Blog

By Eboni Stevens, Protocol Intern The very first day that I met Peter, I was a little caught off guard. My very first assignment was to memorize the flags of all of the countries represented in the United Nations. I thought for sure he was joking. I was assured he was not. With a very limited (as an understatement) knowledge of flags, my next thought was that this task would be next to impossible to complete before the end of my internship, and I was definitely  going to be the worst intern for the position. A little over a
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By Victoria Hicks, Relocation Services On a regular day at The International Center, the Relocation Services department sends about 50 to 100 emails a day. Our job lies in the preparing, scheduling and welcoming of professionals from all over the world, making their stay or relocation as smooth as we can manage it so that they can concentrate on their jobs and families. Our hundreds of emails range from scheduling school visits for clients with children to acting as the middle man between landlords and our clients. Sounds simple, right? Except planning and scheduling can only get you so
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By Kathryn (K.D.) Fox, Communications Intern On June 17th, I received a rather distressed email from a woman named Katy Keck, representing the 2014 Crop Hunger Walk. It had been forwarded to interns in The International Center because one of the interns from this organization had to drop out due to an emergency, and they needed someone to replace her for the following day. The email stated “The main skills needed are that they can drive, film with a flip cam, and keep on time. Guaranteed lots of laughter, great experiences, meals and a good recommendation for a job
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By Alex Rohe, Development Intern Hi everyone! I’m Alex Rohe, the new guy; I started interning at The International Center at the end of last week, and I’ll be working for and learning from Magdalena Josipovic, the Development Manager, for the rest of the summer. I grew up in Indiana, and I’m glad to be home for a few months. However, at the beginning of the summer, I’ll admit that I felt a few twinges of jealousy as I watched my peers travel all over the world to study abroad and to work overseas. At first, I thought that
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By Olivia Grace Wolfe, Global Competency Intern  Little known fact (that even Ansuyah doesn’t know yet) – I met Ansuyah Naiken before she even knew who I was. And here I am, almost two full years later, working as her intern! I was taking an Intro to International Politics course way back in 2012 and one of our requirements was to both volunteer in Indy with international refugees and attend community events that my professor, Dr. Su-Mei Ooi, informed us of. Coincidentally, one of these events was a Cultural Workshop held at the Glick Center at Crooked Creek where
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By Abby Miller, Marketing and Communications Intern To say that our time at The International Center got off to an interesting start would be a complete understatement. January of this year, if you remember, Indianapolis experienced extreme winter weather that caused many interns to start later than anticipated. When the temperature of the city was below freezing and the streets were constantly covered in snow, it was easy to believe that spring would never come.However, the trees outside our office have already bloomed and Indy is turning green again. With the changing colors comes the end of the Spring
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By Fiyinfolu Arotiba, Protocol Intern Interaction among individuals, groups and countries are influenced or directed by certain norms and patterns. These norms tend to be different depending on the geographical location of those involved. My definition of protocol is simply the act of following the right procedures in interaction with each other. In the context of my position as the Protocol Intern at The International Center, protocol can be defined as “what to do in a certain situation” and etiquette is “how to do something gracefully and respectfully.” Both definitions obviously inform anyone about the Office of Protocol’s main
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A Reflection on COPE SessionsBy Corinne O’Brien, Global Competency Intern The mood in the room was one of mutual understanding and appreciation. Each of the women that participated in the Community Orientation Program for Expatriates (COPE) session has an entirely unique background, yet they share a powerful common bond.COPE is a service offered by The International Center in Indianapolis that connects relocated individuals with their community and, perhaps more importantly, with each other. Topics range from American customs and holidays, healthcare, education, law enforcement, work and volunteer opportunities, and cultural differences. The primary topic at this session was navigating
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A Global Competency Training ExperienceBy Kader Sahin, Operations Intern One of my best experiences with The International Center thus far has been the opportunity to attend, explore and share my own experiences at the Global Competency Trainings. Two weeks apart, we went for trainings to Interactive Intelligence, one of the global providers of contact centers, unified communications, and business process automation software and services designed to improve the customer experience in the Indianapolis area. Interactive Intelligence has locations in many countries such as United States, Canada, The Netherlands, France, Sweden, Germany, England, Poland, Middle East & Turkey, Spain, Saudi
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By Samy Samandu, IVLP Intern IVLP. What does that stand for? It stands for International Visitors Leadership Program. The program was introduced by the Department of State to bring emerging leaders from all over the world to the United States to talk to people just like them professionally. These projects take a special kind of planning, diligence, and patience. IVLP Delegation from Brazil visiting theIndiana Department of Education My first set of visitors came from Brazil. As an intern, I submitted my first proposal for events that program participants might do, which was pretty neat and I listened to
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