hello nyc, it is me: summer internship at the UN
This summer I had the opportunity to intern at the United Nations in New York. Although my time there was limited (I also had a job working for the Summer at Smith program that I had committed to earlier), I am very grateful to have had this internship and I feel strongly that the experience overall has helped me to gain a better and deeper understanding of myself and my goals and aspirations outside of academics and school life. I also just feel like being in a totally new environment on my own helped me to really take advantage of my independence and embrace the hilarity of being a baby adult in a world in which most real adults are also just pretending like they know what they’re doing (because apparently NO ONE DOES. SPOILER.)
I was intern at the Marshall Islands Mission (i.e. the Permanent Mission of the Marshall Islands to the United Nations.) While the Mission is very small—not to mention grossly underfunded and underrepresented just as a nation—I learned a lot here, particularly about how the UN functions as a whole, the issues most pertinent to the Marshall Islands and other small Pacific Island nations, and how to be an effective and valuable worker in a professional office setting.
During my internship I was given some opportunities to help conduct research for the Mission, particularly on topics related to Antimicrobial Resistance and Biodiversity in the Magellan Seamount Chain. During my last couple weeks I curated a proposal to create new online media sources in addition to the Mission website that was created by an intern a few years ago. When the Mission’s secretary was out of office, it was also my job to handle incoming phone calls, relay messages to the Ambassador and Mission staff, collect mail, and other (albeit somewhat more boring) admin stuff. The most exciting of my tasks, however, was covering informals and plenary meetings that took place at the United Nations Headquarters.
These meetings were convened in the conference rooms in the HQ building, and it was here that I was able to represent my delegation, observe, and take notes in order to report back to my colleagues. Some of the meetings I covered related to topics on Antimicrobial Resistance, the UN World Ocean Assessment, and most importantly, Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ). While the meetings were long (I once waited around until 7pm to retrieve a draft document meant to be presented at what should have been a 3pm meeting), the process of attending meetings, walking around the UN, and just being in such an important space made both myself as an intern and my experience as a whole feel valuable and worthwhile.
While most of my work took place either at the Mission office or at the UN HQ, there were some opportunities to attend workshops and seminars relevant to research topics and meetings outside of those spaces. One Saturday I was sent out to the NYU Law School to take notes at a workshop covering Marine Genetic Resources in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, where I was apparently the only intern who did as they were told and showed tf up.
I was lucky enough to find a place to stay very (dangerously) close to my arrival, and despite all the last minute stress and tears I was able to book a room at the Webster Apartments on 34th. Webster is essentially a women’s residence which houses, for the most part, many other young women interning in the city. Though a pretty heavily tourist infested area, the location was opportune, the accommodations were to my liking, and the view was pretty nice, too. Check out their website if you’re interested in staying: http://www.websterapartments.org/directions/
But what did I learnnnnn???
I learned that it’s better to speak up even when you’re doubting yourself than not say nothing at all. I learned that it’s better to ask a million annoying questions than to be left wondering how much progress you could’ve made if you’d just asked for help in the first place. I learned how to successfully dodge literally hundreds of people coming from every direction on my morning commutes to the office. I learned that sometimes you’re out in the street and you’re completely lost but you don’t want to stop and look like a tourist so you just keep walking anyway.
I’m in my third year already and while I learned a lot from this experience, I’m still lost irl, with lots of people (friends, family, humans in general) comin’ at me like they gotta know my life plan. Well GUESS WHAT–I don’t freaking have one!!1! My life has no map rn but GUESS WHAT–that is fine af. Cause GUESS WHAT–ima keep👏 walking👏 any👏 way👏 .
Was this whole post just an elaborate plot to make a somewhat meaningful but definitely corny and reaching metaphor about life?????
Interior and rooftop pics courtesy of @websterapartments
