Blog Archive

After my graduation in Political Science and International Relations, I decided to undertake an  experience of working abroad with the Erasmus+ project. Despite the  difficult year that we are living , I tried to jump into this project in Poland. 

Having already done an Erasmus period I was already psychologically prepared for all the  unexpected and dynamic that could happen but fortunately the work in Poland was handled very  well. 

So , I was part of a WiPjobs company that deals with Recruiting, helps to find work for people who  require a certain type of job and conversely for entrepreneurs who ask for a certain type of skills  from the candidate . In this experience, WiPjobs worked with its main partner: MaterEuropei, a  highly qualified Master that takes place in 4 different countries.  

WiPjobs has focused on guiding the students of this master’s degree to the best of their abilities,  preparing them to manage new challenges, improving their personal qualities and supporting  them throughout their growth path. The main tasks were in fact the Cvs & Cover Letter Editorial  support, Job interview simulations in English/Italian, support for the care of the personal & self  brand of the students, support for the optimization of the Linkedin profiles, sharing of  differentiated job offers for each master’s degree, updates on Reporting and on all the daily  dynamics; Care of relations with partner companies.  

Moreover, organization and planning assistance to the didactic and documentation internship,  responsible to the search of company and external partners. All this clearly keeping the necessary  distances and precautions to contain the covid-19 emergency.  

We also had a few days of distance support at the end of the internship, doing career coaching on  Skype. 

The working hours were 40 and we worked every day inside the Vistula University, except on the  days off that often happened on the weekend. In fact, in addition to the work experience, my  team and I were also able to manage small trips out of port to see the Polish culture and  cities. Always maintaining all prevention measures for covid-19 . For example in Krakow to see the  concentration camps of Auschwitz and the next day the salt mines. 

With this I want to underline that in addition to the work experience and the commitment I put in  the first person in carrying out this activity , you can also enjoy the experience looking at new  realities and cultures. 

I highly recommend this experience of internship abroad, clearly keeping a focus on the work and  tasks to be performed. This helps the institution but also helps the trainee to get in touch with the  world of work . With WiPjobs, it was a perfect match.

Chiara Bellanca, graduated student at University of Palermo.

Leaders First main business it to provide professional networking, education and personal branding services to highly skilled professionals through online and in-person events, trainings, dinners, and various marketing activities. Subscription based services in the form of annual membership for international based audience.

We regularly host international trainees as we are an educational company and it is our aim to help others to grow professionally. We do host trainees from Italy as we have a large audience based in Italy, as well as in person events. Some of our communication with our members as we as some training are provided in Italian language.

Trainees are normally involved as  Accounting assistant, Business development assistant, Marketing assistant, Research Analyst.

At the beginning we offer them 1-2 weeks induction training and offer general advise. Afterwards we provide schedule for all activities (office hours or remote work hours), we monitor the progress and arrange review every 3-4 weeks with the senior manager, we offer mentoring and participation in company trainings.

We see many benefits in hosting international trainees  as all students arriving from SEND Consortium are very enthusiastic about learning new skills, improving their english language communication and practicing their skills in a professional environment. 

We think that companies should provide such opportunities to talented graduates who are eager to grow and develop professionally and develop their skills. Especially nowadays career opportunities are skimmed and graduates’ competitive advantage without a work experience is very low. This may result in even more unemployment among young graduates, who were not given a chance to apply their talents into practice. That’s why we are planning to continue hosting international students and graduates to support them on this not so easy journey to embark on a professional path.

We suggest to other orgnizations do not fear to take a graduate without much experience, talk to them, listen to their professional goals and if they match your company goals they can definitely bring some fresh ideas with them which can be applied into your business!

Masha Blinova, Leaders First co-founder (UK)

Having such an experience made me grow a lot. Collaborating with Air Malta was an honor for me because it is an important company. From day one, they treated me like a full-fledged employee.

I have had the same rights and duties as any employee and they have entrusted me with important assignments. I also had the opportunity to met important person such as the Minister of Economy.

During this experience I had the opportunity to improve my English and also learn a little bit of Maltese. Maltese is a very complicated but also fascinating language. I appreciated and loved the Maltese culture and I was very close to the place, to the point of wanting to have a working experience there.

Having done this internship for me will remain the best experience of my life, an experience that has made me grow personally and professionally.

