Placement Report
Internship at the Austrian Embassy in Baku, Azerbaijan
Lisa Weiß
S3796612
MA International Relations and International Security
Supervisor: drs. E.M. Feringa
Table of content
Introduction ... 1
Application process ... 1
Preparations and living arrangements ... 2
Arrival and life in Baku ... 3
Tasks and Responsibilities ... 4
Placement Supervision ... 8
Reaching my personal learning goals ... 8
Connection to the IR master’s degree ... 10
Tips for future placement students ... 11
1
Introduction
I completed my internship at the Austrian Embassy in Baku in the Republic of Azerbaijan from September 9th 2019 until December 6th, 2019. In this report I will describe the application process, my
tasks and reflect on my experience. Furthermore, I will also talk briefly about living in Azerbaijan and at the end I will provide some tips for future interns.
When I initially applied for the master’s program International Relations at the University of Groningen, I was excited about the mandatory internship as I saw this as the best opportunity to get professional experience in my field of study, gain new perspectives and test my theoretical knowledge in a practical setting. I’m happy and thankful my placement allowed me to travel and live in a part of the world I had never been before, and get an idea of the actually work and life in the diplomatic corps.
The twelve weeks I spent in Azerbaijan have definitely helped me to grow personally as well as professionally and allowed me to explore one of the more obvious career choices for International Relations students.
The Republic of Austria and the Republic of Azerbaijan established diplomatic relations in February 1992, after Azerbaijan became independent from the Sovjet Union in 1991. The Austrian embassy in Baku was opened in 2010 and has since then worked to strengthen and deepen the relationship on a political, economic, cultural and scientific level between both countries. Furthermore, the Austrian embassy is also committed to facilitated a stronger connection, based on common values and shared interests, between the European Union and the partners of the Eastern Partnership.
Application process
As I said in my introduction, joining the diplomatic corpse of your country seems to be a natural choice when studying International Relations. However, applying to the Austrian foreign ministry and one of the embassies was not how I started the process to find an internship. Having only randomly looked for open positions at different international institutions and organisation during my first semester, I focused stronger on my search for an interesting internship in January of 2019. In the beginning I was fairly confident to find something within a reasonable timeframe, so I admit I was a little bit picky with the organisations and internship positions I applied for. After receiving rejection after rejection or often no reply at all, I knew I had to change something about my approach and I also started to question the quality of my application documents. As some of my colleagues seemed to face the same problems, we formed a small “support group” where we would proof read each other’s CV and motivational letters and suggest changes we thought would be helpful and make our applications more attractive for our possible supervisors. Giving and receiving advice and creating a helpful and supportive atmosphere among us students took away some of the worrying and stress of finding a
2 placement. In hindsight, it would have been smarter to start the application process with a broader mindset apply not only to the big and very popular institutions, but also to think outside the box and contact smaller research institutes and organisations.
Having applied for positions mainly in the Netherlands, Brussels and London first, I refocused my attention to international organisations in other countries and the Austrian foreign ministry. During my bachelor’s degree I had once unsuccessfully applied for an internship at the foreign ministry, so my expectations were not high. I started to contact embassies in Asia, Southern Africa and the Caucasus to see which embassies would accept internship applications. Due to budget constraints most embassies can only hire on intern per year and most embassies had already fill the position for 2019. Luckily, the Austrian Embassy in Baku was still accepting applications and so I sent my CV and letter of motivation. About three weeks later I received a phone call from the embassy and after a short interview I was offered the internship, starting in September until December 2019. Even though, the foreign service had not been my first thought for an internship, I was very excited when I got accepted. Applying to work for the Austrian Foreign ministry had been one of my possible career options after the completion of my studies and so I found this to be the perfect opportunity to experience the practical work first hand. I was also excited to travel to and be living in a region of the world I had never been before. So far, I have only lived in countries of the European Union and I was really intrigued to be spending an extended period in a new and different culture and region.
Preparations and living arrangements
After being accepted I had to sent several different documents to the ministry for a security check, which, to my surprise, took almost 3 months to complete. After the security check was completed, I had to apply for a visa at the Azerbaijani embassy in Vienna. Fortunately, I was in Austria at this time so I only had to make a day trip to the capital to hand in all my documents and collect my passport about a week later. Since I had an official letter from the embassy about my employment the visa was free of charge for me. One tip to future interns would be to allow enough time for all the formalities related to the security check and the visa application, especially if you plan on not be in Austria for an extended period of time. I even booked my flight before the security check had been completed, as the plane tickets became more expensive with every passing week, however I was in contact with the embassy at this time and was reassured that the security check almost always takes this long to complete and I shouldn’t worry about it.
