Explore Catalunya

Placement organization

Name of organization: Explore Catalunya
Town/city: Barcelona
Country: Spanje
Website: http://explorecatalunya.com

Student

Name of student: Tessa

Specialist area: ITTI
Placement period: 2016-2017

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: local tour operator in Catalunya
Organization’s activities: During the internship at Explore Catalunya I have to do front and back office activities, doing check in with customers and helping organising everything that is neccesairy to operate tours. Making reservations, making sure tours are not overbooked, getting ticket door example: sagrada familia, park quell and la pedrera for a Barcelona tour.
Target group of the organization: 35-70
Company culture: The company is very casual, you do not neat to wear a blazer and the colleagues are very open and nice. But be aware that the boss is English and there is not a relax mañana mañana mentality. Moreover your colleagues all speak Catalan, so you will not be able to understand that, even if you had Spanish classes. It is a different language!

Moreover it is very important not to make mistakes and you therefore need to ask permission from your supervisor a lot before doing things. If something is wrong with the preparing for a tour they have a big problem and unhappy customers.
Number of employees: 20
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? Front + back office
Brief description of your daily activities: Making daily list
Organising Montserrat + sagrada familia tickets for customers
booking tickets
confirming bookings
helping customers at the front desk
answering emails

Brief description of your company assignment: Qualitative research by doing a satisfactory survey
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: Saori and Christel (my 2 colleagues) are supervising me when I ask. Christel will also ask if she needs to check my things.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? team player, social, flexible, stress proof, spanish
Additional company requirements for this placement? EXCEL, google drive,booking systems (you will learn that all)
English: Advanced
Spanish: Intermediate
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages: CATALAN is useful but i don’t speak that eather so, it is nice if you do but no must

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane, train, bus, car, boat ( whatever you want) Airplane for me

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? via a friend + airbnb for the last month
How did you go to work every day? on my longboard but walking is possible too

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? 5 days in total
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): € 100
Accommodation (monthly): € 450
Local transport (monthly): € 30
General costs of living (monthly): € 1000
Costs of visa: € 0
Costs of work permit: € 0
What did the company pay for/to you? THEY DID NOT PAY ME!

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I have been to Barcelona before. So I just googled a bit and knew a lot from travelling.
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: tessatemarvelde@gmail.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Learn a bit of Catalan and learn spanish
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Enough to do in Barcelona and do the tours that work is offering.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link