Thank you letter

To my supervisor:

I wanted to thank you for taking me on in the role of trade specialist intern for the
Summer of 2014. Five years since the last intern anywhere in the embassy meant it was far from a given that someone would occupy that role and the ease you made it with transitioning into the office made it a memorable experience. You trusted me to take on projects that I would only have dreamed about before I arrived and made the internship so much more valuable than simply shadowing and making coffee. You aided me in understanding a system that I was not at all familiar with and created a potential career path I had not previously considered. On top of all that you opened up your personal life and your friends to me to make my stay all the more enjoyable. Hopefully one day I'll find myself back in South Africa, for business or pleasure and we can catch up.

Best Regards,
Thomas

Most Important thing I learned

I think my biggest takeaway from the internship looking back was the exposure to federal government, especially while in a foreign country. I have job shadowed and had various other internships and each brings with it the exposure to the practices and standards presents in each industry and field. In a sense then, I gained the insight that I could completely make a career out of working for The U.S. Department of Commerce in many different capacities.