In order to prepare myself for the tasks I would be doing, I tried to read as much about the region and Azerbaijan as I could. I would look for information about the Austrian-Azerbaijani relationship on the homepage of the embassy and I also read up on the history of the relationship between Azerbaijan and the European Union. I also refreshed my knowledge about the ongoing conflict over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
3 I was given the advice to look for an apartment close to the embassy to avoid the heavy traffic during the busy Baku rush hours in the morning and evening. I joined an expat group on Facebook to get an idea about the prices and what I could expect in terms of living standard and availability of short-term rentals. A friend provided me with the contact information of a real estate agent and two weeks he had found an apartment very close to the embassy for me. Because the monthly rent for the apartment slightly exceeded what I had reserved in my budget for rent expenses, the agent suggested that I could pay the full amount for three months upfront in exchange for a discount on the rent. I agreed to this proposal as the other apartments I had found had not been considerable cheaper and were located further away from the embassy.
Since my landlady spoke only Russian and Azerbaijani, but no English and I don’t speak any Russia nor Azerbaijani communication with her throughout my stay was at times difficult and frustrating. When problems needed fixing, I always had to contact the agent so he could let her know what was broken or needed to be looked at. I had seen pictures of the apartment beforehand and so I knew that the apartment had everything I needed for three months, even though the furniture or appliances weren’t really new or modern. Throughout my stay a couple of issues arose with the apartment and as I said having before having them fixed sometimes took a very long time. For example, I had a problem with the electricity in my bathroom and it took a total of 5 different appointment to finally find the problem and fix it. Generally speaking, I found that people in Azerbaijan have a more relaxed attitude about broken or not properly functioning appliances or other things. Some repairs seemed to be rather a quick fix than a proper repair. A lot of buildings look nice and renovated from the outside, but still have questionable electrical wiring or are in need of a renovation on the inside. If I had stayed longer than the three months in Baku, I would have probably moved to a different apartment at some point. But living so close to the embassy was definitely a big advantage, so I was willing to tolerate and ignore some of the issues with the apartment.
Arrival and life in Baku
I arrived in Baku a few days before my internship started. The embassy had kindly arranged for me to be picked up at the airport by the driver of the ambassador. He brought me to my hotel and also showed me the entrance to the embassy, which is located in an office building in the city centre. The next day I met the whole team of the embassy for an informal lunch: the ambassador, the deputy head of mission, two assistant attachés and two local employees. We talked a little bit about my tasks, but everyone agreed that I should enjoy my first weekend in Baku and if I had time, I should familiarize myself with some of the newspapers and catch up on the current news.
Generally, life in Baku can be very comfortable in Baku for expats. The city centre can and should be explored by foot, as traffic is usually bad and roads are especially congested during morning and evening rush hour and during lunch time. Whenever I could I would walk to appointments and conferences as it
4 was usually faster than taking a car. Next to public transport I would frequently use car sharing apps like Bolt or Uber to drive to destination too far away, as the taxi rides with the apps where very inexpensive and language barriers weren’t a problem as the driver could see where I wanted to go on his phone.
I experienced the expat community in Baku to be extremely welcoming and open. Within the first days I had met other interns and people working in Baku. If you wanted to be part of a big international group you were more than welcome to join in. Making new friends so easily, also helped tremendously in the first weeks as there was always someone who I could ask for tips. Food and drinks are very cheap compared to Europe or the Netherlands. I definitely enjoyed going out and eating at traditional Azerbaijani and Georgian restaurants with other expats and Azerbaijani friends. Especially after a long week at work this was the best way to relax and meet up with friends. Most of the groceries in the stores are also cheaper than in the Netherlands and you can get even better deals on the bazars. The only I thing I missed was a variety in clothing stores. Even tough, there are a lot of malls in Baku, the stores are pretty much the same and well-known brands were surprisingly expensive. I would advise any future intern to firstly always dress appropriately and to bring enough business clothes with you. Especially, when you are taller than the average Azerbaijani it might take you a while to find what you are looking for.
