WORK EXPERIENCE ABROAD: The Big Adventure - Why, Where & How You Do It

Last year I spent four weeks abroad near Brighton, England, doing work experience at a company that focuses on school trip tourism. During these four weeks I did not only manage to learn a lot about that job and what working in a country that speaks a different language is like, but I also got to know a culture that I have adored for years a lot better, live in a country that I have always been interested in, meet new people, find more confidence both in speaking and working and whilst doing that explore many new places and have the time of my life. I've found work experience abroad to really be a blessing for myself and my future, and whether you are here because you are already planning an internship abroad or are just interested in it, I hope this blog post is going to help you in some way. There are many things to consider, but there are also many reasons why doing work experience abroad is an amazing thing one can do in their life.

WHY

Work experience is something that is crucial for your future, particularly if you are younger and not yet qualified in a certain job field. In Germany, it is common to do a few work experiences during your school time - three in my case. It helps you broaden your knowledge and understanding of the job world and at the same time help you in finding out what you would like to do in the future. Doing work experience where you live is a good thing, and you should definitely make use of that, but if that's not enough for you, or if you want to try something different and challenge yourself even further - a work experience abroad might be for you. 

When I found out that my school would give me the chance to do my work experience abroad, if I wanted to, I think I might have screamed a little because I got so exited. Especially if you are interested in other cultures, other countries, travelling and/or languages, doing work experience in a different country is definitely the way to go.

Although, I definitely want to mention, that you do NOT have to speak a language well in order to do work experience in a certain country. The thought behind giving people the chance to work abroad for a while, is not only to gain work experience, but also, to be able to improve your language skills.

And on the other hand - even if you already speak that language perfectly fine, you should definitely still keep in mind all the other great opportunities that come with doing work experience abroad. You get to know a job in a different country, which might have different ways of doing things than in your own country and will possibly be faced with new challenges. You will be able to get to know a different culture and explore a whole new area during your stay. You will meet new people, learn many new things and have the time of your life, all whilst working. It will also help you become more independent, particularly if you still live at home in your own country.

WHERE

This is obviously a personal choice, but there are some aspects you should consider, when choosing where to do your work experience. First one would be language. As I said, speaking a language perfectly well is not what you should base your country of choice on, but in order to be able to work in a different country, you need to at least have basic knowledge of the language.

In general, take into consideration, that the better your language skills are, the more challenging and "difficult" jobs you will be able to get. If you are going somewhere to better your language skills, working as a waiter in a restaurant might work perfectly fine for you, but if your focus is on the actual work experience in a "more skilled" job, i.e. in the tourism or business sector, then you are better off choosing a country which's language you are more aware and in power of.

A different aspect one should put into consideration, is money. Work experience abroad itself isn't very cheap, so choose wisely, depending on your financial situation. For example, doing work experience in Australia will be much more expensive for you if you live in Europe, than doing it in England for example, particularly because of flight prices etc. But obviously if that's what you want to do, that is totally your choice.

Go somewhere, where you are both interested in and somewhere that will help you most at achieving what you are expecting from this work experience. I personally chose England. Not because I particularly wanted to improve my language skills, but mainly because I am really interested in the country, culture and its people, as well as always being interested to see whether I would be able to work in an English speaking company. Choose what feels right for you. It makes no sense going somewhere that you don't like or don't have any interest in whatsoever. 

 HOW

Now, there are two ways of doing this. Either, you go and contact companies yourself, or you decide to pay an organisation to do it for you. Both has it's pros and cons.

Pros of doing it all yourself are definitely that you have much more of a choice as in where you want to work, and if you have any contacts, you can make use of that. And you also save the money that you will otherwise pay to a company to help you with finding your spot. But the cons are definitely that you have to do a lot more admin work, and it will possibly take you longer to find a company that will want to work with you, as they might not usually choose people from abroad for their work experience spots. If you don't have a place to stay where you are going, you will also have to find a hotel, a room or a host family yourself. If you are fine with all of that, definitely go for it.

The pros of choosing an organisation to help you with finding work experience are definitely that you have to do a lot less work yourself in trying to find a spot, which can take off a lot of pressure. They will also be able to help you find a work experience spot that is perfect for the level of your language skills, as well as considering your own interests in what field you want to work in. They can also help you finding a host family or a hotel for your stay. The cons however are, that you will also have to pay the organisation a certain amount of money for their work, and you also might get a little less choice in where you are going to be able to work (i.e. you will get a list of 10 or so different job fields that you can choose to work in, which might not always cover your interests). 

Another tip I can definitely give you, is to do a lot of googling. Find out about other people's experiences and what organisations they went with. If you decide to do it all yourself, start by deciding on what cities and jobs you are looking for, look out for companies that cover these fields and start contacting them about whether they would be willing to offer you a spot for work experience, should they approve of your CV. If you decide to go with an organisation however, go on google and find out about all the different organisations that offer to help you with work experience in the country of your choice. Compare them, price, performance and interest wise, and also - find out about fairs and conferences in your area. Where I live there a student exchange fair happening every few months or so, where many companies are invited, covering every field from work experience, to Au Pair and language courses or High School Years Abroad. It can be a great help chatting to the people in person that organise these work experiences, and might help you answer the questions you might have. Even if you don't want to choose an organisation, and do it all yourself, this might be helpful, as they might be able to give you some tips. 

