Editor’s note: This story is part of Dispatches from Abroad, a series highlighting UChicago community members who are researching, studying and working around the world.
Members of the University of Chicago community spent their recent spring breaks traveling abroad, exploring a wealth of opportunities while experiencing rich, intellectual discussions and career insights. These graduate and undergraduate students spent their days engaging with institutions, experts and UChicago alumni, and their evenings enjoying the diversity of local culture.
The graduate trips were organized through the Law School and the Committee on International Relations. The undergraduate career treks were organized through UChicago’s Office of Career Advancement, with support from UChicago Global. Erwin Paderanga, who oversees the trek program at Career Advancement, said: “Treks offer a one-of-a-kind experience. Students travel to cities across the U.S. and around the world to meet UChicago’s global network of alumni and employers. It’s a wonderful way to experience a ‘day in the life’ of their dream job and get an inside view on how they can find jobs and internships."
Learn more about their recent journeys below:
‘A different view of the world’ in Geneva
Second-year College student Alyssa Manthi’s trip to Geneva, Switzerland was her first internationally.
As part of their three-day trek focused on public policy and organized through UChicago’s Office of Career Advancement, Manthi and her fellow students visited a number of UN agencies and nonprofits —meeting with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, as well as other UN entities.
As a student double majoring in English and human rights, Manthi enjoyed the variety of opportunities the career trek unearthed. She also said the trip sparked a new interest in international opportunities.
Coming from a high school in the Chicago suburbs, Manthi said: “I just never had opportunities like this before. It was nice to get a different view of the world. Maybe I’ll go work abroad when I graduate. That’s an option that I hadn’t really considered before.”
Though her trip to Geneva was her first outside of the U.S., Manthi is not waiting long to travel again. This quarter she is at the UChicago Center in Paris, continuing her studies in human rights as well as adding to her international experiences.