Hi, I am Polly!

Jon has made the effort to give a brief summary of how my departing from the UK went. Thank you for that. Now I will try to tell you guys the whole story…

It all began about a year ago when my second academic year resumed in Bournemouth University. Our lecturers were preparing us for our placement year and giving us options to choose from. Many seemed tempting but nothing really caught my attention. I am doing a Tourism management course and what I wanted to do is work in an adventure tourism resort. When I ‘googled’ it, all that came up was New Zealand and that is how I decided, I am going there for my internship!!

As Jon described, it was one exciting preparation. I handed in my application at the beginning of 2009 but due to the economic crunch, I had to wait a very long time until I had a proposition. In fact, I received it 3 weeks before departure. It was a mission to get everything organised in such a short time. My Visa was ready in less than 24 hours.

I had to get a last minute flight and booked one with the Emirates Airline (London, Dubai, Sidney and Auckland). Being a Bulgarian citizen, I needed to have a transit Visa for Australia. I didn’t know that! I found out at the check in deck. There was no way I could get that visa from the airport so I missed that flight. I thought the whole world was falling into pieces.. However, this was just another obstacle. I booked another flight the next day stopping at Hong Kong where I didn’t require anything to transit. This was the longest flight ever!!! I never want to do it again. But I will!!

New Zealand is amazing! Since I first laid foot on the land it felt like a place from the tales.. “A land far, far away”

I got an offer in Rotorua at a tourism attraction as a Food & Beverage Attendant for 6 months. My requirement from university is to have 40 weeks of practical training which means that I need approximately another 3 months.

Tracy who is the Human Resources Manager at my work made the offer. She was of great help to me! Tracy met up with me the day after my arrival in Rotorua. She took me for a coffee in town and we discussed all my affairs. After that, Tracy helped me open a New Zealand bank account and arranged some sort of tax number I needed in order to get paid. She even helped me find a suitable accommodation, which was exactly what I was looking for: close to work and close to town with internet access. I am so grateful to Tracy since she was not obligated to do all that for me but she did and made me feel welcome from day one!

Not only Tracy but also everyone at work are very friendly and welcomed me with a smile. In fact, some of those colleagues are now close friends and we hang out together on our days off. I am so lucky to be a part of the team!!

Currently I am 3 month into my placement and I work mainly night shifts in the restaurant. A typical day for me starts about 3 PM and ends depending on how busy it is. The earliest time I have finished is about 10 PM and the latest 3 AM. Work is always fun, my colleagues are really nice and fun to work with and I always enjoy it.

I have applied for cross training and this week I start on a new position as a Customer Service Ambassador. I hope to get some shift at the Luge too. Tracy will try to keep me in the company until July if possible. She said that if there were no chance of me staying in Rotorua, she would try transferring me to Queenstown in South Island. That would be the best opportunity ever having the experience of both islands.

The restaurant I work in is on Ngongotaha Mountain (which is more of a hill) and I get to ride the gondola everyday. The restaurant has a magnificent view of the whole town and the Rotorua Lake and the sight reveals how once upon a time Rotorua was in fact a crater of a volcano!! The town by itself is amazing; it is a hot spot not only for thermal activity but also for tourism.

On my days off, I try to do some tourism related activities if I am not too busy with my course work. As I mentioned earlier I made great friends from work and they take me around the area as tour guides! There is still so much I want to do here, but right now is the busiest period of the year and I try to concentrate on performing my best at work.

I am so happy and so lucky to be here and I owe it all to Intern Options and especially Jon!! Thank you so much for making my dream come true!

I wish everyone best of luck and have an amazing experience in New Zealand as I am!

Best wishes and kind regards,

Polly

If you’re interested in a Tourism Internship in Queenstown, Auckland, Wellington, Rotorua in New Zealand, check out the Tourism Internships page for more information.