EF Educational Tour

Placement organization

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

Name of student: Rolf van den Berg

Specialist area: MTT
Placement period: 2014-2015

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Tour operator
Organization’s activities: Selling tours to North American students and their teachers. The mission of the company is: ´to break down the barriers of language, culture and geography that divides us’. The regional office in Madrid takes care of the Tour Directors who guide tours in Spain and Portugal.

Target group of the organization: North American high school students and their teachers
Company culture: The way of working is serious but informal and relaxed. Also the relation between the colleagues is very good en informal. They make you feel like a colleague instead of a trainee. Everyone is very friendly and social.
Number of employees: Office staff 3, Tour Directors 160
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, Tours department
Brief description of your daily activities: Sending out all tours information (Pre-tour contact and tour director itinerary);

– Contacting Tour Directors
– Taking care of train and metro tickets
– Helping with the selection and training of new tour directors
– Administrative tasks

Brief description of your company assignment: I had to create a new sightseeing tour through Madrid with components of experimental learning.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: The supervision is good, you will get a lot of responsibilities and they really make you feel like a colleague instead of a trainee. The persons in the office are super friendly and will help you with anything. It is also very important for them that you feel at home, in the office as well as in Madrid.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Sociable, flexible, stress-proof, organized and responsible.
Additional company requirements for this placement? MS Office, excell, good communication skills
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? I arranged my accommodation via TLS Group, the apartment was okay but for the price I paid I could have had a better apartment. I would recommend you to search for a room via Idealista or helpMadrid.
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? It is not necessary but it is very useful to speak some Spanish, everybody will appreciate it.

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 250,-
Accommodation (monthly): € 500,-
Local transport (monthly): € 50,-
General costs of living (monthly): € 400,-
Costs of visa: €
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? EF paid my flights, transport card and you also get a lunch allowance of € 5,- a day.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I didn’t, it´s not really necessary
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: rolf-vandenberg@hotmail.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Be sure you can speak basic Spanish; the most of the Spanish people are really bad in speaking English.

Find a good area to live, I lived in the city center and really had a great time there. Before you start your internship contact Roberto and ask him witch are the good areas to live in.

Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Madrid is an amazing city, there are a lot of things to see and party´s every night. Make sure you visit kaptil and joy and also go to the Fucking Monday party. Also visit la Fabrik, this is a big club where a lot of famous dj´s come.
Of course you have to see a football match as well; Real Madrid or Atletico Madrid is even better.
If you have time visit some place in the near like Toledo or Salamanca. Sometimes it is possible to go with a tour as well to visit Barcelona or Sevilla for example.

Next to the office there is the EF language school make sure you meet a lot of the students. The EF school also organizes a lot of activities on which you can go as well. These activities are very divers from pub crawls and barbeques to trip to Pamplona and Sevilla.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link