Giusi Prezzavento, student at Università degli Studi di Catania

I decided to participate to the Erasmus for Social Innovation program because it was a perfect opportunity to live an experience in a field which I am really interested in. For long time I have had the desire to go to Calais, a town situated in the North of France, sadly popular for the desperate situation of the refugees present in the area. Since I have always been very engaged in the field of the migrants’ rights, I wanted to experience first-hand the special situation existing on the French-British border.

Thanks to the Erasmus program I had the chance of spending two months working for the project HRO, Human Rights Observation, at the association L’Auberge des Migrants. Beyond the dramatic and terrible context of the refugees’ camps, it was possible for me to find a solidary and supportive humanity among the hundreds of people co-operating for changing the actual situation of Calais. In this part of France, in fact, hundreds of refugees coming from the Sub-Saharan Africa and from the Middle East stop temporary in order to try to cross illegally the Channel to get to the UK and join their familiars, in most of the cases. These people live in tents in outdoor camps, despite the very cold weather of North France, and are subjected to daily evictions by the order forces. I took part of a team, the HRO team, working on the field and observing the eviction operations, in order to avoid or to document violations of human rights.

We collected data, pictures and videos which we used to write reports about the situation of the refugees living in the area. Moreover, I collected testimonies and interviews from the people living in the camps and I used them to write articles and contents for the social media. I also helped in collecting donations and in preparing and distributing essential goods and food.

Thanks to different trainings offered by the organization, I could improve my knowledge about the political situation of this European area, about the rights of the refugees and about the European system and laws for the migrants coming to the continent. All these trainings and the work on the field made me understand much more about some political decisions of the European Union and made me take conscience of some limits and gaps of the system which we have to try to improve as European citizens. Experiencing first-hand such undignified and dramatic conditions in which people are living in Europe made me appreciate more my rights and my freedom and increased my will of being engaged for improving other people’s lives. This traineeship also was incredibly useful to develop some competences which I will need for my future professional life, such as the teamwork, the flexibility, the decision making and the management of stressful situations. I also had the possibility to improve my English and French language skills and to develop all my communication competences, being every day in contact with people coming from all over the world. What I learnt at most is, though, the capability of working in a very intercultural environment and of managing all the possible obstacles arising from deep cultural differences.

These two months of Erasmus traineeship in Calais opened my mind and, especially, opened my heart, leaving an indelible mark on my wealth of experience and offering me the view of a beautiful and colourful humanity.

Francesca Emmulo, student at Università degli Studi di Venezia Ca’ Foscari.

It was a really useful experience.

After my graduation in June,I decided to take this opportunity to live an educational and multicultural experience and to get introduced to advanced research tools and different practical laboratory approaches in order to achieve a stronger awareness of my professional career, growing both professionally and personally, having myself always been driven by curiosity and a very open-minded attitude

Atthe end of my mobility, I can say: Poland met my expectations.

I worked in a very comfortable environment, all the people around me in the University were willing to teach and solve my doubts.

The city was fuctional and tidy. Tha transport works very well.

I would advice this experience to everyone.

Filomena Perillo, student at Università di Napoli FedericoII.

Traineeship at University of Gdànsk  (Poland) in biotechnology reasearch

My name is Francesco Di Simone . I am graduated in Engineering management at “Università degli studi di Palermo” on 22^nd March 2019. After that I started my traineeship experience few weeks after the 1^st April in Brussels, Belgium. My receiving organisation was EuAbout-European Researches and Projects for Educational, Cultural and Social innovation. The office is in Rue Charles Martel 54 in Brussels, the European city centre really close to the European Commission.

The first day when I arrived at the office, I saw the European buildings and I felt excited and a real European citizen. I was happy to starting this new job as a new graduate. The number of working hours per weeks were 40 from Monday to Friday.

The two main activities of the traineeship were desk research on principal areas of European policies and attending and reporting meetings or conferences about mine specific area of interest such as Energy, waste and transport management following the principles of Project Cycle Management enacted by the European Commission. In addition, I researched, analysed and drafted short policy paper relating to some of the main field of organization and on his expertise as Smart grid system in China, Pumped Hydro Storage plant in Begin, and the business model structure of two Italian small enterprise that work one on the field of plastic recycling machinery and the other on agricultural system and machine prototype for the nettle fibre’s harvest and production. Moreover, I focused my attention on financial analysis of this project, funding more opportunities and using SME instrument project proposal to their implementation.

