Fifi

My name is Gabrielle Sofia M. Santelices, and ACOPIA intern from the Philippines, but most people in the office call me Fifi. I am from the Ateneo de Manila University, and majoring in Diplomacy and International Relations, minoring in Korean Studies. It has been a month since I started interning in ACOPIA cafe. I have seen the efforts of the Asia Hope Camp Organization to cross cultural boarders and establish a multicultural and international environment within the organization, to welcome people from all around the world, wherever you are from, especially when welcoming interns in ACOPIA.

The people I work with everyday at the cafe are from different parts of the world, and working in ACOPIA cafe has opened me to the many cultural differences and learnings from my workmates. I am able to learn new things from them everyday, and at the same time, share bits of my Filipino culture and language with them. Dance classes at the ACOPIA School has also been a highlight of my internship, where I get to practice my Korean speaking skills with our teacher, and interact with the Japanese trainees in the school. It's been fun and making friends with people from different countries has been one of the best things in this internship.

For the past month I have been in charge of the ACOPIA World YouTube channel, and have been brainstorming for content to upload in the site. I have filmed and edited different videos and have been uploading different content weekly. Most of the videos have been about the upcoming KPOP Camp that ACOPIA will be holding this August 2018, and the rest are about the everyday lives of ACOPIA Cafe interns, and of course promoting ACOPIA Cafe to customers for language exchange sessions.

The past few weeks has also been a series of sending emails to possible parter universities and organizations in the Philippines to promote ACOPIA's different work camps in different parts of the world, and of course to promote the ACOPIA internship program.

ACOPIA has been a great experience so far, honing my work skills and at the same time letting me experience different cultures, especially when we visited the DMZ with the other interns. It was indeed a wonderful experience.