Cultural Vistas Internship Program in Germany

I participated in the Cultural Vistas Internship Program in Germany during the summer of 2015. To improve my German I took one month of classes at a language school in Berlin. I then spent the next to months in a very exciting internship with Fields GmbH. My internship experience was everything I expected and more. Not only didn't I improve my German proficiency and increase my work experience, but I also made so many German friends and professional connections. I was very nervous before going on the program, but the support staff at Cultural Vistas helped me through the entire process. They also made sure to create events for networking and connecting with other participants. Throughout my experience I truly felt the support of Cultural Vistas and I am happy to say my life has changed dramatically since my time abroad.

I was fortunate enough to travel abroad to Germany with the help of Cultural Vistas. They provided accommodations, insurance providers, and a language course when I first arrived in Berlin. They also arranged an internship with a world renowned research institution that I would otherwise not have the opportunity to work with. Overall the experience is a huge step forward in my academic experience and I would suggest it to everyone.

The cultural vistas team was extremely insightful and supportive through my unique, eventful experience abroad.

My initial offer was abruptly withdrawn, throwing myself and my CV advisors into a state of confusion. My initial travel dates were postponed while the search continued.

They easily arranged my language school courses and continued to offer advice and support until the hard deadline had passed.

Although I was unable to secure an internship, all of the other processes involved were run well and amazing.

Although I greatly enjoyed my experience at my internship, Cultural Vistas was not very helpful during the process. They find your internship for you, but mine was not relevant to my university work or future careers. I also struggled to find housing. They did not adequately assist with this search. I encourage you to intern abroad, though!

Though I can understand that it may be difficult to find some internships for participants, I feel Cultural Vistas didn't appropriately handle the situation. Not only was I forced to plan a summer abroad in 2 weeks, but upon arrival I found out there were still a number of participants arriving in Germany who had not yet been given an internship.

There were also students who didn't have a place to live upon arrival (including myself) and to that end, our "program specialist" didn't provide any helpful solutions other than a couple of websites that are easily found in the top 5 results while Google searching "Housing in Berlin". After finally finding housing, I was not informed that certain areas of the city should be avoided. Not only was I in somewhat of a ghetto, but my landlady was a complete nightmare. (I could go on at some length here, but I digress)

This is not to mention the atrocity that was the orientation seminar. Our "program specialist" gave 90% of the presentation, which was a mixture of obvious facts about Germany that could be found in our previous reading material as well as some (sometimes embarrassingly exaggerated) generalizations of the Germans and German culture.

The German woman that was part of the seminar didn't get the chance to speak much, which I found odd simply because I would trust her more on the subject than the ramblings of a (seemingly) ignorant American who was telling us more about the time she stayed in Köln than actually preparing us for working abroad. We were also not informed as to who would be "looking out for us" after the seminar, as she would be on vacation visiting her German friends for the following week after orientation.

Once situated, Cultural Vistas offered little support to the participants I stayed in touch with. Many felt that the program was unorganized and tried little to help participants who found themselves in sticky situations.

Though I have my criticisms, I love the company I worked for. The people are fantastic, location ideal, and I was actually asked to come back to work more for them with a paid internship and (hopefully) a job. I am currently back in Berlin for this purpose. Without CV, this wouldn't have been possible, so I am VERY grateful that I found this opportunity. Though I must say I am also very lucky to have been placed in Berlin, because other participants were located in small villages with no nightlife or entertainment opportunities.

Because if this experience with this internship program, I was not only able to improve my language abilities, but also my cultural knowlage about Germany. I was able to learn about how language can be taught and how to plan activities for students of varying backgrounds.