Travel reseracher Review

The experience was insightful. The placement was enjoyable. It was a cross between studying while working and seeing a different city. Involved language classes and workshops Mon-Fri.

The entire experience was valuable staff treated us with respect. We were given responsibility but at the same time they monitored us frequently to stay on track. I got on well with the supervisor. The the other staff also but at same time there was a professional distance.

As much as we wanted. At the beginning quite a lot, this did tail off a little around week 3. They gave us a bit more breathing space. I personally would have liked a little more in seeing how the layout of our guide was going. Our task was to write a travel guide about the city.

This is hard to tell. Language skills improved as I knew very little at the beginning. The Workshops were insightful and we got quite a bit of feedback on our work and progress. The experience as a whole helped quite a bit but for me I developed more my soft skills and also work discipline skills.

It was structured. We received a timetable at the beginning of he project at our orientation meeting. It was quite straight forward and each week kept to a similar structure with few exceptions.

I think pretty good. The team bonded quite well. As with all teams we had some that took more charge, some that were laid back and some people that simply followed. Berlin is quite a big city and for most of us was quite different from back home. Sometimes trying to keep the social life and project in order was quite difficult. Late nights and then getting up in the morning was a little different than university :)

The team set out what we had to do and they did their best to support us throughout.

I would like to work for CTR. It seemed quite laid back and their was a good company culture.

same as above. Some of the staff gave an insight into the history of the organisation and what they are trying to develop. Culture was quite young and their main aim was to try to create a nice experience while being simultaneously productive.

Of course was valuable. I would like to either work in education or tourism. Writing the guide was fun but I don't think I would like to go into journalism or media. Languages was also not my thing but was good to learn the basics and see how most of the other european countries learn a language.

I was not paid but we knew this anyway. We were given the option to sell the guide but honestly this is so competitive to actually make any money on this so nobody was holding out on this. The team agreed that it was an experience and in my team even though their were some members that were dead set on a career in journalism alot came from different backgrounds and think most just wanted to see Berlin in a different light while just doing something that they don't normally do. The Project did have a project fee for those selected on our team but this paid for accommodation, classes, workshops and project activities and the experience as a whole. The team was motivated and of course we wanted at the end of the day to have something on our portfolio for the time away.

yes at plenty project activities. We went to a few good organisations. Was standard kind of tours but really interesting to see in some of the building and we got to meet other staff and ask questions.

same as above. This also was down to each individual. The opportunities were there though. Anyone else joining the team I would recommend not wasting the time there. It was tempting to sleep in on some days.

yes. I asked about these with the supervisor after the orienattion meeting and on some occasions on the first week. Generally they pointed us in right direction. Again some were involved some of the group tended just to their own thing.

yes if you are the kind of person that likes learning between 18-30, most of my team were in 20's. Enthusiasm is a must and on some days being spontaneous can be helpful. Being involved is encouraged and although their are individual tasks you have to be able to be good at working in a team and accepting different ways of working and of course people. Some felt pressured but I didn't feel like that at all. As long as you stick with some of the key deadlines we had tons of freedom, free-time etc and we had some friends visit from home and of course did a lot of travelling. The project was more offline. We of course did use the internet but I guess I used it 50% less than I do at home so that is what you need to be aware of. We had a few different nationalities on the team which made things more amusing and brightened things up:)