Tips and Tales From Around the Globe

An internship abroad is all about gaining the skills and experience needed to land your dream career. Through an international internship, you get to meet people from around the world, explore different cultures, learn new perspectives about life, and develop as a person.

For these six alumni, their internships impacted their lives in a major way — their host companies offered them a position! Keep reading to find out more about our alums’ stories and their advice on turning an internship into a job offer.

It’s that magical time of year when streets come to life with bright lights and people are full of joy.

Around the world, holiday celebrations are in full-swing with each country celebrating in its own unique way.

Check out some of the wonderful ways our host cities celebrate the most wonderful time of the year.

You’ve nailed the interview, landed your dream internship, and soon you’ll be setting off for a once in a lifetime adventure. There are the few essentials all world travelers need -- cash, ticket, passport, and of course, a phone. Though we don’t want you staring down at your phone your whole time abroad, there are a few apps to make living in a new country a bit easier. Check out these 10 apps you should download for your internship abroad.

The holiday season is in full swing and everyone’s favorite day of family, football, food, and giving thanks is almost here.

We thought, “what part of their international experience would our alumni say they were most thankful for?” From experiencing a new culture, making lifelong friends, to gaining amazing professional experience, there’s so much to choose from. So, we asked them!

It warmed our hearts to receive a wide range of amazing answers from past interns from different career fields and from our different host cities. Read on for 13 testimonials from some of our thankful alum.

Where do you go when you’re an aspiring designer and want to break into the world of fashion? To the fashion capital of the world Paris, France, of course! Jenny L. spent her summer in city of lights experiencing first-hand the city’s world-renowned fashion culture.

During Jenny’s internship, the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) student got to live like a real Parisian and further her career in fashion. Read all about her experience as an international intern in Paris, France.

For years, expats and world travelers have flocked to Costa Rica to live the pure life or as locals call it “Pura Vida.” Costa Rica is a beautiful country with a rich history and right in the middle of it all is the capital city of San José.

We’re extremely excited to announce the launch of our international Costa Rica internship program in San José! We chose Costa Rica because of its amazing culture, experiences it offers, and of course all of its amazing internship opportunities.

If there’s one common fear among millennial graduates, it’s finding a good job right out of college. It’s not an entirely unfounded fear as most of us millennials will either be underemployed, or search for employment upwards of six months before landing a job in their career field.

Setting yourself apart in an already tough market becomes even more difficult when your peers have similar degrees and GPAs. However, recent studies by the Erasmus Student Network and different universities found that going abroad is the one true way to stand out and get hired faster.

Every season interns from a wide variety of backgrounds travel to Florence, Italy for a career and life-changing experience. Alexandria H. was part of our summer group and fell in love with everything Florence had to offer.

During her internship, the University of Arkansas student got to live like a local Florentine and developed design skills to help her further her studies as an architecture major. Read more about her experience as an international intern in Florence.

As an alum of Global Experiences, I know what it takes to transition an international internship into a full-time position. Before going to Stockholm, no matter how many openings I applied for I couldn't get an interview. After my journalism internship, I had interviews for writing jobs across different industries and across the country.

I was even told at more than just one interview that my international experience was the reason they decided to bring me in. Every hiring manager, HR head, and supervisor’s first question was about my time in Sweden. Here are a few of my tips and tricks about how to talk about your internship experience during the job hiring process.

In today’s competitive job market, a college degree will teach you a lot of things, though most likely not all the skills you need to succeed in the workplace. With almost half of all 25 to 29 year olds having a bachelor’s degree, a college education is becoming the new normal. But even with an education, there are still skills employers say nearly all recent graduates lack.

1. Writing Skills

2. Verbal Skills

3. Critical Thinking 

4. Real-world Experience 

Many of these soft skills can’t be taught inside a classroom and don’t come with a degree.