I chose to intern at the International Hospitality Council of Austin to further my goal of working as a Foreign Service Officer with the State Department. The International Hospitality Council of Austin (IHCA) is a non-profit charitable and educational corporation founded in 1960 under the auspices of Joe Neal. Joe Neal served as director of the UT international office and created the IHCA to address the needs of international students dealing with alienation and loneliness caused by being in an unfamiliar environment. At first the IHCA functioned as a way to connect these international students with volunteers willing to host the students for dinners and other activities. Over the years the IHCA morphed into an organization that deals more with official international visitors than with international students.
One of the first things I was tasked with was creating a simple spreadsheet that reflected information gleaned from scholarship applications. The scholarships are still solicited via paper applications (a future project would be figuring out how to transfer the process to an online application). In order to determine some basic statistical information they needed someone to go through the applications and input information regarding countries of origin, number of applicants from each country and areas of study present. Next, I helped to update the electronic Council of International Visitors (eCIV) database. Pam uses this database to keep track of which resources are used in individual programs. I transfer all of the information from a program-specific paper file to an online database.mThe eCIV is accessible by all of the CIVS in the country. My time was also spent supporting their next fundraising venture. They have decided to host an online auction for the first time. After an online auction host site was chosen (the IHCA is using Cmarket) work began on writing a letter and donation form for the purpose of soliciting money, items or services.
Interning at the IHCA does offer opportunities to step outside the traditional office intern scenario. The international groups that visit occasionally use the conference room at the ICA and that potentially offers exposure to a broad range of cultures and topics. Although most of the groups visited on days when I was unable to attend, I was fortunate enough to be introduced to one delegation visiting from Russia. I accompanied them on a brief souvenir buying excursion and was able to practice my Russian language skills. One of the women gave me her business card and told me to write if I wanted to continue practicing.
I am very pleased with the outcome of my internship at the IHCA. I feel I achieved my goal of increasing my knowledge of how diplomacy on a local level is practiced. In my time there I made some good contacts that will lead to at least one letter of reference. I will potentially have the opportunity to participate in future IHCA endeavors that will increase my exposure to State Department related matters.