Having to right about my experience this past summer makes me realize once again how

lucky I am. I had the opportunity to be part of the OAS (Organization of American States)
summer internship program in Washington D.C. where I met people who I can call good friends
from all around the hemisphere. We were almost 95 interns all working towards the same goal,
the protection of human rights. For those who do not know, the OAS is a political organization
that has as member states 35 different countries in the Americas. Its purpose is based on its main
pillars: democracy, human rights, security, and development. I was under the Executive
Secretariat for Integral Development, more specifically in the Sustainable Development
department. This department is divided into five Programmatic Areas; Water Resources
Management, Energy and Climate Change Mitigation, Risk Management and Adaptation to
Climate Change, Sustainable Cities, Biodiversity and Sustainable Land Management, and finally
Environmental Law, Policy and Good Governance. From these five areas I was part of the
support group of Sustainable Cities, Biodiversity and Sustainable Land Management area. I
know it might sound kind of tricky to understand, at least at the begging it was for me, but once
you are there everything becomes way simpler. Since the OAS has an internships program they
have everything extremely organized. The first week of your internship every intern has to turn
in a document with 3 to 5 objectives that are meant to be accomplished throughout the summer.
Besides this, the programs also has weekly meeting with all the interns in which we get to go to
different organizations such as the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank.
From these two visits, going into the IDB building was amazing. I do not know why it makes
you feel like that is the place where you want to work for the rest of your life. The same thing
happens with the World Bank; it is breathtaking to go into the building and to see how cool it is.
I am lucky to be able to say that I loved my job and that every single morning no matter
how tired I was I enjoyed going into the office. Some of my tasks where related to web design as
well as with management of data bases such as Oracle and Access, and evaluation of different
proposals. The thing I enjoyed doing the most was the web design. I found it relative simple so it
was fun to do. The thing I found more challenging was the evaluation of the proposals. First I
had to evaluate candidates for a scholarship program based on their merits and professional
backgrounds. This was scary because of course I did not want to be hard on everyone but at the
same time I could not be an easy evaluator. At the end it all turned out all right and my
supervisor agreed with my decision. The second time I had to be an evaluator it was for the
second phase of a sustainable communities in Central America and the Caribbean project that
they had been developing. In this opportunity I had to read over 80 proposals and evaluate them.
The project was only for 8 of those so once again it was extremely challenging to decide which
proposal deserved it. In this opportunity I was part of a group of 8 evaluators and my advisor
said I had done a good job.
Besides working for an organization I loved, the fact of living in such an important city
like Washington D.C is incredible. D.C is an amazing city, there is always something to do, or
somewhere to be. From the classic Georgetown with its Sunday brunches, to Dupont Circle and
its happy hours, and crazy Chinatown. I can guarantee you that you will never be bored. One of
the things I remembered the most from Loras while I was there was the word Networking.
Everything in D.C is about networking, every single happy hour, every single art exhibition,
cocktail party, and sometimes even lunch.
Now that I am back and I think about my experience I cannot avoid to smile and to
remember all those special memories from my time there. In relation to my life and work plans, I
think things happen for a reason even when you do not think they do. As Theodore Roosevelt
said; Believe you can and you're halfway there. Everything has a purpose and you get to learn
and grow from everything you live. I believe after this summer I am surer about what I want to
do with the rest of my life. I thing I want to get a master in Sustainable Development to begin
with. One thing I learned this summer is that you are never done studying. If you want to achieve
your dreams you need to keep going and going. I am happy to say that being an intern at the
OAS was one of my dreams and now that I achieved it, I have new ones. I want to go back and
live in D.C, I really think it is my kind of city. I want to work for the OAS some more, get a
master in Sustainable Development and hopefully in something related with marketing. All of
this to achieve my biggest dream which is to work for the IBD and after for the World Bank.
In terms of my personal plans I am happy I met so many people that are into the things I
am. I now know that I have a house I can go to in several different countries and I also know that
they will be as happy to see me as I will be to see them. I really need to thanks my parents and
Loras for helping me throughout this experience. I know that without their help this would have
never been possible.