Until now I would like to say thanks for this great experience . Now I feel a member of Eu-About and I improved my skills as decision making, communication, innovation and creativity, foreign language skills, teamworking, initiative, adaptability. Moreover, I learned how European Institutions work and how to make my voice heard at European level by taking advantage of a reliable representative for European Institutions and how to work with national, transnational and European Projects.

In conclusion I think that now I have been able to enter quickly into the working process and easily working in team and in complex tasks and activities. I can be able to manage complex tasks and coordinate other colleagues. I can be able to work in flexible way on tasks and deadline approach.

So this traineeship was great for my growth in professional ways and I recommend it to everybody!!

Francesco Di Simone, student at Università degli Studi di Palermo

My mobility experience at National LGBT Rights Organization in Lithuania was very short, yet very intense. I had the exceptional luck of having some of the best flatmates you could ever find. I shared most of my experiences with them and I always knew that, once I got back home, I had a friend there for me.

It was no bed of roses, though. Since day one, it had been very challenging to balance work, being tired because of it and wanting to see and explore and enjoy the culture that was hosting me. Speaking of which, the Lithuanian culture that I had gotten thrown into was at first quite hard to handle and process. Now, I wish I could go back to the me of the very first weeks of my mobility and tell her that everything was going to stop being so confusing to me, that things were actually going to become natural, new habits were going to take over and that even those little, big quirks that felt so very annoying were soon to become stuff I would have grown attached to.

This kind of hardship was something I had to face also in my workplace, confronting behaviors I was so unused to and that were so easy to misinterpret. Still, here I was able to really challenge myself, forced to be independent in my line of work and to search for motivation only from within; to recognize friends and build supportive, affectionate and yet constructive relationships in the work environment. I confess I did not do as much as I wanted or expected to, as I was not given the chance to, but I can fairly say that I am proud of all the times I go out of my comfort zone without blinking twice (the first blink of anxiety is something so human that I cannot hold it against me – and I won’t) and of each time I could actually notice myself doing something I would have been too scared or
embarrassed to do just one month previous.

To tell the truth, that is something that applies to the entirety of the period I spent abroad for my mobility. One of the greatest satisfactions was to have people who met me on my first days in Lithuania further telling me they were proud of me for overcoming my fears and be more me.

So, if I were to sum up my mobility, I would use a few words: hard, nerve-wrenching, fun, challenging, fascinating, scary, exciting, liberating.

The gift I received from this mobility was to discover what I am made of, to uncover the layers and layers of fears and preconceived ideas I had of me and of the outside world. To give up bad approaches and to grow personally and professionally. It’s something I would do over and over again, for nothing else than to feed the curiosity about what else I could discover, and of how many more layers of me I would be able to bring to light.

Alessia Florimo, student at Università Ca’ Foscari of Venice

During 2018-2019 we sent, together with SEPIE, 71 students of Professional Development to carry on their internships in different European countries with Erasmus+ scholarships. Vicenza, Maribor, Belfast and Lisbon are some of the cities where our young fellows lived a personal and professional developing experience. Our activity wasn’t limited to this: Fundación Montemadrid not only sends students in Europe, but also receives them. Indeed, our socio-cultural center Casa San Cristóbal welcomed with open arms a young Italian girl, who selected our institution to perform her internship. Her name is Palma, she was born in Naples and graduated in Scienze e Tecniche Psicologiche (Psychological Sciences and Techniques) at University of Naples Federico II. For 3 months, she integrated with the team of professionals managing and supervising Casa San Cristóbal and now, as her internship is about to end, we interviewed her to know share her views on the experience.

1. Erasmus+ scholarships are different from the traditional Erasmus project. What pushed you to choose this way and why did you choose to carry on your internship in Europe?

After my graduation, I knew I had to wait some months before starting my master’s degree. I never liked not having plans and not knowing what to do, so I started thinking about internships and job opportunities to extend my competencies. So, one day, someone from my university sent me an e-mail and I came to know for the first time of a really interesting project that would have allowed me to perform an internship in Europe through the Erasmus+ program.

