Praktika Lietuvos Respublikos ambasadoje Čekijoje

I am a student of the International politics and development program at Vytautas Magnus University. After finishing my 3rd year of studies I had to pick an organization for my internship. Since my interests revolve mostly around international relations and politics I thought that it’d be a good idea to learn more about diplomatic institutions and diplomatic service in practice, so I decided that I’d like to gain first-hand experience in an embassy. I applied for the Lithuanian embassy in Prague since I am fluent in the Czech language and I thought that by knowing the language I will be more useful for the embassy and will have the possibility to get involved in its work more deeply.

My work at the embassy consisted of various regular and individual tasks. The regular tasks included preparing bi-weekly reports on current issues of Czech domestic affairs, foreign policy, and economy and taking part in briefings held by different Czech ministries before EU Council configurations’ meetings and writing summaries on what was said during them. Apart from this, I would do various other work on a daily basis. This included assisting in organization and preparation for events held by the embassy, participating in various conferences and seminars, looking up and preparing relevant information, and doing administrative work. I also had a long-term task for my whole internship period which was writing a comprehensive analysis on a given topic (regional cooperation of the Visegrad Group).

My internship at the embassy was an invaluable experience. I got acquainted with organizational and structural procedures of diplomatic institutions, gained practical experience in the daily work of governmental institutions, their work planning and ethics, got familiarized with Lithuania’s foreign policy goals and objectives, their implementation methods and means and gained practical experience on the structure and functioning of EU institutions. I also improved my organizational and analytical skills, gained experience in both teamwork and carrying out tasks individually, and became more flexible and adaptable.