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Charlotte Holt: 'This internship has allowed me to grow as a person, intellectually, and mentally’

Charlotte Holt is a second year International Justice student at Leiden University College. She did an internship at Academia Neerlandesa; a language school that offers Dutch language courses to medical professionals. ‘An internship can become very beneficial for those who wants to discover where their strengths and weaknesses lie.’

What kind of organization is Academia Neerlandesa?

Charlotte: ‘Academia Neerlandesa offers 3-month intensive Dutch language courses to mostly medical professionals who wants to work in The Netherlands. At the moment they have more than 450 students from 14 different countries who are learning Dutch. All the language courses are taught by experienced native Dutch speakers from The Netherlands and Belgium. They have campuses in Italy and Spain, but also in The Netherlands.’ 

Charlotte Holt

What were your tasks at Academia Neerlandesa?

‘I worked as a Research Assistant, revolved around producing and generating an expanded leaflet/booklet for the incoming and existing students of the Academy. This leaflet is aimed to inform the students about what to expect upon their arrival in the Netherlands; what documents EU/non-EU students need in order to commence their working as healthcare professionals in the Netherlands. I did research regarding the rules of the Dutch Government, the fundamental principles of EU legislation, and the ability of incoming students to efficiently adhere to these rules by providing them with information regarding the necessary/mandatory documents.’ 

What did you learn from your internship?

‘I learned how to collaborate with people and to work in a team. This internship allowed me to branch out, and step out of my comfort zone, which was definitely my aim when applying for this internship. Also, as a research assistant, I made relationships with people that I’ll remember forever.’ 

‘I also find out during the internship that I really love studying law and I am glad to say that I believe I am on the correct path with this study. Working as an intern at the Academy has also helped me discover certain weaknesses that I should work on; such as feeling a bit uncomfortable speaking to strangers, and I believe that working in the position that I was assigned to during my internship, has allowed me to work on this weakness. This internship has allowed me to grow as a person, intellectually, and mentally.’ 

What would you advice students who wants to do an internship?

‘If I were to give a student applying for this internship advice, it would be to go for it and take your first step out of your comfort zone! I have always tried to become more communicative whilst simultaneously learning new information and because of the internship, I learned those skills. So if students wants to make new connections and learn how to become communicative stronger, a internship is a great choice. I would also advice to discuss the plans with the LUC supervisor and internship coordinator in advance, because it helped me very much in the process of applying.’ 

Do you also consider to do an internship? Then take a look at Trail: the internship platform of the Governance and Global Affairs Faculty of Leiden University. A variety of internships, focusing on the disciplines offered by the faculty, can be found here. You can easily get in touch with the various organisations and see what requirements you need to meet from the University and the organisation in order to do an internship.

Text: Abdelkarim Megaiz

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