Self Development and Experiential Learning on placement at Northeastern

I have already experienced and learned a vast amount while interning at Northeastern. I have only been working at NU Global for a month and a half yet I have been given many tasks and projects to complete which have all taught me something different and have given me an opportunity to develop my skills and experience in a business environment.

As it is summer our office has not been as busy which has given me an excellent chance to get up to speed on all my daily responsibilities and become familiar with the different programs and data bases that I will be using over the next year. I am beginning to feel quite settled and comfortable in my office surroundings.

During my first few weeks I was asked to lead a presentation describing the cooperative/collaborative relationship between my university, Glasgow Caledonian University, and Northeastern University to a large number of faculty members from NU Global. This was, at first, a slightly daunting task as I felt under enormous pressure to do well and impress my new colleagues and supervisor. I had the honor of presenting with Ketty Rosenfeld, a highly inspirational woman, who works in the International Coop Office at Northeastern.  It was interesting to listen to Ketty's story about the GCU and NU relationship and where it began. Several years ago Ketty initiated this successful, cooperative relationship between both universities and now each year several students from GCU travel across the Atlantic to intern at Northeastern and experience life in the USA and many students from Northeastern have ventured to various locations in the UK to study or intern. I'm learning so much about this amazing University working for Northeastern and so this presentation gave me the chance for my colleagues to learn a bit about my university and my home country, Scotland. I was given very positive feedback and my supervisor was extremely pleased with how I conducted my first presentation. This gave me a confidence boost and a drive to aim higher and achieve all that I can during my time at NU.

This year will definitely be a learning curve for me. Without an opportunity to go out on placement, I would be completing a university course with 4 years of theory instead of three and a one year placement. It's not until you're actually out on placement you realise there are so many benefits and rewards of going on a year's industrial placement. It is definitely a fundamental self development experience. I couldn't possibly learn in a classroom what I am learning on placement - these life experiences can't be taught in a classroom!