Italy Internships

My internship in Italy gave me a lot of “firsts” for my life, and it enabled me to meet a great range of people from different walks of life. The entire experience has without a doubt increased by personal and professional development, improving my skills and knowledge and helping me pave a way forward for my own career. It enabled me to stay in one of my favorite cities in the world - whilst picking up the language, making friends, and embracing a new culture. I would do it all again if I could! The 3-week Italian classes at the start of the internship were one of my highlights from the experience in Rome. Being able to settle in with a nice routine that included language learning and meeting new people from the start, was such a fun way to enter the culture. The language school is incredible in their teaching mechanism. It was a great environment with great teachers!

My internship allowed me to engage with local culture and language. I loved exploring the country and spending time with locals, doing things I normally wouldn't do. I now know that a career in the arts is something I want to do. I have new goals that I want to meet in the future that I did not have before my internship. Overall my experience was positive; I loved Rome, I loved the people I got to meet at both my accommodation and at the school, and I enjoyed that I got to connect with professionals in a field I want to pursue.

I chose to intern in Italy because I wanted to live in another country, learn more about and experience another culture, and learn Italian. I learned a lot through this internship. I would say the most important skill I learned is how to better communicate with people. Until this internship, I had never really thought about how difficult it might be to communicate with others who do not speak the same language as you. Most people in the United States either speak English or Spanish, and I speak both of those. This internship has taught me how to use my resources, such as hand gestures, charades, pointing at objects, and Google Translate to effectively communicate. I had to communicate with people from across the world in a mix of languages and hand gestures to ascertain their needs, such as clothes, hygiene products, and more, and do my best to provide what we could. My biggest piece of advice would be to keep an open mind and be willing to be adaptable. Showing that you are trying and want to learn about the different cultures shows respect, and often in turn others will respect you more and have more patience with you while trying to communicate.

Although I am still so young, my Sustainable Tourism internship in Italy has been amazing in helping me see what the corporate world is all about! My internship placement was with a tour operator and hotel. My tasks included updating websites, understanding hotel procedures and helping with general tasks in a tourism company. I love tourism and am considering a career within this field in future. This internship has been great in not only figuring out who I am, but my interests and passions. I feel empowered to start school again and really get stuck into the tourism sector. A lot of people said that I wouldn't have the motivation to go back to school after taking some time out abroad, but after my internship experience I feel more motivation than ever. I have new goals because of this program and I know that I will have the resources to attain them. Traveling the world gives you a much better perspective of everything and I can't wait to do more and fit that into my career wherever possible.