My internship at the German Embassy in Brazil 2019

YouTube Videos on my internship in Brazil (in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French) and small video on my experience

Once again, life had to teach me a lesson by destroying all my plans and just doing something completely different, which in the end resulted better than I ever expected. The same thing happened to me in 2016, when I wanted to go to Asia for a Social Voluntary Year and ended up in Peru (nowadays I am very thankful for that because my year in Peru was amazing). This time the same thing happened to me with the internship at the German Embassy. I had originally applied for an internship at the German Embassy in Mexico (because my boyfriend was Mexican at that time), but for whatever reason, I was offered an internship in Brazil. At first, of course, I wasn't thrilled by the offer. But my boyfriend convinced me to accept it because he knew how much I wanted to become a diplomat one day in my life.

That's why I traveled to Brasilia, the capital of Brazil (Rio de Janeiro is not the capital of Brazil) on the 30th of August 2019. I honestly have to say that I had zero motivation. When we landed in Brasilia I was very nervous. It was a completely different Brazil than I knew (I had spent a year in Highschool in another region of Brazil 5 years earlier). Instead of green (like everything in the Northeast), everything was yellow (the center of Brazil is very dry compared to the Northeast).

I had booked an Airbnb from Germany with a lady and her son. I actually wanted to stay for two weeks, but Eliana and her family were so great that I stayed with them for the rest of my internship abroad. That was perfect!

At the Embassy we were six interns in different departments. I was in the economics department together with another girl. As an intern for the economics department, I had to analyze the “Valor” (the largest Brazilian Business newspaper,) every day and summarize the most important things in German. Otherwise, I did a lot of research, for example on soy and sugar cane cultivation in Brazil or double taxation agreements between Brazil and Germany.

Occasionally I was allowed to go on external appointments, such as:

• Support the DAAD (a German scholarship organization) at UNB University and talk to interested students about studying in Germany and scholarships
• several meetings at the EU delegation on agriculture, where agricultural officers from different EU countries met and discussed common topics (like the Mercosul-EU agreement)
• a meeting at the TCU (Tribunal das Contas da União) together with the Senate and Parliament on "Rede da Sustentabilidade no Legislativo" (sustainability network in the legislature)
• meeting at the Public Prosecutor's Office (PGR = Procuradoria Geral da Republica) for the event “Democracia e Cidadania desde a Escola” (Democracy and citizenship since primary school), where children in public schools worked with their teachers on these topics and presented their projects - it was wonderful, I became friends with a few girls and heard rap songs from rehabilitated young people who were in the prison

The nice thing about these meetings is that they always drive you there in the Embassy car, which is a big white BMW with diplomatic license plates. It makes you feel like a diplomate even though you are still far away from getting there :D

Pictures: 1 German Embassy; 2 EU Delegation; 3 view from my office; 4 Procuradoria Geral da República

We had an amazing group of interns consisting of interns from the Embassies of France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, etc. In the beginning, I was going out a lot with the interns from the German Embassy. When they left (after a month there were only three of us left, then after two months I was alone), I started hanging out with the French interns, who became my besties. We were always hanging out together – going to bars in the evenings, having dinner or lunch together, or exploring the country. Brasilia is a purely administrative city and that’s why the Embassies in particular provide a huge cultural program. Some examples:

• a happy hour at the US Embassy once a month, where I also got to know the French interns and danced a lot
• a music festival at the Portuguese Embassy where I tore my knee open after I fell with my High Heels (so embarrassing :D)
• a movie night at the German Embassy in cooperation with the Israeli Embassy with a German-Israeli film
• a South African ballet, which was a mix of ballet and a typical dance of South Africa
• every first Tuesday of the month a Latino night organized by the Embassy of the Dominican Republic with salsa, bachata, merengue, and reggaeton
• a Happy hour every last Thursday of the month at the Embassy of Canada with delicious crepes and caipirinhas
• an exhibition on 500 years of Leonardo Da Vinci at the Italian Embassy
• free yoga classes every morning at 7 am at the Indian Embassy
• an exhibition on the “Dia de los muertos” at the Mexican Embassy

I also went to the gym every day. My favorite thing at the gym was FitDance - a new Brazilian dance program. FitDance (pronounced: Fiji Dancy) is a sporty variant of twerking and is currently very competitive with Zumba in Brazil. Most of the time Brazilian funk songs are played to which people dance and work out. I really enjoy FitDance and I've really discovered a passion for it!

I also made it back to João Pessoa and Lima to see my friends, roommates, classmates, colleagues, and students! On three weekends we traveled to some amazing natural parks and waterfalls near Brasilia.

