Intern abroad at a startup or stay in NYC?

Hi guys,
I am currently an international junior at a non-target in Long Island, NY interested in IBD/VC. I have an interesting story as I was playing professional tennis until the age of 17 and after a bad injury had to quit. Decided to move to the US to pursue a career in finance. I have 3 previous internships in different fields (marketing, mortgage banking, options trading). I got seriously interested in the industry a little late and I rushed into the networking/interview prep process. Coming from a different countries and going to a very small school, it was very hard to get interviews. I managed to make it to two superdays for SA positions but didn't get an offer. I am now heading into my senior year with no IBD experience, which leaves me torn between two options for this summer:
- Stay here in NYC and intern at a CRE firm or PWM office (I have offers from both, but they're all unpaid or commissions only)
- Accept an offer at a start-up in South America for non-finance roles such as business/product development, marketing, and maybe consulting (if I am lucky). This offer comes with a lot of perks such as accomodation provided, meals and insurance.
I think it's worth mentioning that I am an international student and fluent in three languages: italian, spanish and english.
My ultimate goal is to stay in NY after I graduate and break into IBD/VC.
My question is: will the internship abroad eliminate all my chances of getting an IBD position after graduation? Will that CRE/PWM internship really give me more leverage? I plan on getting a fall and possibly spring internship at a boutique to have some relevant experience.
Being an international student and having lived in three different countries already, I know the importance of an experience abroad and how much you grow as a person after it and there is nothing you can trade that for. Also, I feel like after graduation I will not be able to do anything like that and I'm afraid I will regret it.
What do you guys think? How does fall/spring internship recruiting differ from SA positions? Do you think I should take on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity or stick around in NYC and network my butt off to secure an internship for next semester?

 

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