Andalucia Tours and Discovery

Placement organization

Name of organization: Andalucia Tours and Discovery
Town/city: Sevila
Country: Spanje
Website: http://atdspain.com

Name of student: Tom Heikoop

Specialist area: MTT
Placement period: 2014-2015

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Guided tours
Organization’s activities: City tours, walking tours, bike tours through other villages near Seville, segway tours, bike rentals
Target group of the organization: Families with young children, young/old couples
Company culture: The company has a Spanish boss, Carlos, but leads the company together with Rosalie (Dutch). The culture is very informal and flexible. The language is mostly English and Dutch, but Spanish comes in handy as well.
Number of employees: 5
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? Marketing department
Brief description of your daily activities: Update the social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Google+)
Find things to post on social media
FInd communities to follow and post in on Google+
Make blog for the site
Upload photos of tours on the website
Email clients and baja bikes with the photos

Brief description of your company assignment: Make a content plan; How to funtion better on social media?
Find out how and when to post things, what to do to create interaction and how to get a bigger network.

Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: Show initiative during the week, do your standard tasks and work on the assignment. Once a week you show what you did to your supervisor and then discuss what to do next or what has to be improved.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Flexible, independent, sociable
Additional company requirements for this placement? MS office, writing skills and preferably Photoshop
English: Advanced
Spanish: Basic
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Bicycle

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Supervisor gave contact information
How did you go to work every day? By bicycle

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? If you have time, a Spanish course

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € €100
Accommodation (monthly): € €300
Local transport (monthly): € 0
General costs of living (monthly): € €200
Costs of visa: €
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? I can use a bicycle from the company as long as I’m doing my internship

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I have been in Spain before, but only as holiday. I did not and could not really prepare on the work culture here, but it’s easy getting use to.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? I found myself being way calmer and less stressful than before

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: tomheikoop91@gmail.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: There is a possibility that you’ll have to stay in a hostel at the beginning, because the room you’re going to rent isn’t free yet. I had a private room, because I didn’t want my suitcase containing stuff I needed for 5 months near other people. Yet I can advice you to have a shared room with lockable drawers, because this way you will meet people and not feel to lonely.

When going to eat outside, don’t pay attention to the looks of the bar. The more napkins there are on the ground, the better the bar is.
Another bar tip: When there is no menu card for the drinks, ask how much it costs before ordering because it may be a tourist trap (charging more for tourists than locals).
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: In Seville itself there is plenty to visit: Amusement park, waterpark, aquarium, other villages
Next to Seville, the other Andalusian cities are great to visit as well. Because of my marketing job, I don’t have to work in the weekends, this gives me time to visit the other cities.
For the beach, I can recommend either Cadíz or Malaga, because the cities itself are great to visit too.
Córdoba and Granada are also cities you want to visit during your stay.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link