AIFS Abroad: Intern Abroad in England

This was an amazing experience and opportunity to grow professionally and personally. Shani and Gregg were absolutely amazing in coordination this program as well as providing support during the program. Gregg offered many unique weekend adventures that provide an opportunity to do more than just work or study. Shani was so helpful in making sure all the legal and visa related things were taken care of. This alleviated a lot of stress for me personally and I could not be more grateful. I have minimal complaints and would certainly recommend this program to others.

With the pandemic shuttering the global opportunities I planned to attend through my college, I applied to GE to try and still go abroad before graduation. I’m happy to say it was a great experience!

I appreciated how GE helped prepare me for an internship by looking over my resume and having me take a quiz to find my strengths and build a cover letter around them. This was a great addition to the program and something I intend to use to apply for jobs in the workforce beyond the GE program. My advisor was great about answering my questions and making sure all of my paperwork was finished in time to depart.

A minor complaint of mine is that GE has no transportation from the airport to your flat. As someone who’d never flown on a plane, didn’t know how tubes worked, and had been up for over 24 hours traveling, it was difficult to navigate from the airport to my flat, even though I’d brought a map of the city to help. The housing itself was quite nice, with air conditioning, private bathrooms, and being right next to a grocery store and having two tub stations nearby.

Regarding my internship, I was with a great company and learned a lot as a content writer, but I did apply for public relations first and journalism second, and though I didn’t mind my placement at all, if future students are looking for a specific job rather than a broad placement, they may be a bit disappointed.

The best part of my program was by far Gregg and Shani, who were very kind and prompt in responding to my questions and concerns. When I got sick during the program, Gregg was great about giving me information on what doctor offices my student insurance covered and what papers I needed to fill out. Also, many of the places Gregg took the group were not tourist destinations, but niche places you’d never know about unless you had someone from the area with you. This was great, and really added to the experience in a way I wouldn’t have gotten had I come to London on my own without GE.

I also enjoyed how Gregg and Shani showed us students a PowerPoint of how we would feel throughout our stay during Orientation—from the initial excitement to understandable fatigue to adapting to your new environment. When I did find myself slipping into the “understandable fatigue” stage, it really helped to know that my feelings were a natural part of going to a different country and would improve—which they soon did.

Overall I would recommend GE as a solid option for building your work portfolio abroad. I never felt like I was in danger walking around the city, and was able to do a lot of sightseeing on the weekends! Considering it was my first time abroad, GE was great about preparing me for what to expect and offer help if I needed it.

If you are a recent college/university graduate and you think you’ve missed out on your once in a life time opportunity to study or intern abroad, look no further. I thought I’d missed my chance due to the pandemic but GE gave me the chance to still fulfill that dream of mine.
My goal was to explore different industries and my internship at a chamber of commerce allowed me to do just that. The housing was centrally located gave us access to a gym, dance studio, study rooms, and lounge. 6 interns shared a kitchen and living room and we each had a private bedroom and bathroom.
Gregg, GE’s London program coordinator, provided almost weekly outings full of London’s gems beyond the typical tourist attractions. He was very attentive to all of the interns needs, checking in frequently and taking action when needed. London is an expensive city so it was nice that most expenses for Gregg’s outings were prepaid by our program fees.

While there are definitely both pros and cons to interning with GE, the experience overall was enjoyable. London is made especially fantastic by the on-site coordinator, Gregg, who provides invaluable support, fun and educational activities, and will go to bat for you to ensure you have a good time. The housing was excellent, my internship was educational, and I was given many opportunities to learn and grow from the experience. The housing is in a great location, is incredibly safe, and very clean. You are guaranteed to enjoy the social activities provided by the location coordinator.

I loved every second being in London. The internship I was placed in was not necessarily super aligned with my major but it ended up being awesome! The company I worked for and my coworkers were amazing. I found my love for marketing through this experience. Also, Gregg made sure there was an activity/trip planned EVERY weekend so there was limitless opportunities to meet people and see all around England. The housing was also very nice and we had private bathrooms and private rooms with a shared kitchen.

I chose to do an internship in London kind of last minute and I’m so grateful I did! Though my placement wasn’t applicable/initially what I thought I’d be doing, I still feel like I learned things from my internship and coworkers that I can carry forward with me. I always felt very supported in London by our Location Coordinator, Gregg. He was so consistent about checking in, planning fun weekend activities, and making sure we knew we had someone to go to for help or questions. I learned so much from him - He knows the city like no one else! London was a great place to work as a young person and I highly recommend going if you can!

London was such an amazing experience that I could not recommend highly enough. The internship placement was perfect, the housing was centrally located and very safe, and the team in London could not have been nicer. Gregg in particular was constantly planning fun and unique trips for us that helped us get to know the city and feel supported throughout the program. If you’re considering studying or working abroad than definitely or this location at the top of your list. Such an amazing experience and so worth it!

I definitely recommend interning in London, but not with Global Experiences. I did research on several providers, and I specifically chose GE because they had so many career fields to choose from. I graduated with a Communications and Media Studies degree, and I hope to go into journalism. The other providers had a general “communications” field which I worried was too broad, so I was excited that GE had a specific field for journalism. I officially applied in March, with journalism as my career field and marketing as my “second choice”.

Quickly after submitting my application, I heard from the Regional Enrollment Manager. In our initial phone conversation, she asked for more detail about what my ideal internship would look like. I told her that I would love to work with a creative publication, and ultimately, I am very flexible. The examples given on their website are “LGBT News Organization”, Independent Music & Entertainment Magazine”, and “Leading Political Magazine”. I told her that anything along those lines would be incredible. A few days later, I was officially accepted.

