Meet Laura Fagerlund. Laura is a Vice President of IFLRY and a Council member of the Swedish Youth of Finland. In a few days, she will move to South Africa for an internship with the Democratic Alliance. Laura will be writing a blog for Libel, so you can experience first-hand what it will be like for her to live and work halfway around the world in a country that couldn’t be more different from her native Finland.
You can find her other blog posts here.
Only a few days to go and I am off to Cape Town. It honestly feels like I haven’t had the time to reflect on the upcoming six months at all.
My spring has been incredibly busy with a full-time internship, IFLRY, national politics and two elections. At the same time, I’ve been trying to have some kind of social life and prepare for my internship in Cape Town. Only last week I managed to finally get my visa and move out of my apartment in Finland. I guess this move from Finland to South Africa will only become real once I sit on the plane.
I will do an internship for the Democratic Alliance (DA), the second biggest party in South Africa. It is a liberal party and the main opposition to the governing African National Congress (ANC). I will be an intern at the international office, working with current projects and executing seminars and events. I am very much looking forward to working at the DA’s Office, and I believe the internship will be an eye-opening experience for me. I’m expecting the political debate and the culture to differ a lot from Finland, and I guess it will take some time for me to adapt to the way things work there. It will for sure be a challenge, but I enjoy developing myself and broadening my perspective.
Until I leave, I will spend my time with family and friends. I will also try to make sure I have prepared everything for the trip, and (for once) pack only the essentials; this is the fourth time I am packing my bags for a longer time abroad, but I still don’t seem to have learned how to pack smart. I will probably forget at least something, but that is just how it works.
I will leave the Finnish summer (15 degrees Celsius) for the South African winter (17 degrees Celsius) in three days, and the next time I’ll sit down to write I have probably already had my first days at the DA Office. Right now, I can’t even imagine what it will be like and how I will feel – but this is what makes the internship so exciting. If you have any questions or suggestions for me, or if there is something you’d like me to write about – don’t hesitate to reach out to me! I’ll end this blog post with my favorite quote from the Moomins (I know I am a stereotypical finn that loves the tiny, white characters, but they are so lovely!): “All things are so very uncertain, and that’s exactly what makes me feel reassured.”
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