2021 Winter Semester
Ngoc To, Yonsei Graduate School of International Studies

My name is Ngoc To, currently a graduate student majoring in International Cooperation at Yonsei Graduate School of International Studies (Yonsei GSIS). It was such a pity that our internship lasted only eight weeks instead of ten as usual and we had two spend the first two week working from home due to the COVID 19 outbreak, the internship with EAI is still a valuable experience and a fond memory during the winter break.

Prior to Yonsei GSIS, I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in International Relations form a university in Vietnam, which explains why I am particularly interested in Southeast Asian affairs. During the interview with the former internship program manager, Ms. Sea Young Kim, I shared with her my interests in Southeast Asia and was glad to be assigned to a project related to Myanmar upon an internship offer. Through involvement in Myanmar Democracy Research Network (MDRN) I got to broaden my understanding of the democratic progress and contemporary political developments in the Southeast Asian state. Under the MDRN project EAI has been working with partner institutions to support a group of researchers in Myanmar in their quantitative study of the 2020 democratic election. Through joining workshops and listening to exchanges of ideas among researchers, I was able to learn new lessons in doing quantitative research such as how to code data effectively or how to turn raw data into meaningful reports.

The internship with EAI is not only about the projects I supported but also about the time I spent with other researchers and fellow interns. I was grateful for the time I shared with my advisor, Ms. Jun Juhuyn, for she always duly listened to my opinions, gave me detailed instructions, and provided me constructive feedback. I also feel lucky to have the best company from other interns – drinking hot coffee and chitchatting with them during lunch time was always so fun. I would highly recommend internship at EAI for the students interested in global affairs and policy research, and I hope more and more students would be able to experience this amazing internship opportunity.