Aula ingles
My experience abroad in Madrid
My name is Judith, I am 22 years and I was born and raised in the Netherlands. I do the course of Executive Secretary / Management Assistant. For my last internship, I decided to take things bigger than I did before. I wanted to do an internship abroad. While I was searching the internet, I saw a Spanish company based in Liverpool. I have always wanted to go to the UK and this company got me from the first moment. I applied for an internship position as a secretary and I got an answer within two days. During the mailing, I was even more enthusiastic than I was before. Because it is not that busy during Christmas, they gave me the opportunity to join the headquarters office in Madrid for nine weeks. They offered me free English classes and a lot of experience. I decided to take this internship.
Madrid in the beginning
My first weeks in Madrid were not what I expected. I was really homesick and I was not used to this kind of situations. I never went to Spain before, especially not without my parents or people where I am familiar with. It was actually the first time that I went abroad for five months without anything but my two suitcases. The culture is different, the language was an issue and I never was out of my comfort zone before. I can tell you one little secret, I had never spoken Spanish before I went there. I still don’t speak it, but I got used to it. There were two options for me. One: quitting and two: show the world what you can do, even when it is very difficult. I wanted an experience where I can look back to with good memories.
The internship in Madrid
The internship in Madrid was great! It is a small academy where they give English lessons for Aptis exams. Also, there is a travel department. I was the secretary and receptionist. It was a good team and I have learned a lot of things from all of them. It was a time that I will never forget. If you are looking for a place where you can speak English in Spain, I will recommend Aula Inglés. I got the opportunity to do more tasks than I would dream about. I love to have things like this because I wanna be an exclusive secretary. Not like everybody else, but something that makes me special. During my internship in Madrid and Liverpool, I think I will be that kind of secretary in the future. A secretary is not only a person who is doing tasks for her boss, but it is also someone where you can count on. I know I still make mistakes, but this is an internship. I will improve my English and my secretary skills before I am going back to Holland. I will have a lot of opportunities in Liverpool to do that because there is more out there for me.
Madrid sightseeing
Well, now I was talking about my experience during my internship and how to get through hard times, but there was also the good stuff about the city of Madrid. Madrid is a very cultural city with a lot of history. While I was in Madrid, I got three visits. My sister with Christmas, my father and my other sister with New Years Eve and one of my best friends at the end of my time in Madrid. After my workdays I went to the city centre and Retiro park. Because I love to see green area with beautiful landscapes, I preferred to see Retiro Park. During New Years Eve there we went to Sol. We saw fireworks for 2 a 4 minutes and everyone was eating twelve grapes. It was strange to see if you are from another country. In my country everything is fireworks and you don’t even know where to look first. Also, we have our traditional oliebollen instead of the twelve grapes in Spain, but we eat them all day. Strange or not, it is lovely to see how other countries dealing with New Years Eve. I have seen it and it was a great experience.
With one of my best friends I went to visit a lot of things that I haven’t done before. But on her first night, we went to the English pub quiz. It was fun and you see much people from other countries coming together. And I have to tell you, we won that night! What did we do? Just join the right people. The day after we went to a tapas tour. It was a tour where you can visit three different tapas restaurants. We have had so much fun over there and we got to meet some very nice people from other countries. And than there was this museum with an old metro station, Chamberi, which was closed in 1966. The entrance is free and you will go back in the time. It was an amazing period.
My Madrid experience on a short note
Apart from the fact that my first weeks in Madrid were difficult, it was an amazing time and I would not want to have missed it. My experience were great! Not only in personal, but also on work experience. If you love to be in a city where you can see a lot of culture from Spain, you have to see Madrid. I have seen how it is to live on your own in another country. I have the best tutor in the world and apart from the tasks which he is teaching me, he helps you to see what you want in the future. For now I will continue my internship in Liverpool for the next twelve weeks and after that I hope that I can find my dream job soon. That is what every single person wants to have, right?
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