I even got to Cape Town, the Connect-123 staff was organizing group outings and other logistics.  I still remember getting an e-mail about one of the outings while sitting in the library studying for final exams and getting so excited for what was waiting for me on the other side of finals… While many people kept saying, “You’re going where this summer?” I knew that it was gearing up to be a summer of a lifetime.

My summer in Cape Town was phenomenal.  My internship placement Connect-123 helped arrange was a perfect fit for what I was looking for.  I was able to attend court, perform research for cases the organization was considering taking on, provide advice for issues arising in the walk-in legal advice clinic, attend advocacy events, and even go to a protest with youth speaking out against sexual violence!  The work I did was life changing and will undoubtedly affect me throughout my legal career.  Additionally, the attorneys and staff I worked with were amazing people who I continue to keep in touch with long after my departure from South Africa.

In addition to the great internship placement, the Connect-123 program provided me with an instant network of friends and activities to take part in.  The staff made sure that participants did not miss out on the Cape Town “essentials” (the penguins, seals, etc.) and was open to organizing other events that people suggested.  Everything ran incredibly smoothly and I could not imagine trying to plan my summer without Connect-123’s help.

Finally, since returning to the United States, my experience in Cape Town continues to have a positive impact on my life.  Professionally, interviewers ask me about my summer in Cape Town during each and every interview I have.  Additionally, researching an entirely different country’s legal system has sharpened my legal research and critical thinking skills. Personally, I made some wonderful friends while in Cape Town who I am sure will remain in my life for a long time to come. Since returning to Chicago, friends I met through Connect from as close as Southern Illinois and Michigan to as far away as Ireland and Scotland have come to visit.  No matter how long it has been, we always reminisce about our times in Cape Town and what a remarkable summer it was.