Lucy’s Australia Hospitality Internship

Name: Lucy

University: University of Portsmouth

Course: Hospitality Management

Heading to: Australia, Whitsundays

For how long: 12 months

Starting: September 2010

Programme: Australia Hospitality Internships

What are you most looking forward to in Australia?

I am looking forward to the nice weather! Obviously the most important thing! Only joking, I am looking forward to living independently and working for such a distinguished Hotel, having to keep up the standards and work hard to fulfil the requirements of my job. Getting away for a year will be difficult but exciting, I am the type of person who likes those situations where you are alone and have to make it happen for yourself. I love meeting and making new friends, and i think i am a relatively easy person to get on with too. However i am not looking forwards to the HUGE spiders!

What do you hope to achieve/ learn on your internship?

I really hope that I come out of this placement with a sense of achievement, knowing I did the best job I could. Also I want to learn the ins and outs of working in a top end hotel as I don’t know if this is the area of hospitality I want to build a career in. It will be nice to see exactly what is involved in running a hotel with such high expectations of the experience. I also want to learn more about different cultures, so being in another country and possibly living with people from other countries too will give me a chance to ask questions and learn about other parts of the world.

What do you think this internship/ placement will add to your CV?

I hope that future employer will see the placement on my CV and appreciate the fact that I am working in a totally foreign country hundreds of miles from anyone i know and succeeding. I think if I can work in another country and have the determination to go alone, commit myself and see it through to the end then I should be seen as a valuable employee.

Why are you travelling to Australia for your internship

Since I began my course in Hospitality Management, I knew there was a compulsory placement year, and had my heart set on going to Australia. I have always wanted to travel the world, and Oz was one of my biggest ambitions because it is so far. I began looking for a placement about a year before I had my confirmation so I had looked at many, many different hotels and companies and I was ecstatic when I received my confirmation from Intern Options. I also had some family move out just over a year ago, so it would be nice to spend some time with them before I travel back to the UK.

How jealous do you think your friends are going to be?

My friends are already incredible jealous! I have a lot of friends who have already travelled around Australia so they know how amazing it is, and are extremely jealous, however I don’t think my boyfriend is too happy. He is envious and upset, but there is no way I am trading this opportunity for anything and he supports that. All my friends want to come in my suitcase though, but most of my girlfriends get a little out off when I remind them about the spiders and snakes!

Anything else you can think of…

I am so grateful to Jon at Intern Options, He came to my Uni to talk about the Hospitality programmes in New Zealand, and I had a chat to him about going to Aus. He said they didn’t offer anything at the time, but it has worked out in time for me to get on board and be one of the first on their Australian Hospitality programme! Like I said above I had been trying to find a placement in Australia for almost a year and working with Jon made it so much easier and ultimately made it possible! Thanks )

If you’re interested in working on an Australian tropical island for your university internship or as a graduate click through to the Australia Hospitality Internships programme for information and to apply.