Robertson Wine Tours

Placement organization

Name of organization: Robertson Wine Tours
Town/city: Matera
Country: Italië
Website: http://www.robertsonwinetours.com

Student

Name of student: Eva van Holten

Specialist area: ITMC
Placement period: 2012-2013

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Tour operator
Organization’s activities: Design wine and food tours in South America and Italy
Do winery and accommodation inspections
Operations – Contact with ‘resources’ (e.g. accommodations, wineries)
Sales – Contact with clients (E-mailing)
Promotion – Social media, Website

Target group of the organization: Luxury clients in the age of 40-60 (Italy) and 50-70 (South America), niche market, wine and food lovers, honeymooners
Company culture: Be flexible is one of the main rules
Even though the environment is private and work related (you will be working in their kitchen), the director is the boss and he will eventually decide. This to keep private life and work as separated as possible.
They tried to involve me in as many facets of work as possible. I felt I was standing below them, but in a positive and natural way. They know you are there to learn, so you cannot do that much wrong as long as you do the things you have to do and show you are eager to learn.

Number of employees: 2
Dress code: casual at the office / a bit more formal during inspections and tours
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? As there are only two empolyees, the director and the co-operator, there is just a small structure: director does the sales (has contact with clients), whereas the co-operator does the operations and financing. Together they design the tours.
I was mainly busy with sales and promotion
Brief description of your daily activities: Create HTMLS (resources + sales)
Updating websites
Help with creating itineraries
Some E-mailing
Google rankings (competition analysis)

Brief description of your company assignment: To combine traditional and wine tourism in Italy
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: Even though only one of the two men is your official supervisor they both supervise. I believe they supervise well and they made some very good, realistic and fair comments during the interim assessment.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Be able to work ‘on your own’, meaning not needing control/pressure/deadline to finish tasks, flexible, communicative, multi tasker, strong and opinionated, reliable
Additional company requirements for this placement? Word, Excel, HTML (Dreamweaver; Photoshop could be of ease too in this regard), Internet, Email
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages: Italian or Spanish could be a plus

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane to Bari, transfer to Bari central station, train from Bari to Matera (this train is not available on Sundays!)

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? The placement company
How did you go to work every day? By foot – just a 5 minute walk (Matera is not that big; you’ll do everything by foot)

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? No
Do you need a work permit? No
How did you arrange the necessary documents: DUO OV compensation – have to hand this in 2 months before / takes max. 1 week, because you need a stamp from placement office – BE SURE TO HAND THIS IN ON TIME! I’m in my 5th month now and still did not receive any money!

DUO Authorization – doesn’t take that much time to fill it in, but send it on time (together with OV compensation and change of address)

DUO Change of address – doesn’t take that much time to fill it in, but of course you’ll need your new address first and be sure to send it on time so that you receive the amount for living on your own

Erasmus scholarship – hand in 1 month before  / takes 1 month to have it signed by everyone (incl. placement company!) – VERY IMPORTANT DOCUMENT! Check if you have all the signatures needed and hand it in on time.

Bank authorization – went to the bank with my mum, because she needed to sign too / takes 1 day
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? Yes, it can be an advantage if you have never had Italian before.

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 200,00 – 250,00 (with Ryanair)
Accommodation (monthly): € 350,00 (excl. expenses approx. 50 EUR/month)
Local transport (monthly): € 0,00 (train to Bari is 9 euros for return ticket)
General costs of living (monthly): € 200,00 – 300,00
Costs of visa: €
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? € 100 ,- per month
LUNCH

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? Maybe not my performance, but communication sometimes: yes. Being Dutch myself and working with an English and an Italian man makes it sometimes difficult to interpret what they are saying – and the other way around. But do not let it influence you. These differences are just there and you should not take things personally.

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: 102297@edu.nhtv.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: DO:
* The first thing Tim told me when I arrived here was “be open to everyone: smile, greet everyone you’ll meet and don’t be shy” and this worked. Here in Matera that is the best way to meet people and before you know it you’ll have a little chat with everyone on your way to the market and on the market itself!
* Check couchsurfers.com and get into contact with one of them – there is a big group of couchsurfers in Matera and they are more than happy to integrate you
* Be flexible – Italians are the worst in organizing, so you’ll need to adapt
* Speak as much Italian as you can – it is the best way to learn the language and you are in the country where they speak it, so take your advantage out of it!
* (Inside organization) Realize that you are working at their home, so do not stick there too long. As soon as you go home the place is not an office anymore and they can be ‘at home’ too. Of course, if they ask you to stay longer you have to stay, but keep 19.00 in mind as the final time to leave.

