The Journey of a Friendly Giant

When are you going to start working?¨ I must have heard that question about 50 times already from absolutely everybody. My answer is usually ¨Why?... Jealous?¨;) People think I am on a long vacation since I haven't mentioned work. I wish. The truth is, I have in fact started working, but not in the way that the other interns have. Some of my fellow colleagues from the Niagara College, CIDA funded internship program began working almost immediately after their arrival. However, I have officially been here for 4 weeks, and my first full month has been an orientation period like no other. "If you like your job, then it's hardly work at all. In fact, you would do it for free if this world didn't require you to have money." - Lisa Unger  In my first blog post entitled Passion  I spoke a bit about Cerro Blanco, but since then I have learned much more. I now know that the protected forest of "Cerro Blanco" is one of the very few remaining dry tropical for...

When I’m asked to describe myself in a few words, “confident” is usually one of the words I choose without hesitation. I say that with confidence because I’m usually not the nervous type, I’m very comfortable in front of crowds, love public speaking, networking, and spreading the laughter.  However, during the CIDA International youth internship program interview, I don’t think I’ve never been more nervous in my whole entire life. I felt genuine fear because I really wanted to be chosen for this amazing opportunity, I wanted to be exposed and immersed into another country for 6 full months. The position was entitled “Economic Development Officer” with details that varied from country to country and the interns would be working with different CIDA’s partner organizations. To me, it was an opportunity of a lifetime, being a new graduate from a International Commerce and Global development Degree program, I knew finding a job would not be an easy task. And despite all of the classes...