My internship experience at Surfgasm, Lisbon

Ieva Vidūnaitė

As long as I can remember myself, I was a person afraid of hot weather. I used to travel to the southern countries during the coldest season of the year. Lisbon definitely changed my mind. When I came here, the temperature outside almost every day was around 35˚C but it didn’t stop me from enjoying this beautiful country.
In the past Lisbon wasn’t a very popular destination for tourists. Just passionate architecture and history lovers could appreciate the beauty of this old country. A few years ago the situation completely changed. Today more and more people are visiting Lisbon where there are a lot of colourful buildings decorated by azulejos, historical squares and huge parks. It is very easy to get lost on the narrow streets but many times of that you will reach some of the best viewpoints.
I was doing my internship in a small company Surfgasm together with the people from all around the world. Surfgasm was legally established in 2016 as a company renting short and long term apartments and selling amazing activities in Lisbon. It provides the opportunity to take surfing classes, go on the walking or hidden spots tours. I already tried all of them during my internship. The company was started with one guest house but encouraged by the success never stoped growing. Now there are 10 guest houses in Lisbon and a beach house for surfers in Costa da Caparica.
In Surfgasm my internship consisted of two parts. Half of the time I was working as a guest house manager and was responsible for welcoming the guests. Another half of the time I was creating written content for the company’s website. Since the company is small, I also had the opportunity to do some tasks related to communication and human resources. Working in Surfgasm taught me how to solve problems, organize events, sell activities and some very useful copywriting and SEO skills. I am sure I will successfully use all of it in my future. Working with positive and open-minded people showed me that everything is possible when you listen and support each other’s ideas and don’t judge it. Even if everybody came from different countries and fields of studies.