I
have the go-ahead to tell you about my internship!! So here goes my attempt at
a summary:
I’m working at the Near East and
South Asia Center for Strategic Studies this semester as an Outreach Assistant
for the Communications Office. As I understand it, NESA is a Department of
Defense funded organization that has the two primary roles of housing experts
on relevant regions and issues and holding seminars that bring together
officials from the NESA region of the world to talk about topical issues. For
example, we are nearing the end of a two-week long seminar on combating
transnational threats that has attracted 52 foreign officials who have been
invited by their various embassies.
I
specifically intern for the Communications office, meaning my current responsibilities
include documenting the seminar via photos and written summaries. I sit in on
the lectures and take notes for my own research and for synopses distributed on
the website. Then, during coffee breaks, off-site visits, and free moments, I
take pictures of the participants looking studious, interacting with NESA staff
and lecturers, and connecting with one another.
To
be honest, it was kind of uncomfortable in the beginning. Here I am, a 20-year
old girl bouncing around with my Cannon, the loud shutter sound echoing and
flash attachment blinding. Some of the staff have nicknames for me when I’m in
photo-mode, “photo fairy,” “the paparazzi,” and “the entourage” are just a few.
But what I most feel like is a hunter. (A non-violent, non-threatening,
slightly frazzled one, but a hunter nonetheless.) I look around, constantly
trying to spot the best grouping of participants, walk softly to avoid
attracting attention, lift the clunky camera, and go for the shot.
Almost
all 52 participants seem to love the camera. They request posed pictures in
different locations around the office—“like I was the speaker”, “in front of
this flag”, “now in front of this one”, “with the view of the river”, etc.
Sometimes they even photobomb each other, acting like long-standing friends.
And
that brings me to my favorite part of my job. Every day, I get to interact with
people I would never get a chance to meet otherwise—whether they are NESA staff
members that are working on The Day After Project in Syria or a Major General
from Bangladesh. I get to laugh with them as they pose theatrically for the
camera, learn about their countries informally, collect business cards in
Arabic, Russian, and Farsi, and be invited to three different countries a day.
I
am continuously surprised by how relaxed the participants are willing to be
around me. They are superior in almost all quantifiable ways—age, education,
rank, experience—yet there’s little stuffiness, stilted conversations, or put
downs. So, after 1-2 hour lectures that leave my head spinning with long mental
scrolls of things to research and presumably leave them with a paradigm shift
in views towards the US government, we interact as if I were also a
participant, laughing and talking about the lectures, the city, and the world.
And
in between conversations and tourism tips about Jordan, Uzbekistan, Armenia,
and Lebanon, I hunt for picture-perfect moments for them to cherish upon returning
home.
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