National Museum of Natural History

Placement organization

Name of organization: National Museum of Natural History
Town/city: Sofia
Country: Bulgaria
Website: https://www.nmnhs.com/

Student

Name of student: Madlen Stoyanova
Specialist area: Tourism Management (EN)
Placement period: 2020-2021

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: museum/institution
Organization’s activities: NMNHS is the only national institution directly engaged with the preservation of scientific collections of live and non-live nature from Bulgaria and the world. The study of biodiversity, environmental protection and the evolution of organisms are the museum’s major priorities. Consequently, the main task of NMNHS is the all-around study of the fauna, flora, fossils, minerals and rocks of Bulgaria and other countries. It develops the following scientific areas: taxonomy, faunistics, zoogeography and ecology of arachnids, myriapods, insects and all classes of vertebrates; taxonomy of fossil mammals, birds and brachiopods; floristics; mineralogy.
Target group of the organization: families with children, students, scientists
Company culture: informal/still doing research on that topic
Number of employees: 200
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working?

Marketing and Administration

Brief description of your daily activities: Creating exhibitions (working with photoshop)
Creating social media content and analysing the data
Conducting surveys
Working with different organisations on projects
Daily tasks
Brief description of your company assignment: Creating a survey in order to find out how we can improve the museum and its’ expositions and what to the visiotors think of the museum.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: Great communication with the director of the museum and other collegues.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? flexible, multitasking, sociable, teamplayer and independent
Additional company requirements for this placement? none
English: Intermediate
Spanish:
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages: any language is a benefit

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: plane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? agency
How did you go to work every day? 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: by myself
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? I only did what the uni required
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? no

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 500
Accommodation (monthly): € 250
Local transport (monthly): € 30
General costs of living (monthly): € 350
Costs of visa: € 0
Costs of work permit: € 0
What did the company pay for/to you? nothing

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
It’s my home country so I didn’t.
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: madlen10@abv.bg

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: just have fun and try to meet as many people as possible
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: it’s in the city center so everything that you need is there

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link