Hello from Santiago!
In this post, I want to talk about what I have to do at my internship. I’ve talked a lot about how I’ve been feeling on this trip, what activities I’ve been doing, and general thoughts about Santiago and Chile, but I haven’t focused at all on what I’m actually doing Monday-Thursday from 8:30-4:30.
I work at Asemxa Chile A.G. I don’t know what the A.G. stands for but Asexma itself stands for Asociación de Exportadores y Manufacturas, or Association of Exporters and Manufactures. I’m still a little fuzzy on what the other departments have to do every day or who exactly they work with, but Asexma forms alliances with various organizations and businesses to help provide more services for their associates.
For example, Asexma recently created a partnership with people in the Chilean prison system to help provide resources for prisoners who are about to be released. Asexma is going to help provide training and recruitment services so when people are leaving prison, they have the skills they need to enter the workforce. Pretty cool, huh? I went to the event that signified the start of the partnership and it was really interesting. It was at the school where people are training to become prison guards so it was super scary when we showed up and a man with the biggest gun I’ve ever seen in real life opened the gate. Then, my supervisor said something about prison and I thought we were at a prison but then I realized exactly what she said and we were all on the same page. Anyway, you can see the pictures I took at the event here.
Asexma works with a variety of organizations and in the communications department, we have to write about those alliances and go to events to take pictures and video of meetings, events, and other things like that. I’ve had the opportunity to go to the Embassy of Ecuador to take pictures (you can see those here). I went to a conference that the President of the Asexma was speaking at (you can see those pictures here) and finally, I’ve gone to individual organizations and businesses as well to take pictures and video.
In addition to taking pictures, I am also in charge of updating the Facebook and Twitter pages of Asexma. I use Tweet Deck and Facebook’s programming feature to schedule posts between 8:30 a.m. and 10 p.m. with news about Asexma and the economy. I have learned more about business than I ever thought I would. I’m not even a Kelley School of Business student but look at me now! I have a couple news sources that I read and I pick out the top stories and schedule them for the pages. It’s sometimes hard because it might be a slow news day or I might not 100% understand what the story is saying but I’m trying.
It’s interesting because there is a focus on the American economy and Wall Street in Chile and at the end of the day, they usually compare the price of copper to how the US dollar is doing. I knew there would be a focus on our economy but I didn’t realize it would be this much of a focus. Anyway, if you want to catch up on business news and practice your Spanish, follow us on Twitter and Facebook! (And I will know if you do because I see those notifications!)
My job at Asexma is exactly the job I would give to a communications intern and it’s the job I was hoping to have as well. I am using the skills I learned in my journalism classes and it’s made me really appreciate MSCH-C226, Visual Communications. When I was taking C226, I hated it. I have a stronger writing background and I’ve always focused on writing stories and headlines rather than taking pictures or video. On the yearbook staffs I’ve been on since sophomore year of high school, I was always the writing person. Designing and photography weren’t my areas so I would try to stay far, far, FAR away from those parts of the yearbook.
In C226, I was thrown into an environment I do not like being in. There are three parts to this class: photography, design, and video. Depending on the professor you have, your class might be in a different order. Anyway, we learned how to use DSLR cameras, use a Word Press site, edit video using Final Cut Pro, and a lot more. I like taking pictures but I always end up feeling like I could do better or that someone else could take better pictures. Also, I really don’t like taking video for the same reason.
So, after struggling through this class because I was out of my writing element, I’m back using almost every single skill I practiced in class in the real world. After taking video at a business for a promotional video, I thought to myself how happy I was that I took C226 because I had the knowledge I needed to film (or at least I knew how to adjust the tripod and attach the camera to it).
Always try to have an open mind when it comes to required classes because you might end up needing to remember everything you learned in order to survive at your internship. Thanks, C226.
With a little less than three weeks left in Santiago and less than 12 full days of work, overall, I’m satisfied with my experience here. The worst parts have been how sick I was for the first couple weeks and it’s definitely a struggle to have to express yourself in another language. However, I am extremely happy with the opportunities I’ve had, especially at work, and I feel like I am learning every single day.
Thanks for reading!
