Jennine Punzalan is a fifth year student, and she has already had a job working with NATO in Brussels. Now she is back at UBC about to graduate with a double major in International Relations and French Honours, This week I talked to her about her involvement on campus and her experience of living abroad and working for NATO.
“My first couple of years in UBC I was involved with the AUS and the Student Leadership Conference, but I found my calling with Model UN and the International Relations Students Association (IRSA), which I’ve been involved with in multiple ways since 2012,” explains Jennine. “When I found out Go Global existed as a 1st year, I knew with no hesitation I was applying, and I was going to do it in Paris.” She says she has long-dreamed of living in Paris. “It sounds really, really strange, but I watched Madeleine as a little girl and little me found her life so fun, I wanted to be able to do what she did.” Jennine spent the 2014 Winter semester studying at Sciences Po Paris.
After hitting a few bumps in the road during her time on exchange, Jennine says she loved her time in Europe. “I know Paris is a love-hate city but I am in love with it. There’s always something to do, always something to discover, and always something inspiring to catch your eye. It was amazing to be walking out of your campus building and know the Musée d’Orsay is just steps away.”
She adds, “I really enjoyed exploring how Model UN was done in Europe. I staffed a few conferences during my time there and I had an amazing time and met a great group of people who are passionate about what they do. It was awesome to meet and connect with the same type of nerds on the other side of the Atlantic.”
I asked her how she ended up working for NATO this past year and what the process was like for her. “It felt like such a daze to be honest,” says Jennine. “I initially applied during the spring 2013 application period, after getting encouraged to do it by a Model UN friend. I got shortlisted, but was ultimately rejected by the division I applied for in the Fall, so by the time I was in Europe, months later, it was the last thing on my mind. Then next thing I knew, I was on a train heading to the French countryside for spring break, and I check my inbox and bam – email from NATO about an internship. It was another division offering me a position, to start as soon as I could. I had to contain my giddiness in that train, I was so happy. After my semester in Paris, I packed my bags and moved to Brussels for the internship.”
In describing her work experience, Jennine remarks that “it’s a rare opportunity to work in such an international environment, where one meeting you are talking in French with an Italian and Belgian colleague over coffee, then you switch back to English for your weekly update with your American supervisor. It was a valuable learning experience – I learned so, so much that I can apply not only to my IR courses, but to other work environments.”
So what is this inspirational woman up to these days? “I like to say I’m winding down on my extracurricular involvement, sort of,” she says. She’s working at Go Global, has planned IRSA’s Career Week, and will be staffing the Canadian International Model UN conference in Ottawa this March…all while taking six courses, which includes writing her senior thesis.
I hope to graduate UBC next year, and to attend law school in 2016,” says Jennine of her plans for the future. “Somewhere down the line, I’d like to find my way back to Paris.”