Pictures:1 Exhibition of Leonardo da Vinci at the Italian Embassy; 2 Happy Hour at the Canadian Embassy; 3 Exhibition of the "Dia de los Muertos" at the Mexican Embassy; 4 Southafrican Ballett ; 5 German-Israeli movie night at the German Embassy; 6 Music festival at the Portuguese Embassy

• To celebrate another birthday in Brazil: I was totally afraid in advance that I would be alone because it was already the first week and I never thought that I would find people so quickly who would go out with me on that day! But the evening was great! There were 10-12 people and we sat and talked until 1 am! It was one of my greatest birthdays ever!
• Brazilian Independence Day: Independence Day was on the 7th of September. I went to see the military parade. Actually, I'm not that much of a fan, but once in my life, I couldn’t miss that. There were dancers, veterans from the 2nd World War, school children, people from the fire brigade, the police, the rescue service, the public order office, etc. Then Bolsonaro arrived. Behind me, some girls protested and said: "fora" (out).
• Day of German Unity: Actually the Day of German Unity is on the 3rd of October but since the weather in October in Brasilia is unpredictable sometimes, the Embassy decided to move the celebration forward to the 12th of September. It was the largest celebration of the year at the Embassy and around 900 guests were invited. It took place at the Ambassador’s Residence, in his large and beautiful garden. There was a whole show with cars from German companies. The Ambassador gave a speech about Germany and Brazil. Then the anthems of Brazil, Germany, and Europe were played, and we had fireworks! After that, we ate and danced to live music. In the beginning, I didn't dare to dance properly, but then when even the Ambassador and his wife got started, we all danced. Overall, the evening was great!
• Spanish National Day: I managed to get an invitation to the Spanish National Day on the 12th of October (because our secretary couldn’t go and gave me her invitation) and was able to go there with some friends. There was paella, tapas, flamenco, lots of drinks, a speech from the Ambassador, etc.
• Belgian National Day: I went to the Belgian Embassy with my boss for the celebration of "King's Day" in November. The music was great and the Ambassador's speech was too. I even saw some friends over there and we had Belgian chocolate.
• Reception at the Ambassador’s residence: It was a reception for members of the Bundestag (German parliament), the Brazilian parliament, the Senate, etc. I was invited there (together with another intern). We had food, cocktails, and interesting conversations.
• Yoga at night in front of the national museum: This was a great event for World Health Day, where I went with three friends
• Halloween Party at the Canadian Embassy: I was there with my three French guys. Everything was beautifully decorated. There were delicious caipirinhas and the music was really good. I hadn’t expected that from an Embassy :O
• My trip to João Pessoa to see my host families and friends
• My trip to Peru, where I saw my colleagues and students, friends and roommates again
• Arriving from Lima to Brasilia at 6 am and going straight into the office (I went home first but just to shower) and then party again until 5 am on the same day
• getting on my plane back home almost without sleeping because I partied until 5 am and had to be at the airport at 8:30 am

Pictures: 1 my birthday; 2 Brazilian National Day; 3 German National Day at the German Embassy; 4 Spanish National Day at the Spanish Embassy; 5 Belgian National Day at the Belgian Embassy; 6 reception at the German Embassy; 7 Yoga infront of the National museum; 8 Halloween at the Canadian Embassy; 9 visiting Joao Pessoa 10 visiting Lima

When I got the approval for Brasilia in April 2019 and cried for two hours because it wasn't Mexico, I never thought that I would be sitting there at the end of November 2019 with tears in my eyes. “It's only three months.” my mom used to say whenever I was in a bad mood again because I had to go to Brasilia. “And you just have to work. You will see it will pass very quickly”. Yes, of course. I knew that, and I had decided on the internship just because of the work at the Embassy. I've always wanted to do an internship at an Embassy in order to pursue my career aspirations in diplomacy. But I was never happy beforehand, and I hardly had any expectations: work, the gym, jogging, reading books. This is how I imagined my everyday life in the small Brazilian capital, somewhere in nowhere in the middle of a huge country and an even larger continent 

But thanks to the other interns, who have become very good friends of mine, everything turned out differently. During my time in Brazil, I was partying several times until dawn and then had to go to work. I also danced to Brazilian Funk songs on stage at my favorite party “Quinta no Calaf” - a dream that I had for a long time.

I never thought that in this short 3-month period I could get so used to a city, to a lifestyle, and to such good friends. But that's exactly what happened 

I would like to thank:

• The Foreign Office for this unique opportunity
• all employees of the German Embassy, especially my boss Mr. M., Milena, Reynald, Bruna and Lucas, the staff of the Guarita and the drivers
• the scholarships Deutschlandstipendium and DAAD for their support
• my fellow interns Max, Caro, Rebekka and David
• my French brothers and bodyguards: Loris, Quentin and Tanguy
• all interns from the other embassies: Gilles, Simon, Sitie, Cris, José
• my Brazilian girls: Rebecca, Dayma, Sara
• other friends: Vinicius, Guilherme, Isadora, Giana, Vitoria and her boyfriend
• my dance friends from the Calaf: Leo, João etc.
• my host from Airbnb and her family: Eliana, Antonia and Guilherme
• my friends and family from João Pessoa
• my colleagues, students and friends from Lima

And once again life has shown me that everything is meant to be and that sometimes I should just listen more to the decisions of the universe.