Peru Internships

What I enjoyed the most is how during my internship, I was placed with other students that were on the same career path as me. This made me happy and eager to keep on going with my goals. The doctors there were also great and learning about their culture was very interesting to me.

What I enjoyed the most was just the experience of shadowing professionals in another country and getting to witness how the work is conducted in Peru. Luckily, all the professionals were really lovely, encouraged me to ask questions and explained the different diagnoses, treatments etc., so that I really got to learn a lot!

The ability to be fully immersed in the Spanish language was what I enjoyed most. I definitely feel like my Spanish skills have improved greatly after this experience, and it was wonderful to learn about Peruvian culture. My internship involved travelling to a local centro de salud in the city of Cusco to shadow and assist doctors and nurses. I assisted the obstetrician, the nurses in the children’s department, and the doctor in the general medicine area. It has shown me the inner workings of a medical clinic, allowing me to familiarise myself with the routines and protocols involved. I am on the path to become a Physician Assistant, and I have also learned that I really enjoy working with kids, meaning that a future in Paediatrics may be ahead!

There is no doubt that my internship has contributed to one of my major goals; to make small but important social change, and improve the education and mental wellbeing of young people. My role involved helping children of various ages with homework tasks, including support with anything from colouring in to long-multiplications or reading problems (and much more!) I have learnt so many transferable skills being on this internship that would be especially useful in a teaching career. It pushed me to demonstrate professionalism and exercise patience; a necessity if I want to work with children, or even if I want to manage people for a creative arts business or work for an NGO.

For me, participating in an internship abroad was a way to fulfill some professional and personal aspirations I’ve had for a long time. I was so incredibly excited to travel to a country that spoke a language I loved. Traveling overseas to a Spanish speaking country like Peru, was going to allow me to work with a variety of students with their English language skills, while also improving my own Spanish language abilities. I’ll always treasure my relationship with my supervisor and all the amazing interns I met. I have developed a greater love of the Spanish language and associated cultures, which I want to continue to explore. Through such exploration I intend to lay a foundation for both professional and personal enrichment, as I wish to make travel and interactions with various others a part of my life.

My internship experience has been amazing. It was different from what I imagined because I thought I would be more nervous, but no. The team of the Centre I interned with were amazing and made me feel at home from day one. As I developed familiarity and context within my role, my expectations increased. I was given an incredibly active role shadowing psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, pharmacists and occupational therapists. This meant I could learn so much more, expanding my horizons and taking on more responsibilities. I was in charge of shadowing the Mental Health Centre staff, discussing cases and helping with tele monitoring. My internship has supported my long term goals as I wanted to gain knowledge and experience I'd have for the rest of my life. My long term goals are to help society and the people that are close to me. With this experience I feel more prepared to deal with crisis interventions, and to notice more easily when people are in need of help. My favorite memory from my internship experience was ironically my last day. But, that is because I did more interviews and got to meet everyone and they wished me a lot of good things. At that moment I realized that I wanted to stay longer, that being there was one of the best decisions I could have ever made.