To Intern abroad and or to study abroad are both incredible ways to live and travel through another country and culture.

Although we are absolute advocates of study abroad programs, here are some of the reasons we really love to intern abroad! See if to intern abroad is the right fit for you.

Experiment with Career Choices
Interning in India is a fantastic way to see if a particular career is the right one for you. Not sure if you are interested in journalism or marketing? Or do you want to move towards a non-profit career rather than business? Interning can help you figure out what you do and don’t want to do later in life.

Our therapy and counseling intern working with children in India

Spend Most of your time with Locals at Work
Interning abroad allows you to spend the largest portion of your day with Indian co-workers during the week. This is a great way to break out of your “comfort zone” of only being with other international students. Spending most of your time with your colleagues at work helps you understand the local ways of doing things, talking, and local life.

Martina and Chelsea volunteering at the women’s center in India

Use the Intern Abroad Experience to Improve your “Soft Skills”
To intern abroad or to work abroad in a new country means that you are not always in the most nurturing environment. In an educational setting such as a university, you have lots of university staff and professors to ensure that you are being supported at all hours. During an internship, you are forced to use much more of your own intuition, your own sense of direction to help you navigate the city, and deal with regular work issues. There may be a coworker who doesn’t like you, a boss who is disappointed in the work you have done, or gossip in the workplace. This helps prepare you in a very realistic way for the “real world”

Understand work pace better
Doing an internship abroad can help you understand that all countries have their own work pace. For example, India’s work pace is significantly different from the U.S. It is important for interns to understand how to flow with different work paces because in any job, we are now interacting with coworkers who might be global. We often here from Americans that they have a difficult time communicating with their Indian colleagues in India. Working abroad with them in person can help you understand where your international colleagues are coming from.

Interns making friends with their Indian colleagues and coworkers

Any other great reasons why interning abroad is a great alternative to studying abroad? Leave us a comment and we will add it to the list!