EF Educational Tours

Placement organization

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

Name of student: Melanie van Gerwen

Specialist area: ITTI
Placement period: 2016-2017

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Tour Operator
Organization’s activities: EF Educational Tours organizes tours for students from the United States and Canada. The regional office in Madrid is responsible for all tours in Spain and tours those starting or ending in Spain. Furthermore, the regional office is the contact point for all tour directors in Spain and Portugal.
Target group of the organization: U.S. and Canadian students
Company culture: The compnay culture at the regional office is informal, the contact between employees and tour directors is very pleasant.
Number of employees: 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 Educational Tours Madrid
Brief description of your daily activities: My daily activities were:
– Sending out the TDI to tour directors
– Consolidate optional activities
– Carry full responsibility for train tickets
– Carry full responsibility for Paris metro tickets
– Arrange deliveries with TNT and MRW
– Make sure all aditional TD material is present
– Pick up the phone and answer emails
Brief description of your company assignment: As a company assignment I carried out a primary and secondary desk research after the possible benefits of social media for the regional office. My research objective was: could social media, as an additonal communication channel, contribute to the overall communication between the regional office and tour directors?
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: As a trainee you get a lot of responsibility, which was really overwhelming at first. At the beginning of my internship I would have like more guidance, which got better as time passed by. However the colleageaus are very friendly and willing to help at any time!

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Social, indepedent and (at times) stress-proof
Additional company requirements for this placement? Writing skills and knowledge of excel
English: Advanced
Spanish: Intermediate
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Spotahome.com
How did you go to work every day? By foot or Metro (line 7)

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? Yes
Would you recommend to have a language course prior to this placement? Yes. You do not need to speak Spanish fluently, although it would help if you were able to understand at least a bit of Spanish.

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 150
Accommodation (monthly): € 387
Local transport (monthly): € 20
General costs of living (monthly): € 200 till 400
Costs of visa: € –
Costs of work permit: € –
What did the company pay for/to you? My company reimbursed the following:
– The flight to and from Madrid
– Monthly public transport card
– 5 euros for lunch per day at the office

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I didn´t. Although, I did had a bit of knowledge of the Spanish culture due to the Spanish classes I have had and previous vacations spend in Spain.
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: melanievangerwen7@hotmail.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: I recommend looking for an apartment with other international students, personally I shared an apartment with seven other international students. The first few weeks, when I didn´t knew many people, there was always one my roommates available for a chat or willing to hang out.

Thereby, Madrid has many organisations which organize free or relatively cheap activites to get to know more people (either international students or students from Spain) such as sangria workshops, language exchange meetings and pub crawls. Also do they offer trips to cities nearby in the weekends.

Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Madrid is great! There are plenty of things to do in Madrid! I highly recommend going to the Retiro park on a sunny day, drinking sangria or tinto de verano with friends and going out at night.

Furthermore, Madrid is very central located which makes it ideal to visit other cities in Spain (or Portugal), either for a day trip or a weekend break. It´s definitely worth visiting Valencia, Biblao & San Sebastian and Porto & Lisbon! You better start saving and enjoy your time in Madrid!

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link