UN_Jimin, Woo

Motives to participate in UN internship

I spent ten years in Germany as a child, developing an interest in various languages ​​and international affairs. Attending an international school, she was able to learn about the cultures, languages ​​and societies of different countries, and after returning to Korea, her curiosity grew. I studied German and English steadily in middle school, and when I entered high school, I was able to experience MUN for the first time. When she came to college, she majored in German Language and Literature and double majored in International Studies. In the meantime, I was able to learn more about the functions and systems of the UN as a German representative at the HIMUN (HUFS International Model United Nations) General Assembly hosted by Hankuk University of Foreign Studies and Korea Forest Service. Through the process of sharing opinions and discussions with representatives of other countries and resolving agendas through them, she dreamed of experiencing and learning the United Nations more directly. In the meantime, she learned about icn's UN internship and decided to participate in order to learn more deeply about her field of interest and gain hands-on experience.

Main tasks and activities

Her most basic and essential task was to attend meetings at least once every day and submit summaries of three of them. Since this internship was conducted online, I started listening to the meeting at 11 pm New York time and took notes, and if I missed something, I wrote a summary or revised it and submitted it the next day. In addition, we held virtual voice meetings every Wednesday to listen to lectures by experts in various fields or ask questions and advice from seniors with UN internship experience. Also, at the weekly intern meeting held once a week, we had time to share questions and opinions while listening to the meetings we had participated in over the past week.

What you like, what you learn, what you feel, etc.

She was imagining going to New York and working in the field, but it was a pity that she had to work online. First of all, it was far more beneficial to have a weekly intern meeting to ask questions and share ideas with other interns rather than simply attending meetings, writing and submitting summaries. In the last week of my internship, I attended a meeting related to COVID-19, and I had a good experience through that meeting. In fact, the world is facing a serious situation right now, but after hearing the conference, I think it is very meaningful to see so many countries working together with one common goal and helping each other to solve this problem. I did. I thought that this could provide an opportunity to help and learn from each other.

Your own tips for a successful internship

Before passing the internship, I had a near perfect score on this test, and I usually had some confidence in my English skills. Doing what I thought would be easy, I realized that it wasn't easy. At first, I tried to write down all the contents of the meeting, but it was impossible to write down the words of so many speakers in the three-hour meeting. I was thinking about how to write a summary more effectively, but I thought that it would be better to grasp the main points and summarize rather than write down all the contents of the meeting. To do that, I thought that listening skills were the most important, so I practiced listening often. In the first week, we practiced filling in the gaps while watching the replay video uploaded the day after the meeting we had heard on the same day. By attending three meetings and writing summaries, I was able to grasp the main issues and points of the meetings without having to write them down from start to finish. I practiced listening by attending meetings frequently, and continued to practice writing unfamiliar expressions and words while watching American dramas and movies without subtitles before starting my internship. I often read news and articles about international issues and practice listening and speaking English every day, so the more I finish my internship, the more interesting and easier my work is.