Organization provides internships abroad
AIESEC facilitates international work abroad exchange program
Ashlee Crowl has traveled all over Europe, and thanks to a student-run organization, she spent last spring and summer in India. AIESEC provides an alternative to study abroad programs by offering internships around the world.
By Jeff Deters
Thursday, October 25th, 2007
shlee Crowl has seen the world. She has been to England, France, Holland and Italy, just to name a few. But to Crowl, one destination stands out among the others: India.
Photo by Jessie Fetterling
Ashley Crawl, Topeka senior, travelled to India last semester for six months.
Crowl, Topeka senior, traveled through India and other countries in the Asian subcontinent last spring and summer while on an internship with the International Association of Students in Economics and Commerce, or AIESEC, (pronounced eye-sek).
AIESEC, according to its Web site, is the world’s largest student organization and has chapters in more than 800 universities, and the University of Kansas is one of them. AIESEC’s mission is to promote international understanding and cooperation and it facilitates a work-abroad exchange program between its member countries.
Vaishali Gala, Hays junior and vice president of student process for AIESEC, helps students plan their trips. She said about 40 students are involved in the organization this year.
“We want people and students to go abroad and get an understanding of what the world is,” she said.
While in India, Crowl worked for a marketing company that promoted educational programs for students. She said she wanted to travel to India because each area of the country is unique. For example, in the southwest the culture has a strong Portuguese influence and the north has a predominant Chinese and Buddhist culture.
“I’m just really interested in the culture and history of religion,” she said.
During her trip, she rode camels, slept under the stars in Pakistan, stayed in a Buddhist monastery and took a week-long introductory course in Buddhism and meditation.
She also saw the Taj Mahal, where she was also a subject of attention. Crowl said because she is a white woman with blonde hair - something many of the people there likely hadn’t seen very often – they took pictures of her as well.
“I was sort of surprised,” she said.
For fun, Crowl also went bungee jumping and canyon swinging in Nepal. She said that she dropped about 160 feet, and then swung on a rope in a canyon for about eight seconds.
“I wasn’t really scared,” Crowl said. “I guess I was thinking, ‘What am I doing right now?’ It was crazy.”
Crowl said in the future she would like to return to the region, but right now she was concentrating on getting into law school. She said international law appealed to her.
“There are a lot of people that need someone to stand up for them,” Crowl said.
Nate Barbarick, a 2006 graduate from Olathe, is currently living in Tampere, Finland. He said he decided to go to the country because he had always liked Nordic countries and thought it would be a good experience for him.
“I love this country very much,” he said. “The nature is beautiful and the people are mostly kind and friendly.”
For about six months, Barbarick worked at a university of applied sciences as a tutor, teaching staff and administrators the English language. He said he also wrote for a magazine and that he planned to return next month.
“Working abroad has been a fantastic experience, definitely,” he said.
For information about AIESEC, e-mail aieseckansas.stupro@gmail.com
— Edited by Rachel Bock
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