While studying abroad in Sydney, Australia, I split my time between three academic courses at the University of Sydney, training and competing with the USydney athletics team, and interning with WheelEasy, a Sydney-based non-profit organization that maps city accessibility in Australia for people with physical disabilities and their families. The internship was not only the anchor of my experience but also fit perfectly within the wider context of my classes, my teammates, and the workings of my day-to-day life.

Coming into my study abroad experience, I did not know what I wanted to do career-wise, but I knew that I needed to explore professional options and make use of my time with Arcadia in a new country. As a double major in International & Global Studies and History, I was unsure exactly what I wanted to focus on in my internship. Thankfully, the Arcadia University staff both in the United States and abroad were very helpful in giving me a range of internship opportunities across a number of different non-profit organizations in Sydney, including both national and international groups. After narrowing down my options, I decided on WheelEasy because of its organizational mission and values, its willingness to shape my internship experience around my interests, and its confidence in giving me a major internal project as my main focus.

WheelEasy’s mission is to make it easier for people with mobility impairments and their families to go out, make plans, and be spontaneous. The organization does this by crowdsourcing and curating information on how accessible different venues and public spaces are. My job, as the Policy & Disability Advocacy Officer and Corporate Partnerships Research Intern, was to lay the groundwork for WheelEasy to form a major long-term corporate partnership with an international or Australian brand. This would enable WheelEasy to scale its mission through increased funding and resources from brands like Nike, Woolworths, or Optus.

My work required both research skills and strategic thinking. I identified more than a hundred Australia-based companies and subsidiaries whose values and activities might align with WheelEasy’s mission. I narrowed that list to a top thirty using criteria like CSR strategies, audience overlap, and financial cycles. For each promising prospect, I built profiles that mapped decision-makers, current initiatives, and possible entry points. I also drafted short outreach briefs that framed why a particular company and WheelEasy would be a good fit, and I developed a repeatable workflow for sourcing and qualifying leads.

Along with the clear professional direction that I hoped to gain from my internship experience, I was also looking to immerse myself fully in Australian culture. My internship gave me a glimpse into an aspect of Australian culture: the Australian non-profit sector, its inner workings, and the people who are part of it. Although my work was mainly online, interacting with the founder of my organization on a regular basis exposed me to the working culture of Australia. Through my daily work, I also became attuned to corporate language, marketing strategies, and philanthropic organizations.

My coursework at the University of Sydney also fed directly into my internship and life in Australia. I took a class on Indigenous Australian history, which gave me a broader understanding of the formation of contemporary Australian society and the importance that Land and Country hold in Australia today. My Australian Film, Theatre, and Learning class also gave me meaningful insight into the development of Australian culture and media across the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. This felt particularly relevant to my internship work with corporate branding and media campaigns as it showed to me the unique themes that speak to Australian audiences through history and shared experiences.

Outside of the classroom and office, USYD athletics gave structure to my days and weeks, and a team that quickly took me in as their own. As a 200m and 400m sprinter, I trained six days a week and competed in multiple state-level track meets. The contrast between long days at a laptop and evenings on the track was stark but healthy. The Australian work-life balance really showed in this. Training demanded that I carve out non-negotiable time for my physical and mental wellbeing alongside my academic and professional obligations. More than just the tangible aspects of training, being a part of the athletics team and becoming close friends with my teammates and coach played a major role in exposing me to the social side of Australian life. The connections that I formed with my Australian team not only eased the more challenging parts of my life in Sydney but also reminded me that friendship and community are what accessibility ultimately exists to protect and enable.

From my experience interning with WheelEasy, taking classes at the University of Sydney, and being a part of the USYD athletics program, I have gained so much knowledge and joy. My internship has given me valuable professional experience and skills, as well as important insight into what aspects of non-profit work I like and dislike and what that means for my future career direction. My classes gave me a window into Australian history, society, and culture that not only allowed me to understand the place I was living but also deepened my understanding of my internship work. My athletics not only kept me physically and mentally in shape but also showed me what the lives of Australians are truly like from an insider perspective and helped me build an amazing group of friends in Sydney. The intersection of these experiences has transformed me professionally, socially, culturally, and academically. I leave Australia with wonderful new friends, lasting memories, and a renewed sense of direction.