|
- Lauren G. •
- Study & Internship in Sydney •
- Marketing and Supply Chain Management Major
“It
was really interesting, once you were there, to see what you
were learning around you.”
—Lauren G. |
|
Lauren, a marketing and supply chain management major, spent a semester taking courses and interning at a hotel in Sydney, Australia. Classes allowed her to learn about Australian culture, and her internship helped her clarify her own career goals. She also took advantage of opportunities to travel and try activities such as scuba and sky diving in Australia and New Zealand.
Lauren chose the Study & Internships in Sydney program because she was more interested in doing an internship abroad than completing academic requirements. “I had always thought maybe one day I’d like to own a hotel,” she explained. She worked for a five-star hotel in Sydney called Key West Suites. During her time there, she was able to work in many different capacities, from administrative support to management to marketing and sales. Lauren felt that she developed skills in being assertive about her needs and independence through her experience in Sydney. The internship also helped her decide that hotel management was not a career direction she would like to follow. However, working with marketing efforts in the hotel, and viewing Australian marketing in every day life expanded her perception of the field. She found Australian advertising to be more direct than what she sees in the US. She also felt that she would be better at tailoring marketing to an international audience after having spent time abroad.
Lauren’s coursework was outside of her major, but she felt that she learned a lot from her professors. She took a course in Australian cinema, in which students learned about famous Australians and the movies that have come out of the country. Her other class was in Australian anthropology, in which she learned about the aboriginal people of Australia and the cultures that exist in the country. “It’s just a different understanding,” she said. “It’s something I never would’ve learned about here. But it was really interesting, once you were there, to see what you were learning around you.”
Outside of the classroom, Lauren and her fellow program participants engaged many activities, including some extreme sports. “I think almost everyone did something that they didn’t think they would do. We went diving in the Great Barrier Reef, which is something that I’ve always thought would be neat, but I never really saw myself doing.” Lauren even found herself soaring over the mountains of New Zealand one day during a vacation. She was thrilled by the scenery, and felt that the natural features of the area amplified all of her activities. “You got to see the best of everything. If I was going to go scuba diving, I did it on the Great Barrier Reef. You can’t really get better than that.”
Last modified on November 21, 2008 |