EF Educational Tours

Placement organization

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

Name of student: Angelique van Horssen

Specialist area: MTT
Placement period: 2015-2016

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: tour operator
Organization’s activities: EF educational tours provides international and domestic travel experiences, hands-on learning and lasting cultural connections for both students and adults. As EF tours we are trying to break down the barriers of language, culture and geography by providing international travel experiences to teachers and students in North-America and Canada.
Target group of the organization: North American and Canadian Students
Company culture: Informal
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? I am working in the regional office in Rome
Brief description of your daily activities: Updating information tour directors.
Pulling out and Sending out reports
Cloning contracts.
Taking care of criminal background checks.
Counting metro tickets, process information in Excel.
Distributing tour materials
Sending out WEX (debit cards) to the tour directors
Helping out tour directors via email/phone
allocating bus companies and transfer tour directors
Other small tasks
Brief description of your company assignment: Doing research about experiential learning and how to implement this in EF tours.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: My supervisor is great, he gives me a lot of responsibility and freedom to do my job and the school assignment. He is always open to questions or just some small talk.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? sociable, independent, flexible
Additional company requirements for this placement? Outlook, excel
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? By myself through facebook groups, but there are plenty of websites that can also help you out!
How did you go to work every day? by foot (20 min.)

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? no
Do you need a work permit? no
How did you arrange the necessary documents: na
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? na
Did you need certain vaccinations? No
How long in advance? na

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 totally up to you but not necessary since everyone speaks English. When it is not to busy, they offer Italian lessons at the EF language school (the office is in the same building).

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 213
Accommodation (monthly): € 650
Local transport (monthly): € 35
General costs of living (monthly): € +/- 300 You can make it as expensive as you want
Costs of visa: € na
Costs of work permit: € na
What did the company pay for/to you? Reimbursement of the flight ticket, monthly transportation card and €5,- lunch money per day.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I did not
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: 131181@edu.nhtv.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Try to get a room close to your internship since the public transportation is not really reliable (time wise) but the metro usually goes on time. Besides this there are a lot of websites that can help you find a room in Rome and don’t forget to check the different fb pages/groups.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: There is a lot to do after a working day or during the weekend. The neighbourhoods of Trastevere, Monti, Ostiense are nice to go for a drink, aperitivo or a party. The beach is not to far 35-60 min. and if you follow the erasmus fb pages there are a lot of events/aperitivo’s you could go to.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link