In my free time I tried to explore the country and the region as much as possible. On several weekends I went hiking in the north and the south of the country. This was a welcomed break to get out of the city and enjoy nature and much cleaner air. Wherever I would go people were friendly and very hospitable and hiking in different parts of the country was really a great way to explore the country.
Tasks and Responsibilities
The tasks I was assigned during my stay were pretty much what had been communicated with me before the start of the internship. Below I will describe my tasks and responsibilities:
Monitoring of local and international news
A daily task I would usually start my day with was the monitoring of local and international news for articles or reports that were relevant to the embassy’s work. On a typical day I would look at the local English online newspapers first to find out what the main news or trending topic was. If I found anything, I deemed to be important for the embassy or the ministry, I would start to compile the articles I could find online or summarise them. Later in the morning I would discuss the news with either the ambassador or the deputy and they would decide if a report should be written about it or if we just monitor it and maybe use it at a later date. I was also sent weekly business reports or publications where I would look for mentions of Austria, the embassy or Austrian businesses and their cooperation with Azerbaijani companies. Furthermore, I would also daily look at press clippings that were already compiled by either
5 the Austrian Press Agency or the communication department of the foreign ministry. These were usually the general news relating to current events and the work of the foreign ministry or Austria’s foreign policy. It was interesting to see that the whole time of my internship Azerbaijan was never mentioned in the Austrian News. Not even the visit of the Austrian Secretary of Transportation, Andreas Reichardt, who even met with Azerbaijan’s President Aliyev, was reported by the Austrian press. After a few weeks I also included daily checks of Facebook and Twitter Accounts belonging to oppositions parties and their politicians in my monitoring. Since the opposition is usually not featured in the official state-controlled media, it was interesting to see what was posted there and I feel it definitely helped to know the positions, demands and views of the opposition parties on current Azerbaijani events. One thing that sometimes slowed me down was, that if I wanted to know more about a certain event or statement and couldn’t find anymore articles in English, I had to ask the embassy’s translator to find more information in the Azerbaijani newspapers. But sometimes not even he was able to find more than had already been published. Especially in October, after the police had dispersed demonstrations of the opposition by force and arrested many participants, I wished I were able to understand some Azerbaijani so that I could easier understand discussion and posts on Social Media.
Overall, this was a task I enjoyed as it helped me in the beginning to get to know the country and how the political system worked. It was also a nice way to start most days.
Research and reporting on specific issues
Researching topics and writing reports was a recurring task during my internship. Most of the topics I had to research arose either because of current events, conferences or specific inquiries from other departments of the foreign ministry. For some of the research I had quite a lot of time as the deadline was further away, for other topics I really had to work fast as the deadline was much closer. Especially in September I assisted in the completion of several reports, that had been sent to the embassy over the summer. Working with a looming deadline on topics I was not familiar with was stressful at times. At first, I struggled to differentiate between things that very important and need to be included and things that could be summarised, as for me everything seemed to be important. In the beginning I also found it frustrating when I couldn’t find the information I needed. Especially with the first I feared not being able to provide a detailed report would negatively impact my assessment. However, when I raised the issue with my supervisor, he reassured me that “hitting roadblocks” like this is quite normal and after reviewing my report he mentioned that there wasn’t much additional information he himself could add and that he was very satisfied with my work. After completing the first reports and getting positive feedback I was a bit more relaxed with the reports that followed. With every (even short) report I also became more confident in assessing the impact of certain events and I became more familiar with the specific phrasing within the foreign ministry. At the start I found assessing situations one of the most difficult things while writing my reports, as I had never done research about Azerbaijan and the region before getting the internship, and I didn’t feel qualified to reliably asses changes or situations. But, with
6 every week that passed I gained more insight and most of the time my colleagues and supervisor agreed with my initial assessment, which boosted my confidence and allowed me to trust my knowledge and abilities.