DON’T:
* Spend 300 euros for an Italian course for one month if you have already studied some Italian before – you’ll meet lots of people you can learn it from and you can even arrange cheaper lessons with some of them (if you do want to do a course, then go to the University of Basilicata in the Via San Rocco, Matera)
* Go out for dinner before 20.30
* Try to go shopping or doing groceries between 13.00 and 17.00 – all shops will be closed

Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: BEACH
* There are some small beaches south and close to Matera (Marina di Pisticci and Metaponto are some of them) – you can reach them by bus in high season, but car is better
* There is a beach in Bari – take the 1.5 hour train to Bari and walk 15 minutes and you’ll arrive to the small beach
* From Bari you can go south to Polignano a Mare in 20 minutes by train – beautiful place and lovely beach

SASSI OF MATERA
* Walk around through the Sassi and get lost. A map is quite useless, because there are so many stairs and on the map you cannot see what streets are up and down. Look at the Duomo and you will know where you are approximately.
* You can contact Pasquale and take a tour through Matera in a three-wheeled car
* Try to go the Murgia on the opposite of Matera – you’ll need a car to go there (or sign up for a little tour), but it is all worth going there.

MATERA
* Matera is on the UNESCO World Heritage List for its water system. You’ll find this system under the main square and you can have a little (30 minutes) tour here for 3 euros.
* Have an aperitivo! A drink accompanied by snacks. Sunday is aperitivo day and you can have bigger aperitivos at certain places (19a Buca, Stone, etc.). Personally I love Lanfranchi Caffè (Via di Ridola), Caffè Tripoli (Piazza Vittorio Veneto, main square) and Gahvè (Via San Biagio) – also for a coffee. At Lanfranchi they have a little balcony on the backside of the bar, which overlooks the Sassi. Tripoli is always in the shade, while there is sun all day at the other two.
* Italians do not go out like the Dutch people do. They do not drink much and they do not dance – it is more the lounging what they do: enjoying your company and a drink. If you really want some dancing, go to Bari.
* If you need fruit and vegetables, go to the market close to the main square. I do not know the name of this market, but it is the main one in the center of Matera. I always go to Banana Joe, but there are also many other good places. On this little square you can also find, like we call it, the ‘mozzarella shop’.
* Get a Panzerotto at Sottozero (Via XX Settembre) – this is the most famous one in Matera
* Eat: in the south of Italy everything is about food. Try pizzas at La Talpa / Morgan / Cola Cola, go to the Spaghetteria (especially on Wednesday and Thursday, when it is ‘All You Can Eat’), have the Tiramisu at La Gravina and go to Osteria Malatesta for a very informal dinner experience (no pizzas here / menu changes every week).

SPORTS
* There are several places where you can do Yoga (ask around when your are here – I know there is one close to Piazza Sedile)
* There is a ballet school in Matera, but it is quite far out of the city center – just search for it on Google and you will find the right one with address
* There are several gyms, also one with swimming pool
* The simplest and cheapest sport will of course be jogging/running. Not in the Sassi, because there are too many stairs, but if you stay ‘up’ you will find some nice routes.
* Not really a sport, but there are also several small Spas (in hotels) – go to Locanda San Domenico (Via Fiorentini) or Palazzo Gattini (Piazza Duomo)

LECCE
* In 3 hours (by train) you can reach Lecce in the Salento region of Puglia. If you have the opportunity go there for one weekend. Lecce is not that big, so one weekend is enough. We stayed at B&B Mirage, which has the most comfortable beds ever!

NAPLES
* In 5 hours (by Autobus Marino) you can reach Naples. For less than 40 euros you have a return ticket. However, you can’t go there for one day. I went for 3 nights, which was ok. Could have spent some more nights. From Naples make sure you visit Ercolano and Pompeii (easy by train).

WIFI
* If you need WiFi you can go to at least the following places: Gahvè, Caffè Tripoli, Caffè Ridola

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link