We asked Seungmin Lee, who just completed a two-month internship in Brazil, about his experience there.
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Through my internship, I was involved in international exchange projects, such as giving a talk about study abroad life at FAAP University in Sao Paulo, Brazil. At the end of the internship, I gave a class as part of my workship and shared about Japanese and Korean culture and language.
On the personal side, one of the most memorable things was Carnival. I participated in a big event that lasted over 3 weeks and was a lot of fun. Also, there were a lot of graphics in the city, which was beautiful and recognized as art. In terms of work, the most memorable experience for me was teaching a class as a workshop; I was a little nervous because I had to talk for an hour straight, but I was able to make the content better and more rewarding because of the many comments I received both before and during the class.
However, there were some difficulties. There are many foreigners in Sao Paulo, and I was reminded that the country is made up of immigrants, but I sometimes found it difficult to communicate with them because they did not speak English. I also felt that until I became fluent in Portuguese, I would be considered a foreigner, and since English was not spoken in this environment, it would take some time for me to get used to it.
Nevertheless, this experience gave me good experience in telling my story to others. In particular, I was able to consider how to tell my story to people whose culture I am familiar with, and how to tell it to others who have something completely different. I was able to take into account the other person’s needs while also being able to guess how they were thinking, a skill I feel I gained that will be important in my college life and in my job search.
Participating in an overseas internship is not an easy decision to make, and convincing our parents would be especially difficult. However, I felt that clarifying what I wanted to do and learn through this overseas internship would make it easier to talk with my parents and lead to important things. Living abroad is tough, but overcoming it is a good experience; I met a lot of people and gained a lot of knowledge during my 2-month internship, so I encourage everyone to take the first step.
Watch the video below to learn more about Seungmin Lee’s experience (only Japanese):