Internship Blog Post 5 (May 5th)

Spring break is now over, however, just because we were on break, that doesn't mean I didn't take the opportunity to learn something new. We visited Milan and Rome, Italy, the Vatican, Athens, Greece, and Barcelona, Spain. As an intern here in the tourism department of Edutus College, I could now play the part of the tourist and apply a few things I've learned here in my travels. All cities have made great accomodations for english speakers regarding tourist information and public transportation. Typically I am the type of traveller that likes to simply book my plane ticket and hotel or hostel and be spontaneous, however, it never hurts to plan ahead of time either. This trip involved a little bit of both. We knew we didn't have too much time in the cities we visited so we planned on seeing just a few major attractions in each city and left whatever time we had remaning to be spontaneous and venture off where ever we deemed fit.

Here at Edutus I have learned that nearly every major city in Europe has various transportation options to get to the city center. These may seem a bit trivial to the well travelled, but helpful nonetheless. You may be swayed or hounded by taxi cab drivers upon entering the main terminal, but if you have patience, you will notice trains, trams, or shuttles that can take you close to where you want to be at a much cheaper cost. When looking up hostels, I knew that location was extremely important, but my colleagues here at Edutus told me that location should be considered first and foremost due to the short duration we were in each city. Although a particular hostel may cost 10 euros more per person per night, it may be the cheaper option if located closer to main attractions, public transportation, and drop off points of airport shuttles. If exchanging money, it will usually be cheaper to exchange cash in the city. Some hostels and hotels can exchange cash for you, and there are usually banks and currency exchange stores in larger cities that see many international tourists.

Returning back from spring break wasn't too difficult, I just started right where I left off. I planned on giving a presentation on the history and business practices of a Walmart a few weeks ago, but the professor was sick the day I was supposed to give my presentation so he postponed it for last tuesday. The presentation went very well. I still get a few butterflies in my stomach when I present in front of a class, especially one where I don't know any of the students, but this is great practice. I have also found out that I am not as nervous as I was at the beginning of the semester. I practice the presentations before I give them. Rather than making presentations static, I've tried to make them more interactive by involving the students with questions or short discussions about a topic conveyed in the presentation. I have also found that good visuals help to keep a class engaged. I know what it's like to be a student in class, and even if a professor or guest speaker is extremely knowledgeable, his or her presentation will probably not be too well received in front of a group of undergraduate students if the visuals are sparse - it always helps to know your audience! I will be giving a presentation on the Washington D.C. area as well later this week in the Hungarian language and culture class I take on Wednesdays. This will be a great chance to show some of the students the beauties of the Washington D.C. area and hopefully to erase any negative misconceptions. I have inserted pictures through out the presentation to show the different areas of D.C., and I have even found two youtube videos that highlight two bustling neighborhoods in D.C., the U street cooridor, and Columbia Heights.

One of the responsiblities I decided to undertake involves getting students involved with the college. I thought it was especially crucial to have the involvement of the Erasmus students - being that they are non Hungarian students and may feel a bit alienated at times during their studies here. One of the Erasmus students is from Turkey and is a professional dancer, and came to me and asked if I would like to be a part of a flash mob. Practices are held on Mondays and Wednesdays generally after most classes have finished. Currently we have Michael Jackson's "Beat it" well rehearsed, and are working on our second song right now. We hope to perform "Beat it" sometime within the next week.