Back to News

September 15, 2009

Fall 2009 Interns Get Acquainted with Dominican Culture

Share on:

Monday, September 7th marked the official welcome for InteRDom’s Fall 2009 interns, who arrived from the United States and France to complete an academic program and do an internship in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

The students were greeted with a week-long orientation program, designed to help them adapt to their new environments and to adjust to and understand Dominican culture. The orientation week activities included: an opening presentation and tour of the Foundation’s facilities, a tutorial on business etiquette in the Dominican Republic, an introduction to cultural norms and differences, a tour of InteRDom’s partner university Universidad Iberoamericana (UNIBE), a welcoming lunch in Café Cappuccino and a tutorial and practicum on how to safely use public transportation.

The week concluded with the group’s first cultural excursion of the year to the Mirabal Sisters’ Museum in Salcedo and to the Centro León Cultural Center in Santiago. The excursion was guided by one of InteRDom’s experienced partners, who enriched the students’ knowledge of the regional history and culture of the Dominican Republic.

It was many of the students’ first view of the country outside of the capital city of Santo Domingo, and provided them with an opportunity to meet other interns and Fulbright scholars working with the U.S. Embassy.

InteRDom is the premier internship and academic study program in the Dominican Republic, sponsored by the organizations Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) and Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE). Since it’s inception in 2005, over 100 students from international universities have participated in the InteRDom program. The students enrolled in the Fall 2009 program all hail from universities in the United States and France.

The students will be working on a variety of projects including HIV/AIDS research and prevention, an investigation of Dominican judicial powers and a profile and critique of the legislative branch of the Dominican government.

View All News