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Bc. Katerina Liskova, UCT Prague,
ročník 5.About the country
Location of the place
I did my internship in Barcelona, which is a big Mediterranean city with beautiful beaches, nice people and lots of sunshine.
City
Barcelona offers all. You can either visit Picasso Museum, go to the surfing classes or have just a walk in beautiful park Montjuic. There are so many options in Barcelona that you won't have time to visit it all. Not mentioning the great nightlife and the ongoing events.
Surroundings (possible trips, ...)
I'd recommend to visit Montserrat, which is really close to Barcelona. Also another places worth visiting are Valencia, Girona and Andorra. You can also take a train to Madrid, which takes approximately 2 hours and 45 mins.
Employer
Employer
I worked in a small company. My employer was super nice to work with.
Work description
I worked as a market researcher. I mainly prospected photonic companies, helped with preparation of photonic conferences and worked with a Hubspot platform. I had to work in a team of 15 people. It helped me a lot to develop better communication skills, I learned a lot about photonic industry, market and business generally. The work description was same as in the o-form.
Salary (sufficient for local conditions?)
I'd say 800 euros is sufficient to cover all of the expenses including rent, food and transport.
Language requirements
Everybody in my company was fluent in English language, so it was really easy to understand them. When it comes to the outside world, not many people in Barcelona speak English. I'd recommend at least to know some Spanish basic phrases when living there.
Accommodation (price, who provided it)
I found my accommodation through HousingAnywhere platform. It cost 490 euros per month. It was a nice small flat and I lived there with Erasmus students.
Social life
Meeting IAESTE members (pick-up at the airport, organized events...)
When I arrived to Barcelona, there was nobody at the airport or trying to reach me out. Allegedly after one complain by another IAESTE intern, IAESTE Spain created a WhatsApp group with all of the Barcelonas' IAESTE interns. Then we started to go out with the interns and some of the IAESTE Spain members.
Meeting other foreign students
I met most of the other foreigns students either through my flatmates or the IAESTE group.
Sport and culture
Everybody does some kind of sport in Barcelona. You can meet there a lot of runners and skateboarders. It's really easy to find your sport there. In my case I attended yoga classes and surfing classes, there are plenty of opportunities.
Food, local specialties
Spanish and catalan food is really delicious. I tried paella, patatas bravas, churros and catalan bread with tomato and olive oil and I recommend trying everything. There are lot of vegetable and fruit markets in Barcelona, which are really cheap.
Other information
Possibilites to communicate with the Czech Republic
I used mainly WhatsApp for messages and calls.
Recommendations for students who will go to the same place
I'd recommend to save some money to have the opportunity to travel to as many places as possible. Barcelona is
surrounded by a lot of nice cities, which are worth visiting. Plan your trips ahead and make them your priority.
surrounded by a lot of nice cities, which are worth visiting. Plan your trips ahead and make them your priority.
What not to forget with you
A good bag for travelling.
Benefits of the internship
It was a really nice experience. I worked in a international team, so my English improved as well as my communication skills. I met really interesting people and made some solid friendships with people from all over the world.
Cooperation with IAESTE in the foreign country
IAESTE Spain helped me get the NIE number, although they had some issues with filling out the papers properly, so it took some time to get it. At the beginning I didn't receive much of the support from IAESTE Spain, but as I mentioned after some complain, they eventually created WhatsApp group and then everything was better.
Overall experience with IAESTE
I think it would be good idea if IAESTE Spain would try to help the interns more mainly at the beginning. Picking them up at the airport, helping getting the NIE number, showing them around etc. Otherwise, I did not have any issues with either IAESTE Czech Republic or IAESTE Spain, everything worked out smoothly.
Student's website
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Employer's webiste
www.meetoptics.com
Other useful links
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Other comments
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