Student News
European Internship Includes Viennese Black-Tie Ball
When Andy Smythe (International Master of Business Administration Class of 2007) slipped into his tuxedo for a black-tie ball in Vienna in early February, he had no idea what to expect.
Enrolled in the German Track of the IMBA program, Smythe, 27, is currently living and working in Geneva, Switzerland, on an internship with Global Trade Information, a South Carolina-based company that provides data to more than 140 countries in the form of international merchandise trade statistics.
The formal ball was sponsored by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and it was held at the Hofburg Palace.
“The building, seemingly built out of nothing but marble, has an exquisite interior that is spacious and elegant,” Smythe wrote in a recent e-mail. “We made our way to our table behind the orchestra where there eventually appeared on stage Dr. Mohamed El-Baradei, Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2005….I was a stone’s throw from a major decision maker in global policy. ‘Amazing that I have this opportunity,’ I thought.
“Standing on this metaphorical precipice, I caught myself between two major worldviews: that which I had in my youth, where there were immediate local events and everything else was happening to other people in the world that didn’t affect me; and the other, where I do not think I can perceive an event or see human interaction without it being within a global context….
“After his speech, we found our way to the ‘Disco wing’ (there was a salsa and ballroom and tango, etc., wing) and danced with countless nationalities until very late, enjoying each other’s company and feeling like a participant, no, a member, in the global community.”
Smythe, who attended public schools in Columbia and also the College of Charleston, where he earned bachelor’s degrees in German and philosophy, says it is “not uncommon for me to begin my day marketing to China or Southeast Asia, then Europe, and then the Americas at the end of the day.”
He has lived in four countries (France, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria) and six cities (Cologne, Paris, Basel, Frankfurt, Vienna, and Geneva) during his internship, which has been longer than Moore’s standard five-month internship.