Attending conferences and meetings
The task I enjoyed above the others was definitely attending conferences and meetings with other officials. Right from my first week my supervisor had signed me up to attend different conferences and meeting representing the embassy on my own. I have to admit that I was quite nervous at the first conference since I didn’t really have an idea what to expect and what was expected of me from the organizers. Luckily, the first event was a big round-table conference on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Council of Europe. The big number of participants allowed me to easily blend in and watch, observe and take notes. During my internship I attended conferences and talks on a variety of issues, from political talks, over the human and women’s rights situation in Azerbaijan, to agriculture, business development and tourism. Some events were of course more interesting for me than others, but I always tried to learn something new and to connect new information or statements to things I had already heard or read before. After every event I would usually shortly brief my supervisor on what had been discussed. Depending on the relevance of the topic I would then write a short report for the corresponding department in the ministry or digitalize my notes for future reference. I am grateful, that I was given leeway in choosing additional events that I wanted to attend. As long as those meetings and conferences didn’t clash with any important internal meetings or specific events that my supervisor wanted me to attend, I was completely free to choose which other meetings I wanted to participate in. Something new for me was definitely to have simultaneous translation at those events. Only a limited number of conferences was held solely in English. Most of the time the participants spoke either in English or Azerbaijani. In some moments I did wonder how much of what was being said in Azerbaijani got “lost in translation” as the English translation seemed always that much shorter than the speeches or answers by the participants. Nevertheless, those events and conference helped me to better understand some issues and the political, as well as social and cultural life better.
I also attended meeting organized by the European Delegation in Baku almost every week. These meetings were a great way to get to know other diplomats and interns as you would meet them time and time again. It was also a great opportunity to talk with more experienced diplomats about their assessment of certain events and incidents. It was also very interesting to see how under the lead of the European Delegation different nations joined together for a variety of projects (e.g. Cultural Festivals or environmental initiatives). The delegation also arranged very informative meetings, for example with party members of the oppositions and with lawyers that actively supported the opposition. Especially in these meetings you would get to hear information that wasn’t published in official news papers, which made them even more interesting for me and so I looked forward to them.
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Support in the planning and organisation of events
During the first two months two big tasks were preparing for and representing Austria at a big education fair and more importantly, helping to organize the most important social event of the year for the embassy, the National Day Reception. Both were very informative experiences. For the education fair I worked together with a lecturer from the Austrian Academic Exchange Service. I had only every visited such educational fairs as a student and so I had to familiarize myself with the restrictions for students from third countries. I was a little bit surprised by how exhausting it actually was to stand at our booth for a day and answer questions from students and their parents almost the whole time. While it was nice to see so many people interested in coming to Austria to study, I could only take a short break in 7 hours and giving out more or less the same information over and over again felt draining after a while. Nevertheless, the fair was a great success and I did enjoy doing a task completely different to the rest of my assignments.
As said before the National Day Reception is the most important social event of the embassy and therefor planning had started months before I arrived in Baku. Still, I was involved in the organisation of a lot of different elements of the event and I felt my input was appreciated. One of responsibilites was to plan a so-called “selfie wall” with pictures of Austria, that people could take pictures in front of. I really enjoyed this creative exercise and the wall turned out to be a huge hit with our guests. When hosting a big event there is always a chance of things going wrong and of course we also had the occasional problem along the way. The most stressful moment for me was when on the morning of the reception the selfie-wall was delivered by the marketing agency and I discovered something had been printed the wrong way. With only a few hours left until the reception I was afraid there wouldn’t be enough time to change it. Luckily, the agency managed to print the wall again and to deliver it in time. In the end we were able to hold a very nice reception and we received a lot of positive feedback from our guests. I definitely enjoyed seeing everyone having a great time and after the official speeches by the ambassador and the guest of honour were given it was nice to celebrate with friends and co-workers and to network in an informal way with some of the guests.
Administrative tasks
When I was told that one of my tasks would also be to do administrative work, I was initially worried that it could make up a big portion of my daily work. Thankfully, this was no the case at all. The only bigger administrative task I was given were to check, and if necessary, update a few folders at the end of my placement. Since this was not really work relevant to my degree, I was happy those tasks were few and far between, although they did provide me with a meaningful assignment during my last days at the embassy.
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Placement Supervision
When I met the ambassador and the embassy team for the first time a couple of days before the start of my internship it became clear that I would work together with almost everyone on different projects and that all my colleagues would have some sort of supervision or guidance function. I did enjoy this setup as it meant I got a lot of feedback and working this way felt more natural as most of the work in the embassy interlinks anyways. Furthermore, ambassador Bayerl wasn’t in Baku for three weeks during my internship, so I was supervised by the deputy head of mission, Wolfgang Marchardt during this time. Through out my internship I was glad that all my supervisors treated me as an equal colleague and trusted me to gradually take on more responsibility. Everyone also made we feel very welcome and I could always ask for help or more guidance when I felt I needed it or I got stuck on a certain issue. The positive and helpful feedback I received trough out also made it easier to show initiative. I appreciated the fact that I was able to work independently, while knowing I could always ask for help or support if I needed it.
