EF Educational Tours

Placement organization

Name of organization: EF Educational Tours
Town/city: Madrid
Country: Spanje
Website: http://www.eftours.com/

Student

Name of student: Laura Bourgonje

Specialist area: MTT
Placement period: 2013-2014

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Touroperator
Organization’s activities: EF Educational Tours is one of the products of EF Education first. EF Tours sells tours to the North-American market, nowadays EF Educational Tours is the world leader of educational tours in North-America. The mission of the company is: ´to break down the barriers of language, culture and geography that divides us’.
Target group of the organization: North-American high school students (+ their teachers)
Company culture: They way of working is formal and very serious, but the relationship between the colleagues is informal and very nice.
Number of employees: 4
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? Regional Office Madrid
Brief description of your daily activities: – Sending out pre-tour contacts (PTC) and tour director itineraries (TDI).
– Solve problems with missing components of the tours.
– Responsible for all the train tickets, metro tickets and Louvre tickets.
– Sending material for tour directors.
– Sending office materials to other offices.
– Debriefings.
– Administrative tasks.
Brief description of your company assignment: My company assignment was to create new possible activities for the seven most visited and most popular cities (by EF Tours) in Spain (Barcelona, Madrid, Malaga, Seville, Cordoba, Granada and Valencia).
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: The manager of the office is the supervisor during the internship,y ou can ask him any questions you have. Also the other colleagues are a great help during the internship.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Teamplayer, but also work independent, sociable, flexible, stress-proof and responsible.
Additional company requirements for this placement? Excell and Word
English: Advanced
Spanish: Basic
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Internet (www.idealista.com)
How did you go to work every day? Public transport, Metro

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? No
Do you need a work permit? No
How did you arrange the necessary documents:
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents?
Did you need certain vaccinations? No
How long in advance?

Language course

Did you take a language course before you started your placement? No
Would you recommend to have a language course prior to this placement? Yes

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € €200,-
Accommodation (monthly): € €350,- / €400,-
Local transport (monthly): € €40,-
General costs of living (monthly): € €300,-
Costs of visa: €
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? Flight, Lunch.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
Not.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? No.

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: laura.95.bourgonje@hotmail.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: – Look for a good area to live (Salamanca is between the office and the city centre).
– You can find a lot of rooms on www.idealista.com.
– This internship doesn´t pay you, but you can arrange the Erasmus Beurs in Holland. This will be €300,- a month.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: – Madrid is a big city where are always things to do, you never have to get bored in this city.
– City trips to other Spanish cities (Valencia, Malaga, Toledo, Segovia, Barcelona etc.)

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link