CAPA WORLD

Ryan is an official CAPA blogger, sharing her story on CAPA World. A Graphic Design major at University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, she is studying abroad in London.

In today's post, Ryan talks about what her overall internship experience was like with emc3, a company specializing in events and experience, as well as the duties she carried out and how she found her place there.

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While studying abroad in London for the summer, I have also had the wonderful opportunity to participate in an internship as well! Throughout the past weeks, I interned with emc3. emc3 is in the events industry and they work hard each day in areas of talent, design, marketing, and events. Their incredible work is what truly makes them “Experience Architects.” I have learned so much from the wonderful atmosphere they have at emc3. Everyone has been so kind and welcoming, and the office environment makes interning feel creative and new.

The office is very modern and stunning to work in; with big windows and large workspaces it feels so open and inviting. The walls are a classic white with some pops of bright colors. There is always coffee available and a gorgeous table in the center where we all meet for lunch to catch up on how the day is going. I love the community they create in the office, and how they use color to evoke positivity in the design of the office space! I just can’t say enough how fantastic emc3 is!

Genevieve Rice is an official CAPA blogger for fall 2018, sharing her story in weekly posts on CAPA World. An English Literature major at Anderson University, she is studying abroad in London this semester.

In this week's post, Genevieve highlights her first two weeks at her internship with the editorial team of a magazine in London, and outlines a few of the goals she set for herself this week.

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This Tuesday marked the completion of two full weeks at my internship. The past week was full of surprises and growth. Like the first week at any new job, the learning curve was immense. I am working with the editorial team of a nursing magazine. My internship description (we had to write a learning agreement, so I actually know this one) is working alongside the editorial team, writing news articles, and assisting on any project that I can. This is an experience that I count as invaluable. I want to pursue journalism after I graduate, so having hands-on experience with a well-known magazine is a huge resume booster and an amazing learning opportunity—thank you CAPA! Despite the fact that my internship is tailored to my future aspirations, I feel an enormous amount of pressure for this to go well. I have always been exceedingly hard on myself and in short, am a perfectionist. Therefore, my internship contains several self-appointed tasks to complete before I can feel like I am comfortable in this new environment.

Don't let the bright windows and tile work deceive you, the kitchen is complicated.

First task: braving the kitchen.

This might seem simple, but it holds the potential for so much error. At the office where I work there are about six other magazines based in and using the same space… and the same kitchen. Plus, my team always gets everyone coffee or tea whenever they get some for themselves. In this one tiny space, I have the potential to embarrass myself not only in front of my team, but also in front of people that work for other magazines that I might want to work with in the future, you never know. I managed to avoid the space all last week, but on Tuesday I was working all day, so it was now or never. It took me a few minutes to build up the courage to go and get everyone coffee or tea. And… I did it! Complete success! This might sound extremely silly, but in a new environment and in a new culture—where tea is very important I might add—I have the amazing ability to work myself up over the smallest things, that looking back, are actually quite humorous. Fears are made to be conquered, no matter how small they may seem.

Sydney Alderman is an official CAPA blogger, sharing her story on CAPA World. A Marketing and Global Management major at the University of Pittsburgh, she is studying abroad in Sydney.

In today's post, Sydney talks about her marketing internship experience with software company Ordermentum, what her responsibilities were, and how she adjusted to the Australian work environment.

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While studying abroad in Sydney, I decided to do an internship along with my classes. Ordermentum is the company I intern with. It is a Software as a Service (SaaS) order management system for wholesalers and distributors in the food and beverage industry (specifically coffee, bread and patisserie, and dairy). It's located right by Sydney Harbour, so I would get off the train at Circular Quay and pass the Sydney Opera House on my way to my internship site every day. On nice, sunny days I would walk a few minutes to the harbor for lunch and watch the boats come in as I ate, and then walk back to the office and see it all through the window as I interned.

During my time as an Ordermentum intern, I was in charge of the email marketing strategy and content creation. I really looked forward to coming up with the strategy; it was the area I enjoyed the most. I was also actually producing the newsletters, designs, and promotions that would be sent to their customers and potential clients.

Martyn Megaloudis is an official CAPA blogger for fall 2018, sharing his story in weekly posts on CAPA World. A Marketing major at the University of Pittsburgh, he is studying abroad in Sydney this semester.

In this week's post, Martyn tells us about his internship responsibilities at Unbridled with consultant Louise Taylor and what he hopes to achieve by the end of the semester.

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For my CAPA internship, I am interning as a marketing and communications intern for Unbridled Pty LTD. Unbridled is the brainchild of Louise Taylor, who is a motivational speaker and sales consultant. It is a small company—the first time that I have ever been part of one—where the only other employee is Louise herself. I work from her home office in Illawong, which is about an hour away by public transport. While I am the only other person besides Louise, I do have the company of Louise’s golden retriever, who, while lacking in technical skills is definitely a team player and a joy to have around. Working in a smaller setup is something I am not used to, but I’m excited to see what I can learn from interning at a startup.