The project in case was called ‘SEND. Be part of social innovation’ and I realized that the subject perfectly matched my studies and my lifestyle. Therefore, with great hope, I started looking for companies and associations appropriate to my profile. I found Fundación Montemadrid in a database and sent them my resume right away, because the works they were into really interested me.

2. Were you concerned about the foreign language being a problem when communicating with others during your internship? Have you improved your knowledge of Spanish?

Last year, from September to February I studied Psychology at Universidad de Sevilla, thanks to another Erasmus+ scholarship. I learned Spanish pretty well, since I was attending language courses in the morning and lectures in Spanish in the afternoon. However, during my stay in Madrid I really improved my Spanish and also my general knowledge on the country.

I live with a girl and a boy from here, I read Spanish books and watch movies in their original language; more than else, I spend much time with my colleagues and children, and they are always ready to help when I can’t find the words. I think that living with foreigners lets you learn new languages faster, and therefore I wasn’t much scared about language hardships.

3. Is this your first time in Madrid? Did you know about San Cristóbal neighborhood before moving? (Maybe by searching on Google before coming to Spain…)

No, it’s not my first time. I spent three weeks in Madrid when I was 18, but I didn’t know of San Cristóbal de Los Ángeles neighborhood. Before coming, I looked for information and news on Google, and I remember reading pretty negative facts about it. Today, I can say that for sure this neighborhood is complicated under some aspects but has also important strengths. The most important one, in my opinion, is his interculturality. I see unity, respect and collaboration between the children and teens of different cultures and religions I came to know in Casa San Cristóbal. All of this is just amazing to me.

4. You are carrying on your internship in Casa San Cristóbal… How would you define the center to someone who doesn’t know it?

I always talk about Casa San Cristóbal with sweet words. I consider this center like an oasis for the people of the neighborhood. Everyday there’s a new stimulating activity, for children and seniors, it’s very well organized and the team is awesome. I really like it and I’m really proud of it.

5. Of all the projects you’ve been involved into in Casa San Cristóbal… which one is the one you liked the most? Why?

I spend most of my time with little boys and girls, therefore my internship is focused on activities and projects built for them. Throughout the months I have spent much time with the Grupo de Apoyo of the library, helping children with difficulties at school. I also joined a professional in her workshop of first childhood, planning experiences with parents and children between 1 months and 6 years old. I was also part of a project for teenagers, thought for development and externalization of emotions through arts and manual work. Moreover, I took part to the meetings of the QuedaT youngster group and I drew, told stories and exercised creativity with the children and the professionals of Parque Diversión.

Moreover, in the last weeks I’ve been part of the summer camp. Spending much time with people of different ages allows me to know my strengths, understand what I like the most, apply my theoretical knowledge and, overall, widen my ideas and points of view. Being part of various events and planning activities improved my adaptability and improvisation skill.

Of all the projects, I particularly liked «Mitoart» and the Taller de Primera Infancia (Workshop of First Childhood). In the months spent with these groups, I have really grown up from a professional point of view and also from a personal one, since I had the opportunity to organize activities, give feedbacks, express my opinions and discover concrete ways to create the right group dynamics to promote social intervention. I was also really happy to use innovative equipment, like VR (Virtual Reality) to tackle fears and phobias and participate in interactive reunions on first childhood with parents and children.

6. Can you tell us a good tale happened during these months in the center?

With the children I always have a great time and, regarding to this, I remember a funny thing happening. An afternoon I was helping some girls in the Grupo de Apoyo when, suddenly, one of them started talking with a typical Argentinian accent… All of us burst into laughter! It was super funny, because it is not common to hear a Moroccan little girl try to use that accent!

7. After work hours for you internship… How did you spend your free time? Did you explore the hidden corners of Madrid?

I really like traveling and I used my free time to discover places and cities. Moreover, I went to concerts, museums and events. I met new people and hosted my friends and family. Madrid has always been one of my favorite cities and spending my life here has been a great joy to me.

8. How did it feel to be independent? What did you miss the most? And what, instead, did you adapt to the fastest?

I think that, first or then, we face a moment in our life when we must leave home and our comfort zone. It’s important for the knowledge of ourselves, our limits and our strengths. I really like living with others and sharing an apartment with people from different countries is an interesting experience. Being independent comes with many positive aspects, because you have your spaces, your privacy and, above all, helps you to be more responsible. This means paying attention to your things, to the house, respecting housemates and concerning about bills and the cost of life. It’s not always easy, but it is worth it. Every change seems difficult at the beginning, but it’s often just a matter of time, habits and adaptability.

