Nicole, an IEDP alumna who graduated in December, joins us on the blog to share insights from her summer internship in Brazil. Read on to learn more about her experience!

I interned at UNESCO Brazil‘s National Office in Brasília as the sole intern for the Education sector from May until August of 2024. I chose Brazil as I had background knowledge of their education system and the Portuguese language due to completing a Fulbright there in 2022. I also found that the grant associated with the IEDP internship would go further there than other options in places where flights to and from, as well as living expenses such as food, renting, and transportation, would be more expensive. I was also excited to go to Brasília because of its famed architecture and monuments. 

Staying in Brasília 

I found Brasília to be a lively, cultural city to live in. There was food from all over the world, world-class museums, fairs, and festivals that I could attend nearly every weekend. As Brasília is the capital, the various consulates from around the world also have amazing celebrations throughout the year.  I was lucky enough to be in town during Festas Juninas, which is a month-long festival that celebrates the harvest and some popular saints in the Catholic religion. There is a lot of dancing and eating involved in these festivals, so I was able to attend multiple in Brasília, including a Festa Junina at UNESCO! 

I chose to stay at an Airbnb within the south wing of the city that was a 20-minute walk away from UNESCO. Coincidently, an IEDP alumna had stayed there a few years prior during her internship with UNESCO Brazil. I really enjoyed this Airbnb because the host was staying there with me, and she was a warm, welcoming Brasiliense who would have lively chats with me and share food.  She served as a great guide to the city and companion throughout. 

It was also very convenient to stay in an Airbnb. A 3-month period can be very difficult to find a rental for, and Brazilian rental apartments tend to come unfurnished, meaning buying your stove, fridge, and other furniture, which I found to be too much work for such a short stay. 

Working at UNESCO 

During my time at UNESCO, I worked 5 days a week, 9 am until 5 pm, in the office every day. You work out your schedule with your supervisor based on your needs and the period you are in the county, ensuring that you meet the 420-hour requirement for the IEDP program. As I had plans to travel a bit during my time, I needed to work those hours to compensate for the days of traveling I planned. 

Some of the action items, I worked on during my time there included a 40-page Needs Assessment for the Ministry of Education & Huawei, sitting in on meetings with headquarters in Paris, visiting a quilombo, translating documents from Portuguese to English and from English to Portuguese, and creating presentations for G20 & pre-GEM events. 

The team there was incredibly helpful, patient, and kind. Everyone wanted to make sure that I had something to work on and that my interests were aligned with the projects I was working on. The G20 and GEM events were large, international events that were taking place across Brazil, so the team was incredibly busy with those items, which led to some lulls in activity in the office. 

Traveling in Brazil 

As I briefly mentioned in the last section,  I was interested in traveling a bit this summer within Brazil, so I built it into my schedule. I was able to visit my friends in a southern city, Curitiba. We visited capybaras, the old city, and various parks. It was wonderful to see people who would have otherwise been inaccessible to me due to distance. 

I also took a few days off from my internship to visit Manaus and the Amazon Rainforest, which was an absolute once-in-a-lifetime experience. I stayed overnight in the forest. We spotted giant owls and alligators in the evening. During the day, I caught my first fish, a piranha! I swam with pink dolphins and saw the most amazing birds and butterflies. The sunsets were gorgeous. The trip from Brasília is significantly cheaper than it would have been from the US, so it felt like the perfect time to do some extra traveling to a magical place. 

Overall, the experience helped me deepen my understanding of the Brazilian educational landscape, expand my network in Brazil, further develop my Portuguese language skills, and was genuinely a great deal of fun. I am grateful to the IEDP and Penn for making this opportunity possible!