An instant recognisable detail about the student body at the George Washington University in DC is that around 10-20% of them are wearing suits. This is not because they are overly keen and want to impress their professors with their professionalism. It’s because they all have impressive internships These vary greatly: some intern at the US State Department, for congressmen and women, the Red Cross, National Geographic and the list goes on. I jumped on this opportunity as soon as I realised I too could be one of these snazzy suit wearing students on my year abroad (obviously the ridiculously stringent US visa requirements had to be checked first). And so the stressful road to internship applications began. I applied probably for 20 internships expecting they would all at least reply with some sort of notification that they had received my application and were considering it or a polite decline. Oh how wrong I was. Getting an internship in DC is like finding a needle in a haystack. The amount of people that apply is unfathomable. And so for weeks I received not even an acknowledgement email and lost hope. And then magically out of the blue my favourite choice replied. A phone interview, and a personal one followed. I am now proud to announce that I will be the Environment and Energy Security Intern at the British Embassy next semester. I am officially joining the ranks of the professionally clad overachievers of GWU. This is by far the most exciting part of my year abroad so far, and something everyone should take into consideration when applying for their year abroad in America. GWU is a great school as it is in the political centre of the States. If you want an impressive internship and are finding it hard to find one in Europe, this could be the school for you.