ISA Internships in Australia

For thirteen weeks I studied and interned in Sydney, Australia. Through my history course I learned about the origin, traditions and culture of Australia. I was able to better understand the practices and ideas of the people. Through my intercultural communication course I learned how to interpret conversations with people from a different country. I was able to apply this through my everyday activities.
During my time abroad I traveled all over the country to Melbourne, the Gold Coast, Queensland, Alice Springs and I even went to New Zealand. With the help of ISA, I felt safe and confident traveling across the country. On weekends, ISA put together trips in Sydney from hiking the Blue Mountains and volunteering in the community. It was a wonderful way to make the most of my time abroad.
Through my internship I was lucky to meet professional businesswomen all across Australia, China and America. As the journalism intern for a marketing business, it was my responsibility to write feature articles, create blog posts and assist with social media. It was such valuable opportunity to gain experience in my field and learn about marketing.

I'm studying to be a teacher and decided to take this study abroad internship to work at a school in Australia. The experience that I gained through this study abroad trip taught me so many valuable things. I learned countless tools to use in the classroom: classroom management, classroom activities, & literacy strategies. Not only did I learn about classroom strategies, but I also learned about how students in another culture interact. I probably learned more from the students than they learned from me. Working with other cultures and diverse students is such an important piece of knowledge to have. Most importantly, during my internship I learned about myself- my motivation, passions, interests, and ethics.
While completing my internship, I had heaps of time to explore Melbourne, Australia. I was free on nights and weekends and tried to do everything I could! Some of my eperiences included: Healseville Sanctuary, Queen Victoria Market, Euroa, Mornington Peninsula, Chadstone Shopping Center, Melbourne Aquarium, Melbourne Central Shopping, Federation Square, Yarra River Walk, Eureka Skydeck, The Great Ocean Road, Chinatown, St. Kilda Pier, St. Paul, & St. Patrick's Cathedral.
Deciding to complete this Australia internship has been the best experience of my life! Although I missed many important events at home (engagements, birthdays, & holidays), I learned so much and had so much fun! I enjoyed every second of my time here, even when the weather was raining and cold! GlobaLinks helped me so much in preparing for my trip, making sure my placement was going well, and being there if I needed anything. I am so blessed to have the opportunity to take this internship- Interning in Australia has changed my life!

Most students who go abroad actually study and take classes. Doing an internship allows you to fully embrace the culture you're in and receive valuable experience for your future career. I absolutely loved my internship with Dani Lombard Public Relations in Sydney. It was a small agency so I got to know all the girls really well during my stay. I felt like they were family by the time I left. Aside from the internship, I met some incredible people that will forever impact my life. I encourage you to connect with Aussie families and have dinner with me or spend a few days with them. During the week, I worked 9-5:30 Mon-Thurs. I took a bus and a train to work and it took about an hour but it varies by internship. It was great to have Fridays off so I had time to travel. I went to New Zealand, Melbourne, Newcastle and the Blue Mountains. Weekends were really relaxed because we didn't have to worry about school work! Two pieces of advice: #1 research your company first and make sure it's the right fit. See if any other interns have been there before because a few of the interns didn't like their internship all that much. #2 If you want fellow Americans around you and living with you suggest to stay in Sydney. I lived with about 10 other interns but a few other interns were placed in different cities alone. I highly recommend GlobaLinks but do your research first!

I interned with the Australian Baseball League in Sydney, Australia. I truly enjoyed the various projects I was given because they helped me step out of my comfort zone. I performed office tasks, attended press conferences with MLB staff from around the world, and created a customer database. The best experiences are those that challenge us and make us a better person. It was challenging working in a fast-paced environment with little background knowledge. However, I gained confidence and skills that are still benefiting me today.

My internship at the National Zoo and Aquarium in Canberra Australia was the best experience of my life. I was able to help all the zookeepers in their day to day activity and I was able to do so many things. I was able to prepare food and create enrichment for all of the animals in the zoo. I would do it again in an instant, doing an internship (as opposed to study abroad) was absolutely better.
In addition, the bridging cultures program was probably the best way to be welcomed to Australia and we were able to do so many things, like snorkel in the Great Barrier Reef, hold a koala, go four-wheeling through the rainforest, meet Australian aboriginals and learn about their culture. It was a great opportunity and I am so pleased I was able to do it.

Interning in Australia was a dream come true. I was able to discover I wanted to become a Marine Chemical Ecologist with the help of my supervisor. I did some sediment sampling and organism identifying, as well as processing some seagrass in order to determine the health of the water of the area. While, that is not exactly what I want to do for the rest of my life, I had a great experience and realized I loved ecology and I had missed the chemistry research from home. After explaining my goals to my supervisor, he helped me discover a route I could go. I will not say that studying abroad was easy because I did get very homesick, especially with living in an area where I felt like I had no support from anyone or anyone to have contact with except my amazing coworkers. I had connected to a church because I have a strong faith and that helped me get through, as well as the friends I made in church. However, my biggest difficulties were when I felt helpless at internship because there were some organisms I felt like I should have known, but I did not. I also had to learn how to read a map and take transportation by myself because no one was around to help. I had an issue in Australia regarding where I lived, but GlobaLinks Learning Abroad did a great job at helping resolve the problem and making me feel better. I would definitely recommend this program to anyone!

My internship in the media and communications department at AgForce Queensland couldn’t have been any better. It’s hard to land a good internship here in America, and I fully believe my internship could compete with some of those good internships here. The first week I was there I was doing telephone interviews and writing articles for Envoy – the member magazine produced at AgForce. Not only was my trip to Australia a great professional experience, but a wonderful personal growth experience for myself. One big difference in Australia and America is the way of thinking. In America, we live to work. Meaning, everything we do revolves around work. In Australia, they work to live. Meaning, as soon as they leave work they try not to think about it until they arrive back at work. For American’s, it’s very hard to flip the work switch off. We also aren’t afforded the opportunities like they are. Typically, American’s get a two-week vacation time off from work. Australia gets a three-week vacation time off. They’re also a much more laid back society.

I was placed in an advertising agency located in Newcastle, NSW. The town was amazing and truly captured all different aspects of day to day Australia life. More importantly, my placement was exactly what I needed and exceeded my expectations with the amount of involvement I had in the advertising process for various clients. I lived in a student house filled with students from all over the world, most of which were either in the same program as I was or attending the University of Newcastle. I did not expect such a nice living space; and compared to other students who went to bigger cities such as Sydney, I was living large.
I also had the opportunity to travel the entire country. Transportation was easy to navigate and go me everywhere I wanted to go for a fair price. My program leader just so happened to have his office across the street from mine. When I lost my luggage for an entire week, he was very helpful in making sure I was still comfortable which was easy anyway because I was in Australia!!!
I believe the trip would not have been as great as it was if it didn't start on the right foot at the Bridging Culture program. We had so much fun at the Great Barrier Reef and the Rainforestation.
GlobaLinks will give you the best experience possible!