Thanks for reading this edition of Intern News, we look forward to catching up with you at your university in the coming months. We’d love to hear any feedback on the new site or questions on Australia or New Zealand through our Internship blog or our Facebook page Alternatively you can contact Intern Options by email or phone or make a time to drop by our London office. Cheers, Jon Carroll Intern Options www.InternOptions.com

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My Name is Elis. Since I was a teenager I have been dreaming of visiting New Zealand. After I went to England when I was 19 and started Tourism and Hospitality Management course at London South Bank University, this dream began to look more achievable.

When we were told by our course director that for our work placement we can go anywhere we want, I knew straight away where I wanted to go.

I was trying hard to find a job in NZ myself, by emailing my CV to hundreds and hundreds tourism companies based in New Zealand. Most of them didn’t reply back. If they did, they always replied with the same response:

“We are sorry but we can’t tell at the moment if we can employ you later on this year because of this hard economic climate we are in now”.

Therefore, in the middle of summer I finally decided to contact Intern Options because I still didn’t have my placement.

It took about two months till I got the so awaited email from Jon, saying I will be working for a tourism attraction in Rotorua from the beginning of November. I was so happy and couldn’t believe it till I actually got here.

Now I’ve been working in Rotorua for about two and half months already and I absolutely love it. NZ is even much better than I expected, I’m really stunned by its beauty. Rotorua is nice, relaxed town by the lake, not too busy or quiet either, just great.

I’m being very honest to say that this placement is the best workplace I’ve ever been a part of. All the staff the are very friendly and helpful and we always joke that we are more like family there. The job is awesome, quite challenging and busy at the moment, because of the summer period we are in at the moment, but that’s exactly how it should be. It took me a while to get used to night shifts but it’s all good now.

I’m flat sharing with Carl one of my colleagues from work and its great. We get on very well and if we are lucky and get the same days off we always go somewhere. We have just come back from the trip to very north of New Zealand, Cape Reinga. It was awesome.

This way I would love to thank you to Jon and all his team for being so helpful and giving me the chance to work in such a great place. Also many thanks to Carl who is making my stay here so nice and exciting.

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

Name: Susie

University: University of Gloucestershire

Currently Studying: BSc (Joint Honours) Business Management and Hospitality Management

Heading to: Christchurch, New Zealand

For how long: 6 months

When: December 2009

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Susie applied originally for our Perth hospitality internship programme and we ended up placing her into a great hotel in Christchurch, New Zealand! We have placed Susie for a six month internship to make up the remainder of her 12 month hospitality placement. The first six months was undertaken in the UK and now the second six months will be over the New Zealand summer starting the first week of December.

Susie is actually heading to the same hotel that Amy (from Portsmouth University), so we put Susie and Amy in touch this week and they have had some emails about life in Christchurch, accommodation and probably what the employer is like .

Where too from here?

So now that Susie is starting to finalise her plans how will we help from here on. We get asked this a lot from students looking to apply, how do you help me after you have found me a Hospitality or Tourism internship place? Well from here on it will be all about making sure that Susie has planned everything correctly. We if need be we can suggest companies that specialise in travel insurance for New Zealand, how to find the best flight, we have already helped Susie with her work visa application and this has been printed into her passport already.

The next thing that will happen is a week before she departs we will send through her arrival instructions from our New Zealand team. The New Zealand team will be supporting Susie when she is in New Zealand. We won’t be babying Susie and she will need to stand on her own two feet. BUT if something did happen, an accident or anything like that then there is 24 hour support available to help her out.

We wish Susie all the best

I know she will love Christchurch, it is a beautiful city (nicknamed the garden city). Susie will also love her hotel, Amy likes it there and they have had many of our hospitality students and graduates, all have had a great time and learnt a lot on their placement.

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

Name: Amy

University: Portsmouth University

Course: BA (Hons) Hospitality Management

Currently in: Christchurch, New Zealand

For how long: 12 months

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Amy started her Hospitality Internship in Christchurch, New Zealand in July 2009 and I was speaking to her this morning by email and all seems to be going well.

Another of our hospitality students, Susie is also heading down to Christchurch for a six month internship and will be on her internship at the same hotel as Amy. So as we speak I think they are emailing each other to find out how things are going in Christchurch.

Christchurch is known as the Garden City of New Zealand and is one of the largest cities in the South Island of New Zealand, with a population of just over 350,000. In the summer you can enjoy the river Avon and the beautiful gardens and parks around the city. In the winter you are very close to the best ski slopes in the Southern Hemisphere!

The feedback so far from Amy is that she is loving her internship and with her parents heading out to visit her in New Zealand around Christmas, I’m sure Amy will have lots to tell us about her travels.

Hope you have a great trip with your parents Amy and can’t wait to hear how everything is going!

Cheers,
Jon

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