I asked for more detail about how the internships were selected. She said “A lot of work goes into our vetting process prior to placing any participants with a certain company in order to ensure anyone placed there will have an amazing experience.” She listed a few more examples, such as “Journalism for Prestigious Magazine” and “Editorial Intern at Leading London Publisher”. By then, I felt assured and officially made the deposit. In mid-April, she asked me to schedule a call with the Director of Internships, who would be my point of contact going forward.

Fast forward to the end of June. The director finally sent an update, saying that internship interviews are typically in late July and early August. By the beginning of August, I had not heard anything. I asked for an update, and she told me that the placement team “has your profile out to a number of employers and they anticipate hearing back shortly!” I asked if she had any timeline and she did not answer, but a couple days later, she sent a general update to all the participants. She provided the information about our housing, and said that she would “be in touch” about internships. The participants had provided all our documents needed to apply for a visa, but the internship needed to be secured first. At this point, the program was scheduled to begin on September 11th.

The next week, I finally heard about a placement. She described the company as an “online marketing agency”, but in reality, it was a marketing department for a company that installs phone systems. In fact, their website does not even mention the word “marketing”. I asked why I was not given a journalism placement, and she said that all the journalism opportunities were still fully remote. I looked at the marketing section of the GE website, and all the examples of past internships were traditional marketing agencies. I was willing to compromise on an actual agency. The next day, she presented one, and I immediately scheduled the interview. The interview was with one of the two founders, and he revealed that instead of working for the actual agency, I would be working for his separate startup, which was centered around video game betting. The main game is one centered around murdering as many people as violently as possible. Later that day, I was presented another placement, which was for a company that teaches children about creative writing. I was disappointed that all the placements were so niche, but that one was the closest to my original goal, so I agreed to it.

Nine days before the program was scheduled to begin, the director sent an email to all the participants, saying Covid was slowing down the biometrics appointments and processing time of sponsorships, which meant that we would likely be arriving late. The next day, she told me that the children’s writing company changed their mind about going back to their office. She asked: “What would you say to interning with [video game company] in person, but a remote internship component with [children’s writing company] as well?” I responded: “I would need to know what my week would look like. If it would be balanced, that would work, but I’m not particularly interested in doing a majority with [video game company].” She said that she will “see what we can do”, and that my Certificate of Sponsorship was delayed because they needed a clear photo of my transcript, and I had to remind her that I sent it to her back in July.

On September 7th, four days before the program was scheduled to begin, I got my Certificate of Sponsorship and I was able to schedule my biometrics appointment. The next available one was not for a few more days, so I had to reschedule my flight. She attached a PowerPoint filled with requirements and fees that had never been mentioned before, such as mailing my passport to New York to have the visa added. On the 13th, I had the biometrics appointment and mailed my passport. On the 20th, it came back, because I paid for priority mail. Eventually, GE refunded the fees (because they were already included in our tuition) and the difference for changing the flight.

On September 23rd, I finally flew to London. At this point, I did not even know my work schedule. In an attempt to set everything straight, I emailed the Director of Internships, the London Placement Coordinator, and my boss at the video game company. Unfortunately, everyone was on a completely different page. My boss was never told that I was planning on working with two companies, and I was embarrassed by GE’s lack of communication. The director told me that she was “waiting to hear” my schedule with the video game company before reaching out to the children’s writing company. Then, the coordinator told me that I was required to work full-time with the video game company. She said I had the option to do additional work for the children’s writing company, but as you can imagine, I was not interested in doing more unpaid work outside of a 40-hour work week.

Finally, I got a schedule from the video game company. It was scheduled to be remote for three days a week, and in-person for two days a week. The work was with the one boss, at a rented table in an office space. He was extremely nice, and the other employees that I met virtually were too, but the startup was not equipped to take on a full-time intern. For the first few weeks, my boss did not come to many of the in-person days. Then, he was dealing with an injury, so the internship became fully remote for the rest of the program. I was essentially an on-call intern. My boss was rarely online, but I had to be, on the off chance that I would get an assignment. Every single morning, I asked him what I needed to get started on. Most days, I either didn’t hear anything until the afternoon, or I didn’t hear anything at all.

The coordinator threatened me, saying that if I did not follow this schedule, immigration services would quickly find me and kick me out of the country. However, the director had previously told me that participants have switched internships in the past, so I asked her to clarify. I brought up a marketing/PR firm that two of the other participants were assigned to, which was clearly a much better fit. I heard that they were looking for extra help, and ironically, their office was right across from my office.

I felt like the director was not understanding my concerns, so I asked my mother to call her. In that call, the director became much more apologetic. She emphasized that she would do whatever she could to make it right, and that she would speak to their staff member in London who is three levels above the coordinator. A week later, she told me that she had the meeting and that the “most recent guidance” is that “visas cannot be adjusted once they are issued”. I know that Covid can change things, but ultimately, a company dedicated to sending people abroad should be on top of understanding the official government rules. The email was practically all corporate speak. I sent a thorough response, accepting that the circumstances couldn’t be made better, but asking her to at least own up to her mistakes. She never answered it, and never contacted me again.

She had previously mentioned that she would be visiting London in the middle of the program. She even told me that she was looking forward to taking me out for a coffee. The participants officially found out about her visit through an email that the coordinator sent to all of our bosses, cc’ing us. It said that we needed to be able to leave early for a “mandatory networking event”. The “networking event” was literally just a pizza party. The participants were all eating together upstairs. At this point, we had all known each other for a month. The director was chatting with other staff members downstairs. She never bothered to come up and introduce herself to all of us. If we wanted to meet her, we would have to approach her and interrupt her conversations. The co-founder/CEO of GE was also there, and she behaved the exact same way.

While I ultimately made the most of the experience, GE did not give me what I paid for and I know that the other participants feel the same way. My hope is that they learn to respect their customers and to take responsibility for their actions.