Erasmus Life Budapest

Placement organization

Name of organization: Erasmus Life Budapest
Town/city: Budapest
Country: Hungary
Website: https://www.erasmuslifebudapest.com/

Student

Name of student: Hanna Dams

Specialist area: Tourism Management (EN)
Placement period: 2020-2021

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Event manager
Organization’s activities: Planning, executing and managing events for international students studying in Budapest.
Digital marketing tasks.
Target group of the organization: International students
Company culture: The company culture is very informal. The company exists out of a few permanent staff, and a group of interns which changes each semester.
Number of employees: 15
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working?

Event management and Digital Marketing

Brief description of your daily activities: My daily activities consist of:
• Digital marketing: managing the social media platforms of the company (Instagram and Facebook), posting content on these platforms, updating the ELB website, online contact with customers
• Event management: Coming up with new idea’s for events, developing the product, working at the events

I have mostly been performing digital marketing tasks. During the week, I work in the office every day from 12.00 to 19.00. During these working hours, I mostly do digital marketing and some event management. In the evenings and during the weekend, I work at the events hosted by ELB. These events vary from day trips to parties.

Brief description of your company assignment: For my company assignment, I decided on the topic ‘How to implement Erasmus Life in to the Dutch labour market’. At this moment, there is a similar company to ELB in Lisbon, called Erasmus Life Lisboa. The two companies work in the same way, they organize events and trips for the international students studying in the city, with the mission to attract students to the city, and make sure they enjoy their stay. As there are also a lot of international students studying in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, I decided that it would be the perfect city to implement an Erasmus Life organization.

Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: Good supervision. In the office, the interns are always accompanied by the manager. It is also easy to contact the boss via Facebook messenger if you have specific questions.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Team player, social, flexible
Additional company requirements for this placement? Social media
English: Advanced

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? tram

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? yes, If your level of English is low

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 150
Accommodation (monthly): € 300
Local transport (monthly): € 10
General costs of living (monthly): € 500
Costs of visa: € –
Costs of work permit: € –
What did the company pay for/to you? Nothing.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I did not prepare. You do need to keep in mind that there will be some culture shocks considering the economy and healthcare. I would recommend getting a separate travel insurance before you come here because it is very difficult to find a public doctor which will accept you. I needed to pay a lot for a private doctor (and most of them do not speak English).
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? Yes, see text above

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: 172331@buas.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Separate travel insurance & find a (private) doctor when arriving.
As for accommodation, I would recommend looking on Facebook or Hungarian housing websites. I found my accommodation on a commercial website which is targeted towards international students. This turned out to be much more expensive than most of the prices that people pay here for student accommodation. (You can find rooms for less than 200 euros here).
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Sightseeing in Budapest, visiting other small cities in the country, visiting Balaton Lake.

Media