How I was 20 Minutes Late to the Interview and Still Got Into ISA - An Honest Review

I remember looking at my watch and then looking at my phone and then looking at my watch again. I still remember getting the text saying I was 20 minutes late. I still remember rushing and bodying the next participant to get into the interview room before him. Most of all, I’ll always remember going home thinking I gave it all up. So a few days later, when I got the email that I was accepted into their intern class, I got so excited I dropped my phone in front of Parkside.

I’ll also never forget first meeting with the rest of my intern class–I knew no one. Coming from Indonesia with only 7 other Indonesians I barely spoke with, I was severely deprived of familiarity and the comfort that came with it. But from that tiny picnic blanket where us interns all played mafia and ate Target-bought doughnuts, little would I have known that those would be some of my most wonderful friends. From a Singaporean who I thought was 16 but was 21 to a bespectacled Burmese who looked like Vector to two of my current roommates, that tiny picnic blanket was where I met some of the most interesting people I’ve ever met. And when I got to know the rest of ISA–from my big, Daniel, to my (now) red-haired Thai friend, Gaby–I met almost all my friends through ISA. I came to meetings and events to do more than advocate for USC’s international student community–I came for the people there. I felt the same tinge of excitement even as an e-boarder meeting the intern class this year. With new faces and a sea of diverse personalities, ISA’s recruitment never disappoints when it comes to recruiting interesting people (shoutout Aliyah and Daniel). 

Even now, as the Co-Chair of Advocacy launching initiatives advocating for international student issues and rights, I have been able to work closely with a wide variety of individuals from interns like my little, Jan, to the Undergraduate Student Government. Seeing my initiatives come into fruition–especially in a role where emails and messages are constantly left opened but unreplied–feels fulfilling. As an international student, I have faced a lot of the problems I am currently trying to work towards fixing. In that sense, ISA has not only given me a platform to help those alike, but it has also given me a sense of purpose in what I do. 

For me, I joined ISA to find friends and left with family (corny, I know). And sure, sometimes we fall, we stumble, and we harbor our fair share of flaws and imperfections, yet it is our bonds to each other that motivate us to improve and to stay together. We are a family in the truest sense of the word. So yes, join ISA not just to fill that extra spot in your resume, but also for the people you’ll meet and the places you’ll go with this club. Come expecting nothing and leave with more than you ever thought possible. I look back on my time as an intern with as much fondness as I look towards the future of ISA. And as I muse on my favorite memories, all I am reminded of is how the best things come when we least expect it, even if we are 20 minutes behind schedule.