I am an animal science student from Brazil. The internship arranged for me was in an Australian zoo. Although I had taken an English course before starting the internship, when I first started I was completely lost with the language. After a few weeks working at the zoo every day, I found myself gaining a little more confidence to talk, and I could finally understand Australian slang (at least most of it).
After working a month at the zoo, most of the staff already knew me, and I felt they were starting to lack new tasks for me. One day, among 15 Australian interns, I was called to guide a blind man through the zoo. That day, I saw that my range of vocabulary was terrible. I have asked the blind guy, like a hundred time, if he had already SEEN that or this animal. I could not find a word to substitute the verb to SEE.
Luckily, the guy was completely good tempered. He just laugh at me, and answered that he would love me to take him to hear or to pet the animals. At the end of the day, obviously, I apologized for all the misunderstanding, but he said that was totally ok, that I was such a good guide, and he understood I was a foreign, not yet fluent.
The zookeeper who I was working with that day laugh at me too, and I told her. Although frustrating, the experience was really good for me. I wasn’t used to work with PEOPLE. After that day, I felt I was ready for anything.
What would you improve about this program?
Althoug the internship fit perfectly for me, I have heard a few friends complaining about how they hated the tasks they were asked to, or how they couldn`t see the relation between the internship arranged and their majors at uni.
Maybe Australian internship should bring us more options of internship for us too choose among them. We were told that we have to accept the first offer we got. For me, that worked. For other people, it didn`t.
Response from Australian Internships
Dear Andres,
We are delighted to hear that you enjoyed your internship and experience in Australia! We strive to deliver our interns with the best internship program; but understand that sometimes personality conflicts may occur in the workplace, especially in high pressure environments. Your comments will certainly help us continue to improve mentoring our interns in the future. We have had many wonderful experiences with the Marriott Melbourne over the years of cooperation! Through challenging times comes true growth and development – no doubt you are a better professional for the amazing experience you gained while in Australia! We congratulate you on your success and are excited to hear about your future career endeavours!
“Sometimes, when you think a storm is coming to rain on your parade, its actually there to water your garden” – Rob Hill Sr
The AI Team