In the end, you will have to choose which way will be the right one for you. I personally went with an organisation. If you want to find out what I thought of that, and what my personal experiences during the general work experience where, I am going to be uploading a blogpost on that very soon, and link this HERE, as soon as it is available.

DON'T FORGET

As fun as it sounds to go abroad for a while and explore somewhere new whilst also gaining work experience, there are some things you must consider.

Money is definitely a factor that could possibly limit a lot of people from doing this. However, if that's the case for you, don't give up straight away. There are always ways of making it work. Making compromises and possibly working to gain some more money for the trip can turn things around easily. Work experience abroad is an expensive thing to do, but it can be so fulfilling and you might have the time of your life. It can and very likely will be absolutely worth it to work your butt off in order to make this trip possible.

When calculating the cost of your trip, take into consideration that you will have to pay for flights or trains to get there and get back home, possibly pay an organisation, pay a host family, hotel or room for the length of your stay, and also that you will have all sorts of expenses for food, transport to work and around where you live, possible trips to explore the area and anything else that you might want to buy whilst there.

Also, don't forget to get a travel insurance for the duration of your stay, just in case anything happens to you, because otherwise any accident might become really expensive for you afterwards. 

~

So, what do you think? Are you ready to take on the world of working abroad? What are you thinking? If you have any thoughts or possible questions you might want to share, feel free to do so below or give me a shout via e-mail! :)

Love, Jacqueline Xx

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"We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. 
There is no end to the adventures we can have if we only we 
seek them with our eyes open."

- Unknown

A Road of New Chances and Choices: 2017

Happy New Year everyone!

Or at least, let's do our best to make it a happy one, and our best year yet. I have to admit, I am a true believer in some good New Years Resolutions. Not everyone gets that, but I for sure know that some people out there reading this do actually feel like I do.

One thing is for sure - the first day of a new year is just another day of our lives. Yet, even if it's just another day, it feels like the best time to make a cut to some things and use this opportunity to start new habits, try new things and refresh stuff you have not been putting enough time and effort into before.

Throughout the years some things that you had once put on your New Year's Resolution List are going to feel natural to be part of your every day life, whether you realize it or not. Some you will define further over the years, about others you will realize, that you have learned better than to set this goal, because experiences taught you differently. Some will take time, some will be very easy for you to pick up on.

You've got 365 chances to make your 2017 the best you can. Try your hardest to make the most of it. Laugh, scream, cry, dance, run, kiss, fall, make mistakes, make memories, live in the moment. Wow, that was a little cheesy, wasn't it? Sorry, for that, felt right. 😝

For once I actually started thinking about my New Year's Resolutions a little earlier than usual, though that was definitely not planned. I hope I've put enough thought into them, because I really tried setting realistic goals for once. Let's hope I'll actually maintain them throughout the year. But I guess that's a whole other story that we will need to talk about at the end of the year.

1 Make better use of time

I seriously suck at this. I am the kind of person that will read a message that I am either not sure what to answer to, or I tell myself I don't know what to answer even though I'm actually just scared of stupid stuff, and leave the answer for hours. Throughout these hours I will rethink a thousand ways to answer correctly and it only stresses me out. I definitely need to stop that, and the same counts for other things I keep putting off doing. I want to work on them when they come up and need to be done, and not wait until last minute.

2 Write 5,000 words a week

Last year I set myself the goal to write one other book apart from the one during NaNoWriMo. I definitely failed at that goal, but as I always complain to myself about how I do not spend enough time writing and working on my style, I decided to opt for something different this year. Maybe a more pricise goal will work, because I have got a certain amount I need to achieve each week. 5,000 isn't that much, but it's also not too much because I know otherwise I would find way to many excuses, especially when exam season is coming up.

3 Read 40 Books

I did manage to read 30 books in 2016, which I am happy with, but I know I can do a lot more, considering that I probably used to read 30 books each month when I was younger. So this year I am going for 10 more than last year, even though I will probably have less time to read this year, but I am going to try my best.

4 Worker smarter, not harder

This point is mainly about school stuff, but I guess I can incooperate it into my daily life too from time to time. Sometimes I will start getting stressed about not having started to study earlier, and I will cramp every little thing in somewhere in my timetable to do the most possible. Sometimes, especially whilst I am studying for Maths, I will keep calculating excersices that I have already done, understood and accomplished a thousand times, instead of focusing on the ones that I actually need to work on. So this year is not about stressing myself to work harder and harder, but to do it in a smarter way without as much stress.

5 Earn & save some money

I have got a few things planned for the next few years, concerning a gap year, uni and something else, so it's only the right decision to earn and save some money this year for all of those things. I am not saying that I will restrict myself every time I feel like I want to treat myself to a little something, sometimes I actually do need things like a bunch of new jeans because I have definitely not got enough. I have never been one to spent tons of money because I really do think about whether I need that and whether it's worth the price and use, but I can still work on that, and by that make my future a little easier maybe.

