EF Cultural Tours

Placement organization

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

Student

Name of student: Iris Wiebrens

Specialist area: ITTI
Placement period: 2012-2013

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Tour operator
Organization’s activities: Supporting tour directors on tour, dealing with emergencies, arranging the airport transfers and buses in Paris

Target group of the organization: Teachers and their students from the USA and Canada
Company culture: Informal
Number of employees: 4 (incl. 2 interns)
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? No real departments
Brief description of your daily activities: – Giving transfer details and helping to arrange them
– Helping the tour directors when they prepare their tours
– Send tour information to tour directors and another company EF is working with
– Answering calls
– Sending e-mails
– Providing train tickets and metro tickets
– Take care of the Tour Directors room
– Update tour information

Brief description of your company assignment: Finding new cultural experiences for the tours in France
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: Very good, guiding and supportive

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Both independent and team player, sociable, problem solving,
Additional company requirements for this placement? Excel and Word
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French: Basic
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Train

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Via an intern who was in Paris in 2010
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

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? n/a

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 160,00
Accommodation (monthly): € 450,00
Local transport (monthly): € 65,00
General costs of living (monthly): € 800,00
Costs of visa: €
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? EUR 10,00 meal allowance per working day, EUR 65,00 for my monthly metro card & one return train ticket EUR 160,00

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: 113066@edu.nhtv.nl / iris.wiebrens@live.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: – Have fun in the office and be social with the tour directors that come in the office.
– Take time to discover Paris
– Paris is an expensive city, so check the financial cases before. However due to the fact EF isn’t paying you, you get an Erasmus of 300,- per month.

Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: There are so many things to do and places to discover, that after three months I still haven’t seen it all!

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link