10 year internship scheme anniversary(II): Tailoring your own story

Our second guest blogger is Dimitrie Mihes, an internship alumnus and our current economic officer in the embassy’s political section.

Having been reminded several times by our ever-so-vigilant comms officer, Catalina, to write about my time as an intern with the British Embassy, my guilty conscience started to outweigh the pleasure of procrastination.

So as I hesitantly slid my fingers over the keyboard thoughts on what to write started to coalesce around the event which is soon to be: a 10 year celebration dedicated to all the interns who served in the Embassy since our very own Raluca Bragarea turned vision into a long-lasting reality. Yet taking a step back to look at the programme reveals more than just a springboard to amazing careers, as many of our alumni now enjoy, but more of a narrative which extends for over 10 years and, unbeknownst to its heroes, weaves their stories across time and space into a single thread.

If you stop to think about it, as an intern you’re actually inheriting and taking ownership of a decade’s worth of ideas, sweat and (tears?) commitment, which made the programme what it is today: a benevolent “agoge” (don’t worry, had to look the word up myself). I found that this sort of things really comes in handy once you discover what a “frictional labour market” is the hard way.  Yet it was not just about getting your bearings straight, but being entrusted with ownership to tailor your own story which gave meaning to the job. And meaning isn’t something that comes easily in life, but there you have it, smack middle of an internship: the sense of being part of something greater. I’m proud of the fact that I was given the opportunity to continue this effort, this time as a policy officer.

I could go on and on about the plethora of projects I’ve worked on during my time, but it wouldn’t amount to anything if I couldn’t convey the feeling of uncertainty and excitement which accompanied them. So I’ll end here with a final thought: it’s 6 o’clock, I’m still at my desk at the Embassy writing this blog, but I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.