Hey everyone! Last week I arrived in Madrid and have been enjoying the great weather and breath-taking sites that the city has to offer. During my first couple days in the city, I got to meet the other students I am doing my program with, completed my program’s orientation, and did a tour of Madrid’s famous Sol region, which is in the center of the city. After adjusting to the jetlag and the different time zones, I am excited to say that today I had my first day as an intern! I am very thankful to say it was a success and am looking forward to the rest of my time here in Madrid.

The company that I will be interning with is Expanish. Expanish is a language school that offers classes to those who want to study and improve their Spanish while staying in a Spanish speaking country. There are currently four separate locations across Argentina and Spain. These locations include Buenos Aires, Barcelona, Madrid, and Málaga and each offer cultural activities to immerse the students into that specific city’s culture. During my first day, I watched an orientation for the students and met a couple of the teachers and staff, which was great for me to learn more about the organization and my coworkers.

With Expanish I will be an intern with their study abroad department for eight weeks. This is an exciting time at the company, as this department is new and focuses mostly on bringing U.S. students to one of their locations when they do international programs with their universities. For this reason, I consider Expanish to be in the tourism and study abroad industry. They offer lessons that fit each student’s individual level and are inclusive to all ages and ethnicities, with students from across North America, Europe, and Asia and the school in Barcelona also having a program for adults ages 30+.

To be successful in the tourism and study abroad industry, one key skill that is necessary to be successful is communication. Although communication is important in any profession, it is especially vital here because foreigners that want to improve their language skills need to understand what the company is, what they offer, what the prices are, and anything else needed to establish a relationship with them. Without this communication, customers are likely to feel hesitant to come and study at the school, therefore resulting in them backing out, losing interest, or researching rival schools at which they could study. Another reason communication is important for this industry is to create compelling and clear messages when reaching out to professors and universities’ study abroad directors. One of the roles of Expanish’s study abroad department is to establish contact and maintain relationships with them so they hopefully will come and study at one of the language schools. Without clearly expressing what their intentions were for reaching out and what value they can offer them, Expanish is not likely to gain interest or replies from these university professors or directors, meaning they are missing potential customers from attending.

With the majority of Expanish’s schools being in Spain, there are unique competencies that the language school needs to succeed in the tourism and study abroad industry. The first is being multilingual. Although this may seem obvious, this is unique compared to the United States because students are coming from diverse backgrounds and countries and Spain is one of the most visited countries in the world by foreigners. Their tourists come from North America, Europe, or Asia and it is vital that the staff speak more than one language in case students get stuck in lessons. This skill is also important for the study abroad department so that they could widen their outreach to more than just American schools and increase their influence. Another competency that Expanish needs to succeed in the tourism and study abroad industry is how to integrate cultural activities into the school. One opportunity that Expanish takes advantage of is  creating these types of activities for their students to go on outside of the classroom so that they can expose them to Spanish culture. Each school is in a different city and, as a result, offers unique activities for their students to become immersed in diverse cultures. This is crucial to succeeding in Spain because it will leave their customers satisfied. Satisfied customers write complimentary reviews and recommend the school to their peers, which will then result in more students enlisting in Expanish’s programs.