1.-The first week: Every single small problem is going to look bigger along the first week. There is too many new things to learn too. I always tell the students, please let the first week go and if you do not feel better after then, then maybe you really have a real problem.
2.- The Language barrier: You may think: well, I speak English so I do not really need Spanish. Oh nooo ¡¡¡ you will be amazed by how many Spanish people do not speak English and so many other tourists that do not speak English eather… My piece of advice here is that you make sure your internship company gives you a badge that says “trainee” so every hungry tourist near you will read it and relax instead of speaking crazy to you in a wird language. And make sure you learn those small sentences in Spanish like “Lo siento no hablo español” or “un momento por favor”. This will keep the client quiet and you can grab somebody around for help.
3.-New culture, new way of life: I wouldn’t call this a problem, if you are a real traveller you will enjoy surrounded by a new culture and new people. Tasting new food, learning the new way of life, try to have friends around locals and residents to get as much as you can about them. I really think this is the best thing of an experience abroad but I place it here around the problems because I have seen students suffering for the food and for the weather and for the traditions, the way of dressing and complaining even about the beach and the sun (so hot here¡¡¡ how can you live here?).
4.-Working next to NOT motivated staff. You may be enjoying a lot your internship and then you find one of those persons tired of life, tired of work, tired of everything around him/her and you are so unlucky that is going to be your mate at work. This is going to happen to you during your real life so this is also a good moment to start learning: DO NOT LET HIM/HER AFFECT YOU on your way of working, your enthusiasm, and keep working as that person does not exist. Belive me IT IS NOT WORTH IT ¡¡¡
An internship is before everything a LIFE EXPERIENCE that you will remember for life and in a few years you will found out how much you learnt from it. Now the main thing is ENJOY IT AND HAVE FUN ¡¡¡
Tenerife Job Training works developing Educational Tourism in The Canary Islands, Spain. We offer opportunities to learn by travelling and travelling to learn, hosting travellers here in the Canary Islands and also sending abroad students. We also make teachers and adult learners have adventures believing in the power of travelling: We offer quality internships options for VET and University’s students. We are an experienced Erasmus intermediary organisation. We have experience as partners in KA2 projects for more than 12 years. We organise Erasmus staff training mobility courses in Tenerife, based on non-formal education. We are tourist intermediators for educational trips & experiences in The Canary Islands. Dream of a powerful reason to travel by learning and let us help you.