My NATO Defense College CO-OP
SARAH HAZLITT
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
SPRING 2016
About my COOP
Department: Middle East Faculty
Major: International Affairs
Position: VERO Intern (Volunteer, Research outreach)
Compensation: Unpaid (Presidential Global Scholarship)
Location: Rome, Italy
Dates: February 15 – May 15 2016
Position description and responsibilities were consistent with
COOL description
A Day in the life..
Most of my time was spent
Coordinating transport for lecturers
Spending time in the lectures and facilitating group activities
communicating with collogues to solve problems concerning the NRCC Course (NATO Regional Cooperation Course)
with my team (we sat all together and were in constant contact)
**** I was definitely treated as an intern and not a full time staffer
Surprises
Something that surprised me about working
at NATO Defense college is just how many
high officials I was able to work personally
with.
I interacted with ambassadors, generals in
the militaries of dozens of counties as well
as a few heads of state.
Lifelong Learning
During my COOP I gained skills such as
organizational skills
Working cross cultures
Professionalism
Language skills
The ability to work in a fast paced international environment
I learned that sometimes working across cultural barriers is harder
than you may originally expect. I came across a lot of people
who could not be more different than myself in almost every
aspect and developing a professional relationship with them
was a major learning experience.
Highlights
The best thing I did was
make connections with
people from dozens of
different countries and
cultural backgrounds.
I also loved being able to
experience Rome through
my Coop by facilitating tours
for the course.
I liked that the environment
was very conducive to
helping me to learn and
giving me as many learning
opportunities as possible.
Rome was an AMAZING place to be every day !
International Working Environment
During my COOP at the NDC I was able to apply a lot of knowledge I had gained from classes at Northeastern. I a lot of this was demonstrated through my international relations and politics classes, as they applied to the international work environment of NATO Defense College in Rome.
I was able to better understand, aid in, and edit research done by my colleagues on international issues and I was also better able to interact with people from all over the globe and have meaningful informed discussions about international affairs.
Something New
During my coop I was put into a lot of situations that were very high stress and
involved very important people, situations I had never been in before and never imagined I would be in. I had never before been taught exactly how to
greet an ambassador or salute a lieutenant until my time at NDC. I learned the
importance of being absolutely precise every time because when you are
arranging airport transport for ambassadors there is no second chance!
Making changes
because of
COOP
Since starting my COOP AT
NATO defense college, I
realized that though I loved my
experience I don’t think that is
the type of organization I want
to work for.
I found that I better enjoy the
private sector rather than
government organization and
intense bureaucracy.
I think I will continue to follow
my international affairs path,
but focus more on private
sector aspects of it.
Rome, I will miss you!