EF Educational Tours

Placement organization

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

Name of student: Tresita Janssen

Specialist area: MT
Placement period: 2015-2016

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: tour operator
Organization’s activities: Selling tours to North American students and their teachers. 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 students and their teachers
Company culture: informal
Number of employees: 2-3
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 all tours information
– 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 come up with a new extension for a tour through Portugal and Spain.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: During the internship you will have a lot of responsibilities. The supervision is really good cause they will always try to help you. You also will be a lot on your own cause the supervisor and the other persons in the office are travelling a lot. Besides that it´s for them very important that you feel at home.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? social, flexible, independent and a team player
Additional company requirements for this placement? MS Office, Excel
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
How did you go to work every day? publictransportation

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 possible to follow some Spanish classes at EF.

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 250
Accommodation (monthly): € 375
Local transport (monthly): € 20
General costs of living (monthly): € 500
Costs of visa: €
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? Flight tickets, monthly transportation card and 5 euro lunch money every workday.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I didn´t
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? Yes the working atmosphere is less stressful.

Future students on placement

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

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Try to find a room close to the center or in the center of Madrid. The office is located in Salamanca district but finding a room in this neighborhood is really expensive. Besides that public transportation is really good in Madrid. So it will never takes long to travel to the office.

Speaking Spanish would be helpful but it´s not really a problem if you don´t. You will learn a lot of Spanish very fast and most of the time people do understand you.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: There´s a lot to visit in Madrid and there are a lot of great restaurants and bars in the city. In the city are a lot of different clubs. Kapital and Joy are great clubs and Fucking monday is something you shouldn´t miss.

Try to get in contact with the students of the school. The school is actually in the same building so it´s very easy to meet people. Join the activities so you meet a lot of people. Besides that the school also organizes a lot of trips to different places located around Madrid, for example Toledo or Segovia.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link