Internship in World Tourism Organization in Madrid, Spain

Gabrielė Dačkaitė

A bit more than 6 months ago I have taken a challenge to myself to start an Erasmus+ graduate internship abroad. My chosen organization fascinated me by its aims and importance – World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), an agency of United Nations, which promotes sustainable and accessible tourism for all, together with more than 150 member states’ contributions. Moreover, this organization was a perfect fit to my study field – Political science and international relations. The headquarters of the organization are in Madrid, Spain, and that is where my new experience began.

Now, after ending those incredible 6 months of daily work, I can certainly say that this was definitely a good and strong decision for my future professional career. My supervisor and colleagues could not have been kinder and more understanding, teaching me something new every day and giving well-appreciated advices. My main tasks were to green the blue inventories, work with greenhouse gas emissions calculations and make sure that UNWTO stays climate neutral, preparing case studies’ abstracts for International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development 2017, performing due diligence, drafting reports and annexes for Executive Council’s meeting and etc. Overall, it was a great professional experience that let me understand more clearly which direction to head to next.

Of course, moving abroad, completely alone does not only mean to learn about your career and figure out which professional direction to take. It also means to learn about your personality when the office hours’ end, solve difficult situations and making new international friends all by yourself – which I all completed. I left Madrid being happy about the internship experience that I had, but also being amazed by all people that I have met there and how much they taught me about their countries and cultures. My friends circle definitely got bigger and more multicultural. This Erasmus+ graduate internship experience was even better that I could have expect, and I will appreciate it and remember it as a great time for long.