In terms of the actual internship duties, I will be helping to create a wide range of marketing materials—from editing together podcasts to customer relationship management. Basically, anything that falls under the broad scope of the marketing field will more than likely come into my hands during this internship. As someone who only really has internship experience on the technical side of marketing, this is an exciting way for me to gain knowledge of aspects of marketing that I have yet to encounter both in school and from my other internship experiences.

Trisha is an official CAPA blogger for summer 2018, sharing her story in weekly posts on CAPA World. An International Business major at Champlain College, she is studying abroad in Shanghai this semester.

In this week's post, Trisha explains what the Chinese work culture is like and shares 5 important observations from her tech internship at SparkPad in Shanghai.

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During my time in Shanghai this past summer, my fellow intern Billy Hughes and I had the chance to experience the Chinese work culture as Software Development interns at the tech corporation SparkPad. SparkPad designs touchscreen interfaces that allow consumers to place orders with restaurant vendors without having to directly interact with wait staff or cashiers. Being a Computer Science minor myself, along with Billy having limited programming experience, we were hopeful to learn a lot more about working in the tech industry from interning with the company. Here are 5 observations and experiences that I encountered during my time in Shanghai.

1. Working and Socializing

At the entrance of SparkPad, a tech company in China, with fellow intern Billy Hughes and co-founder Heikwan.

One of the first stark contrasts we found between the American and Chinese work cultures was the blend present between working and socializing. Back home, it’s a commonly accepted idea that one’s work life and personal life should be kept separate, whereas in China we found that not only is the reverse more common, but that retaining the opposite western ideal was actually frowned upon.

Marianne Zarzar is an official CAPA blogger for summer 2018, sharing her story in weekly posts on CAPA World. A Sociology of Law, Criminology, and Deviance major at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, she is studying abroad in Sydney this semester.

In this week's post, Marianne shares about her internship experience at Holman Webb Lawyers in Sydney and what she has learned about legal field in Australia.

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When deciding to study abroad, the only thing I knew for sure was that I wanted to complete an internship while abroad. I wanted to know what the workplace is like in other countries, all while gaining some experience in the legal field. During my time in Sydney, I interned at Holman Webb lawyers, which is a commercial and insurance law firm.

Outside the courts in Sydney.

In all honestly, I was nervous when I first learned about my placement since I knew close to nothing about that sector of the legal field. Despite that, and after having my Skype interview with my supervisor at Holman Webb, I decided that it would be an amazing and challenging opportunity. Unsurprisingly, I found that everyone at the firm was very welcoming and willing to teach me everything I needed to know. I think that nervousness is totally normal among almost everyone who does internships, especially when doing so in a new country. However, I had to remind myself that our placements were not expecting us to be experts, and were expecting to have to teach us everything we needed to know.

Zachery Burnham is an official CAPA vlogger for summer 2018, sharing his story in weekly posts on CAPA World. A Finance major at  Champlain College, he is studying abroad in Shanghai this semester.

In this week's post, Zachery shares his experience so far on what it's like to intern in Shanghai, understand the work culture, and adapt to the people and environment around you.

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Thanks, Zachery!

Zachery's journey continues so stay tuned.

Julia Schroder is an official CAPA vlogger for summer 2018, sharing her story in weekly posts on CAPA World. A Political Science and Global Studies major at Arizona State University, she is studying abroad in Barcelona this semester.

In this week's vlog, Julia tells us about her internship experience at a local nonprofit and why she chose to immerse herself in a Spanish-language placement in Barcelona.

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Thanks Julia!

Julia's journey continues every Monday so stay tuned.

Rachel is an official CAPA vlogger for summer 2018, sharing her story in weekly posts on CAPA World. A Visual Media major at Auburn University, she is studying abroad in Dublin this semester.

In this week's post, Rachel talks about her internship experience with Creamy Sonic Digital Marketing, her responsibilities, and what she learned from it. She brings us along to Pride Parade in Dublin!

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Thanks Rachel!

Rachel's journey continues every Friday so stay tuned.

Brandon is an official CAPA blogger for spring 2018, sharing his story in weekly posts on CAPA World. A Political Science major at Clark University, he is studying abroad in Dublin this semester.

In this week's post, Brandon talks about his internship experience at Dublin nonprofit FoodCloud and how he adapted to the Irish work style and culture.

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For one of my last posts here in Ireland, I thought that I would write about my internship experience. I briefly went over it in my first pre-departure post but having worked at FoodCloud now for almost four months, I have much more to say about the experience and the organization itself. I would also like to lead with my opinion that everyone who comes to CAPA Dublin should take advantage of the internship program because it added a facet to my study abroad experience that I would not have found doing anything else.

These are the FoodCloud vans that pick up and deliver food.

FoodCloud is a non-profit organization based in Ireland that connects food retailers with surplus food that is not technically bad or spoiled with charitable causes. Many supermarkets and other food retailers will toss perfectly good food away simply because it's past its “best by” date (which are typically arbitrary and don’t actually relate to whether the product is safe to consume) or will no longer live up to exceedingly high consumer expectations. The founders of FoodCloud, Iseult Ward and Aoibheann O’Brien, saw a need to both eliminate the environmental impact and charitable potential of the issue of food waste, and created the company. FoodCloud created an app that food retailers can download and use.