Greetings! My name is Jiyi Choi, and I am one of the 2022 GW UNESCO Fellows. I was given the opportunity to learn from the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL), located in Hamburg, Germany. Due to the policy instated for COVID-19, I am working remotely in Washington, D.C. I would like to share what it is like to work remotely for UIL as a GW UNESCO Fellow for UIL this Summer.
8 am – Every day, I start my ‘work day’ at 8 am. After consulting with my direct supervisor, we have decided that it would be great for me to start at 8 am to be able to join meetings with my European colleagues. I usually finish my ‘work day’ around 4 pm, just like 9-5. Every Wednesday, however, I have a team meeting at 6 am Eastern time that I try to make every week. It is definitely not easy to wake up before 6 to be ready for a team meeting by 6. However, joining the meeting virtually early morning strengthens the connections with the colleagues in Hamburg.
Every morning – I work on the tasks that I was assigned. For example, I have been working on editing a research publication about lifelong learning this past couple of weeks. I have a bi-weekly meeting with my direct supervisor to check in on how far along I am. The culture of UIL is quite different from the culture I am used to. I am not given a task with a deadline every day. Perhaps, I have to proactively find new things to do and more things to learn. Lesson learned: I should always proactively seek more opportunities to seize.
Afternoon – I typically spend my afternoons continuing to work on tasks, such as editing publications. Special occasions such as CONFINTEA VII requires more attention-to-details tasks. CONFINTEA VII is a Seventh International Conference on Adult Education held in Marrakech, Morocco. The last CONFINTEA was held in 2009. From the beginning of my time at UIL, most of my tasks were focused on preparing for CONFINTEA VII as well as assisting team members during the conference. To assist my team members, I attended a couple of workshop sessions discussing how to promote lifelong learning in African cities.
After Work Day – Sometimes conferences can go over the work day as I am working in a completely different time zone. Sometimes, I work with my colleagues in Hamburg to finish a task after working hours. However, the most fun part of this fellowship is meeting many different people.
The interns of UIL connect with each other to join the conference, find work buddies in their cities (hence the remote working!), and make professional connections in the International Education field. There are previous interns of UIL as well as current interns in this group. I would love to see another GW UNESCO Fellows join this group chat next year.
Next blog post, I hope to bring what I have worked on during my time at the UNESCO Institute of Lifelong Learning. I also wish to explain a little bit more about my involvement at UIL. Until next time! Tschüss!