Postcard from Lisbon

James Eggers
Class of 2013, inter­na­tional affairs major
Par­tic­i­pating in Dia­logue of Civ­i­liza­tions pro­gram in Portugal

Here in Lisbon, we are taking lan­guage classes and our after­noons are ded­i­cated to learning more about the cul­ture of the Por­tuguese people through site visits. The site visits are phe­nom­enal. We have been able to go to the U.S. embassy, where we learned about the State Department’s inter­ac­tion with the Por­tuguese. This visit was impor­tant to me because I was able to speak with people who are cur­rently working for our gov­ern­ment, and that is some­thing that I am very inter­ested in.

I have always wanted to work in gov­ern­ment. Since coming to North­eastern, I have had the oppor­tu­nity to go abroad via the Dia­logue pro­grams, and I now realize that I want to be able to travel abroad while working for the gov­ern­ment. Being able to par­tic­i­pate in this Dia­logue pro­gram in Por­tugal, and another one in Brazil last year, has helped me to make valu­able con­tacts, strengthen my com­pet­i­tive­ness in the job market and narrow down my job search.

Another mem­o­rable visit was to the For­eign Min­istry in Por­tugal. I was greeted in the same loca­tion that Pres­i­dent Barack Obama and U.S. Sec­re­tary of State Hilary Clinton were during their trip here ear­lier this year. The Dia­logue has a strong focus on the Por­tuguese lan­guage, as well as government.

– By Northeastern News