History: An international experience
History provided me with the necessary framework to understand a spectrum of subjects, and contemporary issues.
Major: History
Internship Sponsor: Chair of G-77 at the United Nations
Before officially declaring my History major at MHC, my advisor told me, "The best thing about history is that you can actually do anything you want with it - in any field that you want." I did not realize how accurate that statement was, till a few months later when I landed myself an internship at the United Nations HQ in New York.
I chose to be a history major because of my passion to understand how socio-political conditions are shaped in different regions across the world, and if there are similarities or differences. Taking history courses provided me with the freedom to explore different regions, and different time periods. I could apply the knowledge that I learnt in these classes into practical political understandings of nation states. I was able to engage in disciplines of politics, economics, IR, anthropology, geography, environmental science and several more. History provides you with the necessary framework to understand a spectrum of subjects, and contemporary issues.
Based on the diversity of understanding that History was able to provide me with, I was able to successfully receive my UN internship. I worked with the chair of G-77 - the largest group at the UN, comprising of developing nations. Working for the chair, I was able to engage with the issues that were pertinent to countries that I had studied on, and even more. Issues of decolonization, policy implementations, development agenda's, women's rights are some of the main meetings that I attended at the UN; each meeting pertaining to the exact information I had learnt about in my History courses.
History has truly provided me, as an international student, a subject that can take you places and can provide you with knowledge that no other discipline can ever truly completely teach you. With History you are never limited to a single field, the world (internships and even the job market) is truly your oyster and you can use that to explore any field and any region that catches your fancy!