EF Educational Tours

Placement organization

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

Name of student: Danique van der Knaap

Specialist area: MTT
Placement period: 2014-2015

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Educational touroperator
Organization’s activities: EF combines language training with cultural exchange, academic achievement and educational travel to deliver courses and programs that transform dreams into international opportunities.
Target group of the organization: Students from the United States and Canada
Company culture: Young, fresh, both formal & informal. The culture towards colleagues in other offices and towards suppliers is quite formal. But the culture in our office is more informal.
Number of employees: There are 2 fulltime colleagues in the office and one other intern. Worldwide there are thousands of employees
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? I’m working in the Paris Regional Office of the educational tours department.
Brief description of your daily activities: – Send pre tour contacts and flight itineraries to the Tour Directors.
– Be responsible for the tablets which the Tour Directors use to fill in evaluations and to see their itinerary.
– Answer emails and phone calls.
– Assist Tour Directors with any questions or problems they have.
– Processing evaluations
– And a lot of other little things
Brief description of your company assignment: I have to create an idea of a kind of software for Tour Directors on which they can fill out a survey. The software must also consist of a test. The test is to give Regional Managers an idea of what the level of knowledge of Tour Directors is on responsibilities, code of conduct, etc.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: My colleagues are very nice and helpful. You can always ask them as many questions as you want.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Independent, flexible, planning, sociable
Additional company requirements for this placement? Basics of Excel
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Car

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? I placed an advertisement on the website: nederlanders.fr
How did you go to work every day? 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? No, it’s not necessary since you don’t have to speak French for the internship. But it’s always nice to try and learn the language during your internship.

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € My parents brought me by car and stayed for the weekend and they will do the same for the trip back home.
Accommodation (monthly): € 700
Local transport (monthly): € 70. But EF pays for it
General costs of living (monthly): € It really depends on how you live.
Costs of visa: €
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? Transportation, and 10 euros per day for lunch. You just get 10 euros no matter what you have for lunch. If you eat something for less than 10 euros you can keep the rest and if you eat for more than 10 euros you need to pay extra.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I only read some things on the internet. I think the French culture doesn’t really differ from the Dutch culture.
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: danique3@live.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Paris is quite expensive so don’t underestimate your expenses. Especially the rent is quite high. And since it’s really hard to find a place to live I advise you to search for an accommodation as soon as possible. www.nederlanders.fr really is really useful!
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: The company is located in the 9th arrondissement of Paris which is a really nice and busy area. For example Galeries La Fayette is just around the corner.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link