9. They say that the Erasmus experience transforms you academically/professionally, but also from a life general perspective. Do you agree on this? How do you feel different from when you arrived?

Well, I totally agree with that. It’s difficult to get over or forget about an experience as intense as the one I’m living here in Madrid. In my case, it’s not just about freedom and independence, but especially about being part of an institution so important for the community. I could say without doubts that I feel really attached to the Casa San Cristóbal team. The little boys and girls I see every day have a special place in my heart. Every person I met in these months meant very much to me. It’s difficult to think about going back home and depart from all the relations built here, but, as I always say: it all comes back!

I treasure what I learned, lived, accomplished, and every hug and smile. I promised to myself that I’ll never forget anyone. Of course, living with such joy and high spirits changed my way to face challenges and problems. Now I feel stronger and more positive, both professionally and in general. I feel full of energy and thankfulness.

Palma Scarano, student at the University of Napoli_FedericoII

Merseyside Expanding Horizons regularly hosts interns from different parts of Europe, and we are registered as hosting organisation on SEND Mobility Platform. The platform helps the matching with the students and their universities, as well as support all the parts involved.

Having students from  different countries in the office feeds our multicultural working environment. Working in a such diverse context gives us opportunity to learn from other cultures and helps us widen our perspectives.

For MEH, having interns is not only a way to help them to grow and gain valuable skills. Myself and my colleagues can also learn a lot from them. For example, as young people, interns are mainly digital native and have usually developed good digital skills and teach us different things in terms of how to reach youth throught specific channels (Instagram, vlogs… ) they have new fresh ideas that can benefit MEH and all the team.

Hosting interns has also improved my leadership skills. By mentoring interns, myself and my colleagues improve leading and supervising abilities.

MEH has also benefitted of taking interns as a good way to find new motivated employees, for example Leonardo, was sent by SEND for 6 months, and he ended up staying with us managing projects for more than a year.  It’s basically a good way to test if that person works good with the team.

Having people around Europe also creates important connections to different countries. Our interns become ambassadors of our way to work and help us in enlarging connections for new potential partnerships.

EU young people at MEH have also inspired local youth in our community. They get to meet people from different cultures and learn from them when participating in our activities. It also inspires them to try new things and grow as individuals.

Overall having interns’ benefits both MEH and interns in many ways and in best case scenario creates connections that last for life.

Thank you SEND for your great work !

Anna Bellan from Merseyside Expanding Horizons, Liverpool (UK)

Casa San Cristóbal is a socio-cultural center closely linked to the needs and concerns of the neighborhood in which it is located. Our programming includes workshops, activities and projects aimed at promoting integral training, expanding the cultural horizon and forming proactive, sensitive and inquisitive citizenship towards their surroundings, both locally and globally. We work in a multicultural environment of enormous diversity. That means incorporating young people from other countries into our team is something natural that helps us to be even more connected with the community.

For all our staff members, hosting young people from other countries means an opportunity to learn and retrain. Their ideas, their fresh look and the new perspective that newcomers always provide about the reality that surrounds us is very useful to reflect on our work processes and make decisions. Although from the beginning, we set objectives with the students and try to focus on the activities that best fit their profile or that interest them most, from the moment they enter our center they are an active part of our team. That means they have full capacity to suggest and putting forward new ideas and projects. Besides, they are an example for our youngest beneficiaries of self-improvement, effort and positive attitude to face the future challenges. In addition, our users love to meet and share experiences with new and young professionals, as we encourage all of them to engage with each other in ongoing interaction.

Incorporating foreign students into our center has helped us as a team not only to improve our linguistic skills but also to enhance our ability to adapt to change (or to be changed) to update knowledge, take on new challenges and widen our vision.

We consider it important that the impact of our projects goes beyond the local sphere. Committing to other young European students means that the outcome of our work and effort can be shared beyond our boundaries. We generate new links and useful contacts.It is being a deeply enriching experience. Thank you SEND for helping us to enjoy it.

Casa San Cristóbal, Madrid (ES)