Name: Marcus Eng

Exchange location: THAILAND



Program Name: Sawasdee Project



Internship duration: 7 weeks



In three words, summarise your AIESEC internship: Challenging, Adaptation, Rewarding



A typical day on your internship:
I would wake up at 7am and school started at 8am. I normally would teach 3 or 4 periods a day. Lunch would be in school while dinner was at my host family’s house. After dinner, I would go back to school because there is no wifi in the house. I would go back home usually at about 11pm to sleep. Sometimes i would hang out and drink with my host family. Every now and then i would ask my host to take me to meet my fellow interns at their schools or at the convenience store.



What was the most shocking/curious/fun fact you learned on your exchange?
The Thai Culture and lifestyle in the rural countryside shocked me the most. Being from Singapore, I thought I wouldn’t experience that big of a culture shock because both Asian countries are in close proximity. However, the lives they live here are so much different from the Thai city life. I always thought I understood the meaning of the simplicity of life until I came here where wifi is lousy and there are no malls around here. It was interesting to see the things they ate and the things they did to entertain themselves.

What did you enjoy most from your exchange? Any words of advice for future exchange participants?
I definitely enjoyed meeting all these new people. From the other teachers, to my host, the AIESEC Thailand members and especially the other interns. I’ve made friends from all over the world and i formed close bonds with some of them. I never thought i would become such close friends with some of the other interns but i have, and I am really glad I did.

My words of advice for future exchange participants would be to expect the unexpected and be prepared for anything. I came into this project with low expectations but reality was even lower than that. We were all alone in the schools, some of us with no other interns nearby, and the boredom and loneliness was one of the biggest issues we faced. Some of the living conditions were also quite abysmal. But go into any project with an open mind, no expectations and try to be prepared for the absolute worst.

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Name: Yasutoshi Park



Exchange location: Siem Reap, CAMBODIA



Program name: Erudite Orphans



Internship duration: 6 weeks



A typical day on your internship:

The main purpose of my internship was to teach English to children in an underprivileged village, children who otherwise would never be able to afford such an opportunity. These children were aged between five and fourteen years old, and I would teach an hour from 8am, and another hour from 4pm to two separate classes, in total around eighteen children. The lessons, as well as the internship in general, depends purely upon your own initiative and creativity, so what I taught and did with the children was completely up to me – I personally decided that focusing on everyday phrases was the best course of action, and planned lessons and games based on that.



However, an equally significant aspect of the internship involved personal relationships with the children and the villagers, and a direct immersion into their lifestyle and culture. I would spend hours every day playing with the children - teasing them, throwing them around and chasing after them, trying to talk to them and getting to know their lives. With the other EPs I often organised outings for the kids, such as to the local shopping mall, or to the nearby lake – due to their poverty these are places which they’ve only visited once or twice in their lives, and I was able to help them to see beyond their village and experience more of the world through this. Language was initially a problem but with a bit of effort I began to pick up on their national language Khmer, and even that in itself was an amazing experience​



What did you enjoy most about your internship?

I’m not sure if enjoyed is the right word, but spending time with the children of a very different cultural and economic background, coming to understand their individual personalities, their likes and dislikes, observing the way they interacted with one another, and beneath all that finding a sincere and even desperate need to help them and leave them with something before I left, I think that was the most precious thing about my internship.



Although I had a lot of free time, I chose to spend most of it in the village – I arrived at 8am for my lesson, and there were many times when I only left the village after all the kids went to their homes at 7pm. I got to observe how truly difficult they were financially – for showers, cooking water and water for toilet flushing, they had to take buckets to the pumps located throughout the village. They were the same clothes, often ripped or dirty, for a week straight, and sometimes skipped meals simply because they couldn’t afford it.



A moment that epitomised all of this came during my second week – I was sitting down in the village when my favourite student came past me with her brothers, riding bikes with bags attached to them. It was already pitch black outside, and I was wondering where they were going so the NGO person explained to me that, because their family had no income, their kids had to go out to the city every night to rummage through rubbish, collect empty bottles and cans, and then sell them. When I heard that, I felt absolutely crushed. This was my favourite student, a very beautiful, cheerful and cheeky girl, just thirteen years old, and she rides out to the city at 7pm, often returning at 11 or 12. What kind of world is this that children have to do this kind of work just to live?
That moment was when I first began to feel that what I was doing was truly, actually having an impact on their lives. In Siem Reap, tourism is the predominant sector, and being able to speak English almost guarantees a job and decent living standards. By me coming down here and giving them education that they otherwise would not have, I can give them a chance to change their lives, I can give them a little bit more hope for a brighter future. How profound is that? How precious is what we were trying to do. I came to personally and individually love the children I met in those six weeks, and that was what made my internship a beautiful experience.



How do you feel after finishing your internship?

Slightly deflated – I didn’t feel that I was able to accomplish in my time there anywhere near as much as I wanted to. In fact, after reading an article about the impacts of volunteering in Cambodia, I realised that I did many things that I perhaps should not have done or could have done better.

Overall however I feel that this was time well spent, and if I went back in time I would still go on the same internship, there are no regrets there. I experienced so much in my time there, and accumulating experience is always a valuable thing. I broadened my understanding of people and the world, met some amazing exchange participants and made friendships which I know I can count on to still be there down the track, experienced living alone and being in control of my day, I feel that I came out of this internship a more mature and complete person in a variety of ways.



Any words of advice for future exchange participants?
It all comes down to you and your initiative. You have to be there to make those amazing moments happen. You have to be pushing and challenging yourself to not settle into a boring and tame routine, but always find more excitement and fun in a day. I can’t communicate this point enough, although there are uncontrollable factors in any experience, in the end it is all up to you what you do with the cards you are dealt, and it all comes down to you whether you have a boring internship, a fun internship or an amazing internship.







Name: Swapnil Mindhe


Exchange location: Shanghai, CHINA

Program Name: Explore China

Internship duration: 6 weeks

A typical day on your internship:
I worked in Arts Education in the Education department of Himalaya Museum. This involved organising and participating in workshops with children between ages 9-12. The workshops were focused on educating and promoting potential young artists. I also worked in the design, planning and promotion for future exhibitions the museum will hold.

What did you enjoy most about your internship?
I enjoyed the friends I made the most. They really defined every moment for me and cheered me up despite the strenuous conditions of my work.



How do you feel after finishing your internship?
Initially I was quite depressed the experience of living in a less communal atmosphere did not suit me well. I miss my friends and the city that I was becoming a part of. Now it’s gotten better and I’ve come to that things aren’t over as I initially though and I can use the lessons my experience taught me to better myself.



Any words of advice for future exchange participants? ​
Keep an open mind and be friendly. Great things will happen you just have to let go of your inhibitions a bit and enjoy the ride.















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