Our participants have come to the end of their work placements and will be heading home for Christmas soon. As the last in our blog series featuring the interns’ experiences, we had a chat with Emma who is working at Marketing Assistant at a dress shop and Michelle and Lauren who are both working as Assistant Project Coordinators with EProjectConsult and A Rocca. We are so glad that our participants have enjoyed their time here in Sicily and have gained experience and skills through their work placements.
Emma is 25 and is from Aberdeen in the North-East of Scotland. She is currently working as a Marketing Assistant at Desio Sposa here in Barcellona P.G. She originally studied Fashion Management and then went on to complete a Masters in Digital Marketing. “My career aim is to combine the 2 degrees and work in a Digital Marketing role within the fashion industry.” Emma intends to gain more digital marketing experience and skills during her work placement, when asked to tell us a bit more about her workplace she told us; “Desio Sposa is a family run business and everyone has been so welcoming (despite the language barrier). I enjoy learning about the business and how the wedding industry works.” Emma’s favourite experience so far has been learning about Sicily and travelling to different areas (when the restrictions allowed us to travel!) Emma also loves the Sicilian food and people.
Michelle, 25, is from Dublin, Ireland and is living in Barcellona P.G. and working at EProjectConsult as an Assistant Project Coordinator. She has a BA in English Literature and an MA in Literature and Culture; “I really enjoyed my area of studies and I am interested in academia, but I wanted to have the opportunity to learn something new and gain some experience abroad. I really enjoy my role here at EProjectConsult, each day is varied, and I have had the chance to help with projects to assist in organising online events, create content for EProjectConsult blog and learning more about Erasmus and the potential within this career field.” The role at EProjectConsult has allowed Michelle to work with a diverse team from all over Europe and has showed her how broad and varied the role of assistant project coordinator can be. Michelle has also really enjoyed learning Italian and hopes to keep it up once she goes home. When asked about her favourite thing about Italy she said; “I have really loved travelling round the island, I liked spending the day in Milazzo and Messina and visiting Taormina as well as the islands of Panarea and Stromboli. I really hope to come back to Italy and explore more!”
Lauren McCarthy is 23 years old and is from Cork, Ireland. She is currently living in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto and working as an Assistant Project Coordinator with A Rocca. Lauren’s internship has given her a broad taste of many different aspects of this line of work and she has assisted in writing proposals to secure project financing from various funding bodies. This included researching different companies and learning more about the Erasmus+ Funding scheme. She has also helped in creating promotional material for an online networking event. “My tasks are so varied so the experience so far has been really interesting!” Lauren has a BA in English and French from University College Cork. “I have always been interested in writing and learning languages after having participated in an Erasmus experience abroad during my degree. I was thrilled to be given the opportunity to live abroad once again, especially in a position where I could discover more about the Erasmus+ process behind the scenes and to have a chance to learn a new language.”
When asked about her favourite experience Lauren said; “There are too many amazing experiences to choose just one as my favourite! I have loved exploring Sicily. There are such amazing sights to see here, with Barcellona P.G positioned so close to both the sea and the mountains. Getting to know the locals has been wonderful too, everyone is so friendly and approachable, they have made Sicily feel like home in such a short space of time.”
Michelle Madden