Let’s meet in Athens

Placement organization

Name of organization: Let’s meet in Athens
Town/city: Athens
Country: Griekenland
Website: https://meetinathens.eu/;https://www.meetinthessaloniki.eu/;https://meetpeloponnesos.eu/

Student

Name of student: Eva van den Elzen
Specialist area: Tourism Management (NL)
Placement period: 2021-2022

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Touroperator/DMC
Organization’s activities: Let’s Meet in Athens organizes bike tours, food tours, walking tours, island tours and escape tours in the city of Athens. Next to Let’s meet in Athens, the companies Let’s meet in Thessaloniki and Let’s meet Peloponnesos are included in the company. Let’s Meet in Thessaloniki offers comparable services as Let’s meet in Athens, with a local office and tour guide in the city Thessaloniki. The company Let’s Meet Peloponnesos offers tailor-made tours through the region Peloponnese.
Target group of the organization: Mainly Dutch speaking tourists
Company culture: The company culture is pretty informal. We work in the office of Let’s meet in Athens with two office workers, Monique (the owner) and Annemarie (allround employee). They are very easy-going and you can always ask them anything. Next to that, there are a few tour guides who guide the bike tours.
Number of employees: 10
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes the company met the agreements we made.

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working?

I am working as allround intern. I get many different tasks which include maintaining bookings and reservations, marketing, social media, and sometimes guiding tours.

Brief description of your daily activities: My daily activities include: processing reservations, receiving customers, social media, online marketing, custimer relationship management and guiding bike tours.
Brief description of your company assignment: My company assignment is split up in two separate assignments. The first one is about changing the social media strategy, the second one is about changing the website to make it more commercial.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: The supervision by the organization went well. Sometimes it felt a little chaotic because a lot is happening at the same time at the company. The guidance went well and the employees of the company are very approachable.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Independent, flexible, active working attitude, sociable,
Additional company requirements for this placement? No
English: Basic
Spanish:
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: By bike, by foot or by public transport.

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Via internet
How did you go to work every day? Public transport

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? No, you don’t need to speek Greek.

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 200
Accommodation (monthly): € 320
Local transport (monthly): € 13
General costs of living (monthly): € 400-500
Costs of visa: €
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? They paid me for the tours I guided. This was maximum of 2 tours per week, but most of the time it was less than 2 tours per week.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I did not really prepare myself because I have been living in Greece before. But you can always contact the company in case you want to have information about the city/country.
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: 170086@buas.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Exploring the city and enjoy the nice weather. The city has a very nice atmosphere but there are a few places which are better to avoid at night.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Going to the beach, to islands and to other destinations to escape the city is a must. Next to that, there are a lot different neighbourhoods which are all worth visiting. I also really like walking through the National Gardens, Filopappou Hill and the Lycabettus Hill. My colleagues at Let’s meet in Athens have a lot of knowledge and can always recommend you nice places to go to.

Media