Name: Natasha Ring
Class Year: 2026
Major: Education and Environmental Studies
Hometown: Wilton, Conn.
Internship Organization: Innovation Academy e.V.
Internship Title: Praktikantin (Intern)
Location of Internship: Freiburg, Germany
What's happening at your internship? We would love to hear what kind of work you are doing!
Upon arriving in Freiburg, one of my first tasks was researching stormwater management in Copenhagen, Denmark, and preparing that information to be shared on a tour of selected sites for the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. I have also been preparing materials for a future study trip to Vienna, running the academy's Instagram page, and compiling a list of travel companies in the U.S. with which we can set up meetings in the hopes of expanding our network. Additionally, I've been helping out during our Vorsicht Plastik, or Beware of Plastic, project, where local school groups visit us to learn about plastic alternatives. They also get hands-on experiences, including making their own cosmetics in metal containers. My favorite thing I have been doing, though, is helping out with tours for American students who are visiting Freiburg.
Why did you apply for this internship?
There were a couple of reasons why I applied to this internship. As an Environmental Studies major, Germany – and Freiburg, in particular –&²Ô²ú²õ±è;stood out to me as they are known for their sustainability measures. I have also never been to another country before, so the opportunity to live in a foreign country was incredible. The final reason is that I want to go into the field of environmental education after graduation, so being able to expand my understanding of what that can look like, along with learning a different approach to how you can build that connection, made it an internship I was very excited to apply for.
Was there anything special about how you found this internship?
I think that my story is a really good example of why you should pay attention to your professors. During the spring of my first year, I took Intro to Environmental Studies, where Professor Carol Hager was one of our professors. She mentioned one day in class, around April, that there was an opportunity for ºÚÁÏÉçÇø students to apply for funding to go to Germany and do sustainability-related internships. It was too late to really do anything with that information for the summer, but I kept it in mind for the future. Flash forward to this fall, and I saw something in the Daily Digest about an informational meeting for this program. I couldn't attend, but I watched the Zoom recording afterward and decided I wanted to apply. I did and ended up getting the internship!
What has been the biggest challenge you have faced at your internship?
The biggest challenge I have faced at my internship is the language barrier. I don't speak German, and while almost everyone speaks English, I recognize it would be easier if I knew German. There have been times, like recently with my Vienna research that I mentioned above, when it took me so much more time than it could have to complete a task simply because I needed to run everything through a translator. I will say, though, that I'm very proud of my improvement. My German skills are getting much better, and I can understand so much more than I did when I applied or even compared to when I first got here.
Through the Career and Civic Engagement Center Beyond ºÚÁÏÉçÇø Summer Internship Program, ºÚÁÏÉçÇø students pursue opportunities in fields such as nonprofits, government and law, health care, research, sciences, business, and the arts. Thanks to the generosity of our alumnae/i and donors, over 150 students across all academic departments are funded to pursue unpaid internships or research experiences in the U.S. and abroad each year.