![\"IMG_1367\"](\"http:\/\/newspress.furman.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/IMG_1367.jpg\")
<\/a>Touching the last significant remaining piece of the Berlin Wall<\/p><\/div>\n
Students spend nearly four months in Brussels taking four courses, one of which includes their internship. Tours in Europe are included in a travel-study course that visits sites of historical, political, economic and cultural importance. Last fall, the travel-study course included trips to Charlemagne\u2019s Cathedral in Aachen, Amsterdam, Normandy, Berlin and Ieper, Belgium.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Brussels Internship Program brings together all the elements that make Furman\u2019s approach to study away unique,\u201d stated Nelsen. \u201cStudents learn both in a classroom and \u2018on the job\u2019\u2014guided by a Furman professor. They also have great adventures in new academic, professional, and cultural settings.\u201d<\/p>\n
Junyang Chai \u201917, an economics and Asian studies major from Xian, China, interned with Helmut Scholz, a German member of the European Parliament, attending meetings as his representative, taking notes and assisting Scholz with research.<\/p>\n
His primary project as an intern involved researching aspects of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership currently being negotiated between the European Union and the United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had to learn so much about the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership in a very short period of time,\u201d said Chai. \u201cI was also very excited to practice my data analysis skills in real world trade negotiations.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBrussels was more eye-opening than anything else has ever been to me,\u201d said Chai. \u201cI got to learn about how politics work in Europe and what it takes to be a politician.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dawson said she feels the Brussels study away program has earned its reputation as both prestigious and rigorous.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, the most important lessons I learned were outside of the classroom. I learned how to find ways to communicate with people whose language I didn’t speak. I learned how to time manage my life. \u00a0I had to find a balance between three rigorous classes, 25 hours of working a week, necessary chores like grocery shopping and laundry, all while trying to spend every free moment I had traveling around Europe.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the most important thing that I, and everyone else who experiences Brussels learned is just how strong, capable and independent we really are,\u201d said Dawson. \u201cI learned more this semester than I have in the rest of my Furman career combined — both about the world and myself.\u201d<\/p>\n