Internship with EU Commission

When I was younger, I used to think that university was going to be the last stage of my academic life. Now, I realise that it would actually mark the beginning of the rest of my life. Studying at Swansea University was beyond formal education.

My course, BA French and TEFL, consisted of a diverse range of modules, such as language classes, linguistics, teaching, translation, interpreting and cultural studies. Thanks to this huge variety, I was able to improve my skills in many fields whilst improving my knowledge. In addition to this, the modules where we had to analyse works of literature created a lifelong hobby for me, as I started to read and appreciate literature more critically.

My experience in Swansea would not have been this enriching if I had not taken part in the extracurricular activities proposed by the Department of Modern Languages, Translation and Interpreting. Thanks to the department, I had the opportunity to obtain professional experience in mentoring, teaching, blogging and editing. In both my second and my fourth year, I was a student mentor for the MFL Student Mentoring Project. In this project, I visited secondary schools in Wales to promote the uptake of modern foreign languages and to highlight the importance of multilingualism. I also had the opportunity to contribute to Swansea University Student Blogs with the monthly posts I wrote during my year abroad in Lyon. This was a part of Routes into Languages’ Lingo Map project.

After graduating I was accepted onto a traineeship at the European Commission, to work with the department of Communications Networks, Content and Technology. I would like to thank Swansea University. I felt the support of my lecturers all along after the graduation and this is why being a Swansea University Alumni is so extremely precious.

– Yaren, BA (Hons)