Every year, Norwegian embassies and consulates all over the world offer internships for students and others, in order to give the interns a look into the world of foreign services and diplomacy.

One of them, Morten Langsholdt, worked at the Norwegian Embassy in Washington, D.C., while studying International Relations on a Fulbright at Georgetown University. One of four interns – two of whom were Fulbrighters – he worked with the political department of the embassy.

"This internship offers a look into the Norwegian foreign services, but also into the pulsating sphere of politics in D.C.," he says.

"It gained me entrance to a huge amount of meetings and seminars behind opened and closed doors, and by combining the practical with the academic, I learned more about my areas of interest. There is also the learning by doing aspect: You learn to understand things like the hierarchy of a bureaucratic system, organizing skills and writing skills, just to mention a few. It also gave me access to a lot of think tanks, the Norwegian foreign services, and to individuals I would never have reached if not for the embassy connections."

The internships generally go on for the spring and fall semesters, and come with a small stipend. In Washington, the departments that take interns are the press department, the economic department and the political department, and the positions typically attract students or others with particular backgrounds related to these fields. The positions are typically advertised 3-4 months in advance on the web sites of the individual embassies

"The embassy internship gives you experience and contacts that might prove very valuable in the professional world.