Interview with an International Student: Taisuke Minagawa (UCF Rosen School)
In all kind of internships, there are international students that come from different countries and cities. Their principal purposes of studying in other countries are to learn about different cultures, languages, and to have more experiences. During the 2018 Spring semester, Pivot Business Consulting had the opportunity to have many international students as an interns. One of them is Taisuke, he comes from a very far country to the U.S. and definitely he is an outgoing and polite person in every aspect.
We decided to interview to him with he purpose of knowing his experience during his internship with Pivot Business Consulting and our clients. Also, we were interested in knowing more about him. Following, there are several questions that we asked him:
1.- What is your major? Event Management at the University of Central Florida at Rosen College of Hospitality Management
2.- How did you find this internship? I have volunteered for TEDxOrlando Women last year and met with Isabella at that time. After volunteering, I asked Isabella to have another volunteer opportunities. Then she told me this internship.
3.- How was your experience during your internship? Did you like it? I definitely liked it. One of my great experiences during this internship was that Japanese people, who came from Urayasu City (Orlando’s sister city), came visit StarterStudio and I showed them around the office.
4.- What did you learned from your internship? I learned about the basic hospitality skills, such as interpersonal communication (oral & written), knowledge of community resources, research and planning, critical thinking and resolve conflicts/counseling.
5.- From which country do you come from? Can you describe how your culture is? I was born and raised in Japan. One of the unique Japanese cultures is that Japanese people really care about everyone else’s age in Japanese society. They even care about one older,younger or the same age each other.
6.- Why did you decide to move to the U.S? Actually I did not move to the United States. The main reason I decided to come to the U.S. is to learn English.
7.- It was hard for you to adapt yourself to this new culture? It was not too hard, but it was not easy.
8.- What advice do you have for future interns? Do your best when someone gives you a job even you do not like or want.
9.- What do you think it is better, money or the knowledge that you gain from an internship? Why? I am still a student, and I would say that knowledge is better than money because money cannot get me grades in school. Only Knowledge can claim them.
After interviewing Taisuke, I had the opportunity to identify myself with him. As an international student, it is not easy to study and work at the same time in a foreign country. However, it is not impossible, also, you will get a lot of knowledge and experiences that you will have in your memory during your entire life. Definitely, knowing another culture is a very good experience and interesting. The Japanese culture is very interesting in many ways, it is a really great culture with excellent people in every aspect.
It can be concluded that doing an internship is a very good and excellent opportunity to anybody, you will get more knowledge in your field, you will meet new and awesome people, you will have the opportunity to know if your actual career is what you want or not, and finally, you will a have an excellent experience that anybody won’t be able to take it out from you.