Ms. Mills spent three months in London working with Big Earth and Elixir Films on the production of "By Any Means," a documentary featuring Charley Boorman, an actor whose film credits include appearances in "Deliverance," "Excalibur" and "The Emerald Forest," completing a journey from Wicklow, Ireland, to Sydney, Australia, using more than 100 different forms of transportation.

A 2005 graduate of the Philipsburg-Osceola Area High School, Ms. Mills says she was always interested in history while a student there and also participated in the high school's drama club productions. She says her love of history and theater steered her toward an interest in documentary film, which she says she views as a means of using film to "be a voice for people who don't have one."

A Schreyer Honors Scholar and student marshal at The Pennsylvania State University who maintained a 4.0 grade point average while pursuing minors in both history and theater, Ms. Mills says she still underwent an arduous application process during which the university attempted to match her with an internship that best reflected her interests.

"I was very honored and kind of surprised," says Ms. Mills of her reaction to learning she'd been placed with Big Earth and Elixir Films for her internship opportunity. "I was really happy where I ended up."

That internship placed her in the United Kingdom's capital, where she made her temporary home in a Chelsea flat with six or seven other young women working or studying in the city. The building housed about 30 American visitors in total, and Ms. Mills says she had the good fortune of rooming with someone who was just finishing a six-month stay in London and was able to get the inside track on living in a large city some 3,000 miles away from her native West Decatur.

Her principal responsibility on the production of "By Any Means" was that of research. She says she spent a lot of time researching different modes of transport that Mr. Boorman, his producer Russ Malkin and cameraman Paul Mungeam would use during their trek through the 24 different countries featured in the documentary.

Ms. Mills says her focus was on researching the various modes of transport utilized in whatever area the production crew was passing through as well as looking into different points of interest, climate, types of currency used and safety tips the three men needed to be aware of while making their journey.

She says the production steered clear of making use of airplanes wherever possible in favor of using transport with a more local flavor.

Her research meant speaking with individuals from many different ethnicities.

"It was really, really a broad spectrum," she says, and it was sometimes the most difficult aspect of her job since she often faced a language barrier that sometimes proved insurmountable without having the person right there in front of her. "It's amazing how much you pick up from cues when you're talking face to face," she says.

The telephone wasn't always the enemy, however, as she did get to speak with Mr. Boorman on occasion. By necessity, he was not available for a face-to-face meeting during filming. Ms. Mills says she thinks he was somewhat thrown the first time he called the production office in London and heard her voice at the other end of the line.

Ms. Mills' stay in the historic city was not all work. Although she did have one course, International Business and Politics, in addition to her work responsibilities, she also managed to squeeze a good portion of sightseeing into her itinerary. In London she took in historic places such as Westminster Abbey and also witnessed first hand the "Trooping of Color" (the queen's birthday parade). She caught a glimpse of both the queen and her grandsons Prince William and Prince Harry during the parade, and she says it was a very interesting experience.

She was also able to take in historic sites such as Oxford University, Stonehenge and the famed Canterbury Cathedral.

"It was just really cool to see things I learned about in high school," says Ms. Mills. "So much history, that's what I loved about the U.K."

Her adventures weren't confined strictly to England, as she spent three days touring Scotland, a journey that included a bus tour through the Scottish Highlands and stops at the famed Loch Ness and Glencoe.

Ironically enough, Ms. Mills' only work behind the camera came on her last day of work. Her coworkers thought she should do something fun on her last day, and they gave her a camera and instructions to shoot some footage and edit it together. Afterward they gathered for a going away party.

Asked if there is any possibility she might return to Big Earth and Elixir Films now that she is a graduate of Penn State, Ms. Mills says that she would really like to, but that her closeness to her family here would make it difficult decision to move that far away on a permanent basis.

To a certain extent, however, she lives in the best of both worlds as she still keeps in contact with the friends she made while living and working abroad. She will also have the benefit of reliving, at least in part, her experiences working on "By Any Means," as the six-episode documentary has already aired on the BBC Network and is slated for a Nov. 3 DVD release.