Summer Internships in Greece for Harvard Undergraduates 2008

Center for Hellenic Studies Summer Internship in Greece 2009 (June 1st - July 3rd)       

The Center for Hellenic Studies Internship Program offers Harvard students the opportunity to spend the summer living and working in Greece. One of Harvard's most competitive and innovative summer programs, it combines daily academic and professional work with extended home-stays, weekend excursions, and cultural activities, creating a uniquely immersive experience for participants.

Students are placed in various institutions located either in Athens or in the town of Nafplio, Greece's first capital city and home to CHS's research outpost. Every internship is tailored to fit each student's particular academic and extracurricular interests. Students work Monday through Thursday at their host institutions, with Fridays free for excursions and sightseeing.

At the start of the internship program, interns will undergo a required week-long orientation in Nafplio during which students will be introduced to Modern Greek, attend film screenings, go on local excursions, and attend daily seminars led by CHS faculty members.

After orientation week, interns move into their permanent housing, either in a home-stay or in a shared apartment setting, and begin daily internship work. The range of experiences available to a CHS intern is vast. Some past placements have included participating in archaeological digs in Midea and Kenchreai in the Peloponnese, assisting in Bios, a contemporary arts center and a graphic design firm, working at the architectural firms of Alexandros C. Samaras & Associates and Kokkinou+Kourkoulas , working with the curators of the National Museum of Contemporary Art , intensive training in shipping at W.E.M Lines SA and Gourdomichalis Maritime, S.A , interning at Foresight , a PR firm in Athens, researching at GAIA centre of the Goulandris Natural History Museum, the Hellenic Center for European Studies, the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy , working at the Greek Ministry for Foreign Affairs, volunteering for the Greek section of Amnesty International and the Hellenic Society for the Protection of the Environment and the Cultural Heritage, participating in digitization projects at the Foundation of the Hellenic World , the Peloponnesean Folklore Foundation and the General State Archives annex in Nafplion. CHS continues to find extraordinary opportunities tailored to suit the unique and specific interests of each participant.

Concentrators from any field are encouraged to apply. The only requirements are intellectual curiosity and a readiness to engage directly with other cultures. Knowledge of either ancient or Modern Greek is not required. Current freshman, sophomores, and juniors are eligible to apply as well as students from the Graduate School of Design (please note that graduating students cannot apply).

Housing for interns will be provided by the CHS. Each intern is given a $2500 stipend in order to offset the costs associated with international travel, local transport, meals, and incidentals.

The CHS Greece Internship Program 2009 will run from June 1st to July 3rd. Students interested in applying should first visit the CARAT website to create a coversheet. The coversheet should be saved as a PDF and sent electronically with the following supplementary materials:
1. one letter of recommendation
2. a one-page resume
3. a 600-800 word personal statement detailing the student's intellectual and professional interests, the student's ideal internship, why the student wishes to spend time in Greece, and what the student hopes to gain from the experience.

All materials must be submitted electronically to: summer_internship@chs.harvard.edu by February 27th, 2009.

For more information regarding the Internship program and registration with the program's mailing list please contact summer_internship@chs.harvard.edu.

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