6 Worry less, enjoy life

We all worry way too much in our everyday lives, and it's time that I try my best to worry a little less. It's human nature to worry sometimes, but sometimes we just need to let things happen, because I guess they always do happen for a reason.

7 One post in stressy weeks, two in all others

In the past few months I let myself go way too much when it came to posting twice a week, sometimes I posted once in two weeks. School was definitely a reason for that, but I love this blog, and I don't want school to destroy everything that I love doing. If it's definitely not doable in a certain week, okay, I'll not stress myself about it and not do a post that week maybe, but I need to stop putting it off (see number 1). This year I will try everything to do one post in stressy weeks, but two in all others, especially during the Summer break.

8 Finish things I have started and will start

I've gotten better at this, but I there are still quite a few times when I fail at it too. For example, I started trying to teach myself Swedish at the end of 2015, and I really lacked at maintaining that after the first third of 2016, even though I really want to learn it. So that's something to work on.

9 Figure what I want to do after the gap year

I've known for many years that I would like a gap year after school, but that is going to start next year. However, I have got no idea what I want to do afterwards. At the moment I am still quite sure that I am going to go to Uni, but I don't even know what to study because I have so many interests and also not all things I am interested in I will be able to get a good job with afterwards. This year I want to finally find out what I want to do and kind of decide, so that I can go away next year without worrying about what I am going to do and where I will have to apply to.

10 More Focused Workouts

Gladly, I don't have to put on here that I want to work out more or start working out, I accomplished that resolution two years ago, which I am quite glad about, to be honest. However I have been lacking a bit at focusing on all body parts and instead did whatever I felt like doing, which is mainly HIIT and Abs. So, that's something to work on this year. Each day of the week I want to focus on a different part of the body.

11 Finish the NaNoWriMo 2016 book and a second draft

Last year I had set myself the goal to write another book apart from the NaNoWriMo one, but I failed at that, because I just kept putting it off, as much as I love to write. Starting a new project on a white page can be quite scary sometimes I guess. This year I am not aiming to start another project before NaNoWriMo, though I am not even sure whether I will be able to do that this year as it's in the middle of A Level preparations, but I will try my hardest to finish the last NaNo project and a second draft. I am not sure how much of a realistic goal it is to also finish a second draft, being the person I am, but I am going to try my best.

12 Try New Stuff

Don't think there's much needed to be said about this. It's always good to step out and try some new things to incooperate into your life, so that's something else to do this year, even if it's just trying out some new foods or stepping completely out of your comfort zone to do something.

13 Explore more

I love travelling, and I did do some exploring in 2016, but definitely not as much as I had planned to do. Especially this Summer, where I will hopefully not have as much to do for School, I really want to work on this. I am very likely to take my camera on all of these trips that I want to make, so I guess you will find out when I do it on here. I've also got two trips planned, maybe three, so I am very exited for hopefully loads of pretty photography happening on here this year. Get exiteeeed!

14 Live in the moment

I am one of those people that always gets exited about thinking about her future and planning things, but I often forget to live in the moment and live every day as if it's my last one. Yes, you should think about your future in life, but we should all never forget that one it will be to late to do all of those things you want to do.

15 Worry/Stress less, enjoy life

Last but not least, I had to make that part of my goals. I stress myself a lot, especially when it comes to my time management. I really need to stop doing that because it only puts my mood down and stresses me out so much. I also worry about a lot of things like whether I said the right thing to someone, sometimes even whether I used the right emoji or whether I am buying the right bunch of sausages, and if not, what will the other person's reaction be. It's ridiculous, and I need to stop that because it really puts me down quite often. So here's to doing that differently.

16 Learn and use more vocabulary

I don't know how much it's noticeable in my posts, but I am often stuck for better words so I keep using the same ones. My English isn't horrible, but I definitely want to learn some new vocabs and also make use of them, especially on this blog, because I think that way I will be a lot happier with the stuff that I talk about and it might also help me in school.

I do realize that these are quite a few goals, but I guess some I could have put into one point, but there's a reason I didn't do that, because that would give me excuses not to do certain things and do them exactly the way I don't want to do them.

I also want to eat more healthy but I didn't think it is that necessary to put onto this list because apart from the weeks close to Christmas I don't usually eat that horrible. Bet you, next year it will be back on my list because I kept eating shit in 2017 or something haha. I love the motivation everyone finds to better themselves as people and make themselves happier by making these resolutions at the beginning of the year.

A lot of resolutions won't be completely followed, but if you even followed one, whether you realized it or not, I think that's amazing and prooves that they actually work.

If you have not set yourself some goals for this year, even if it's just one simple goal like taking more care about yourself or something, do it now. Now is the the time to do it. Not because this is like a big cut in your life but because a new year still is kind of an opportunity for a new start, and at this time you will not only find the most motivation yourself, but there are also many other people out there that are wanting to achieve the same, or at least similar, things to you.

Do you have any New Year's Resolutions? If so, I really hope that they work out for you. I wish you the best of luck. I wish everyone an amazing 2017. Let's make it a good one.

Lots of love,

Jacqueline Xx