Reaching my personal learning goals
One of my goals was to improve my organisation, time management and prioritization skills and I have definitely improved those skills. In the beginning of the internship, I focused more on understanding the specific processes within the embassy, as I thought this would be the best way to figure out which tasks where more urgent than others or which I should prioritize over others. All through my placement I had being given a free hand when it came to time management as long as I finished tasks on time. I knew I had to come up with a system to keep myself accountable and to prevent being unnecessarily stressed. At the beginning of every week I would map out all my tasks that needed to be finished and I assigned each task a specific time during the work when I would focus my attention on it. I also set reminders for emails in Outlook so I wouldn’t forget to follow up on certain reports or issues. Even though I wasn’t able to stick to my plan every week and I did miss some deadlines because other things came up, it helped me to get a good overview of what still needed to be done and it also helped me to stay on track with my work. I enjoyed the fact that my supervisors trusted me in getting my tasks done and was understanding when some things took longer than expected. I’m also grateful that they didn’t feel the need to constantly look over my shoulder. This definitely made me feel less like an intern and more like a colleague, whose work was a valuable contribution and equally important.
I definitely gained a thorough understanding of the functioning of diplomatic mission and diplomatic protocol. Since the Austrian Embassy in Baku is a small embassy in a smaller city compared to bigger embassies for example in Washington, London, or Brussels, I was working with everyone except one colleague who was responsible for the visa application. Still, there was enough time for me to talk with her about her work and I learned more about the visa granting process, which in turn was helpful to
9 know as I was often asked by Azerbaijani people about it. This way I at least was able to direct them towards the information they were asking for. Because I worked with almost everyone in the embassy, I feel I got a very broad picture about all the different responsibilities an embassy has to fulfil. All my colleagues had been working for the foreign service for multiple years and had been stationed in many other countries before, so it was also interesting to talk with them about their previous experiences and how their work has changed over the years.
Relating to this goal was another goal, namely to find out if working for the Austrian foreign ministry could be a career goal for me. I am still a bit undecided on this point. While I really liked the fact that it was a small team and I could get the know everyone and everyone’s work, it sometimes felt like our work didn’t have a big impact. Baku is by no means the centre of the world and as I said Azerbaijan hardly receives any coverage in the Austrian media. I acknowledge that for bigger embassies that is not the case, but if you join the foreign service you don’t always have a say in where your next posting will be. Furthermore, it was also sometimes frustrating to see diplomacy work in very slow ways. After the police violently dispersed demonstrations in October and arrested many protesters, I was surprised by the restrained reaction from the diplomatic corps and how long it took until a joint statement was published, since there was also evidence that pointed at human rights violations. However, the meetings at the European Delegation also helped me pick up some diplomatic skills, as I could witness how easy it sometimes was to find common ground and how difficult or almost impossible it was on other topics or in other discussions. In that perspective the internship has reminded me how important it is to be open for different perspectives and other views and to try and understand the argument that someone else is making, even if you are not agreeing with it. No common way forward will be possible if all parties insist on their view being the only correct one. At the moment I’m not ruling out the foreign ministry as a future career option for me, but I think in the next few years I would rather work in a different setting, maybe in a completely international team. However, should I decide to apply for a job in the foreign ministry I was reassured that I could always contact the ambassador and my colleagues at the embassy for references and any other support I might need.
The learning goal to I felt I had to work the hardest in order to reach, was networking. Starting in a completely new work and living environment is challenging on its own, but coming straight from university everyone seemed to be more qualified and more knowledgeable than me. Although, the diplomatic corps in Baku is comparatively small and you keep meeting and running into the same people, I couldn’t help but feel not quite adept to join a discussion or contribute to it in a meaningful way in the beginning. However, after a few meetings and events I was able to improved and overcome my initial nervousness and reservation. When attending evening events such as receptions from other embassies, my supervisor always made it a point to introduce me as the political officer of the Austrian Embassy, I think this also put some pressure on me the first couple events, as I felt I had to know already more about the country or the daily political life. In hindsight I put the most pressure on myself, because of course no one wanted to test my political knowledge at such events. Yes, you did talk about domestic
10 and international politics, but also about a lot of other topics. Another thing that helped me build up my confidence was the “Baku Intern Network” I formed together with other interns and young professionals from different embassies and international institutions. We would meet regularly for lunch- or evening gatherings, where we could share our separate experiences and also discuss Azerbaijani daily politics or international news. Discussing politics, the political structures of Azerbaijan and how this influences daily political life in such an informal way with other “newcomers”, helped me definitely to be more confident in conversations and discussion with established diplomates and experts. It was also a nice way to share information about upcoming events or conferences and have someone you could ask for their notes if you hadn’t written something down detailed enough. Overall, I feel I was successful in building up a nice network of relevant professional contacts from different fields of work as well as many different countries.
My last goal was to expand my cultural knowledge and to gain new different perspectives and in my opinion I more than reached this goal.
The fall is traditionally a busy time for culture and evening events in Baku. While I was there three film festivals, a Jazz festival and numerous concerts, exhibitions and usually multiple receptions were held every week. Often you had more than one event at night so it was always possible to find something really interesting. I really enjoyed having all these different options for my evening entertainment. On the one hand it was another way to network, but more importantly I was able to learn more about the Azerbaijani culture as well as about others. I especially enjoyed musical concerts that combined music from the musician’s country of origin and Azerbaijani music, or that brought different musicians together, as happened during the Jazz Festival. I’m a big fan of photography, so I also attended several photo exhibitions. For me personally, looking at a picture can help you understand someone else’s opinion and it allows you to see thing in a completely different light. Hiking, spending time in nature and staying in simple local houses during my hikes, also allowed me get a glimpse of the life outside the city and the different cultural practices in the country.
Connection to the IR master’s degree
The broad and multidisciplinary character to the International Relations and International Security master’s programme prepared my well for the tasks I had to complete. Whether it was recognizing the most important messages at events, quickly summarizing conferences or researching and analysing issues and writing a clear and structured report. Even though I had not taken any classes specifically related to the region and its political, economic or social issues, I feel I learned the necessary tools to easily adapt to new surroundings and materials and filter out the necessary details and facts. My courses at Rug have also told me to be critical of my own work and to strive to deliver high quality work within given deadlines. I feel that this a quality every employer expects and appreciates from his or her employees. I could also rely on my academic knowledge and skills when it came to assessing
11 Azerbaijan’s efforts to strengthen its geopolitical and economic power and its role in the future of the European energy security sector. The research seminar “Culture, Fear and Insecurity in Contemporary Europe” by Dr. Senka Neuman-Stanivukovic proofed to be very helpful in understanding the ongoing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia. During my internship I could observe how the conflict is used by both countries in their identity narratives and how it provides them with a source for legitimacy. Even tough, efforts have been on the way since 1994 under the leadership of the OSCE Minsk Group to find a solution to the conflict, it’s my opinion that, at the current moment it’s unrealistic to expect any changes in the near future.
Tips for future placement students
• Eligibility: Internship positions are only available for Austrian nationals.
• Allow for enough time for all the formalities around the security check and the visa application.
• You need to have good verbal and written communication skills.
• Fluency in German and English is a basic requirement, knowledge of Russian or Azerbaijani is certainly an advantage for everyday life.
• Be open to take on many different tasks and work with different people at the same time. Be also open to new cultural experiences and meeting people from very varied backgrounds. • Show initiative and communicate your interests with your supervisor.
• Don’t get discouraged by setbacks, both during the application process and the placement. • Learn from your mistakes and trust your knowledge and abilities, while always being open to
improve and change for the better.
• If you can, use your weekend and vacation days to travel within the country and the region as much as possible.
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Conclusion
Although my internship only lasted three months it was a great, valuable learning experience for me. I got to know the workings of an embassy and could successfully apply my academic skills to the duties and responsibilities I was given. I learned a lot about a new region and also about myself. I enjoyed connecting my theoretical knowledge with practical tasks and gained valuable that will help me in my future career. I’m sure that the network of professional and personal contacts I made will assist me in my future endeavours. The time I spent in Azerbaijan has enriched my understanding and sharpened my awareness for different cultures, ideas and opinions. I can only to recommend traveling to the Caucasus and applying for internships at embassies or for example also the European Delegation there. Lastly, I want to sincerely thank ambassador Alexander Bayerl and the whole team of the Austrian Embassy in Baku for their support and encouragement, for many informative discussions and for challenging me to rise up to my potential.
