Tag Archives: international

Help In Unexpected Places

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My gap-year plan is a process “in the works” – I’m waiting to hear back from an internship I applied to in Copenhagen, and in the meantime, I’m into my other options. Because I don’t plan on getting myself into a formal job­–job next year, this puts some pressure on myself financially. Luckily, I had a stroke of good luck from an unexpected source.

Over the winter holidays, I had my violin teacher of 18 years over for dinner to catch up. She asked me what I was doing this summer, because she’d love to get some help teaching her (close to) 60 violin students. I told her I would love to take on some of her students this summer as their teacher, but because I need to save money for next year, I’d have to also have a steady job to stay in Ann Arbor. Within one day, she had called up every parent in her studio who owned any kind of business (restaurants, stores, etc.), and secured me a summer job as a waitress at one of the most reputable restaurants in Michigan. Did I ever think I’d graduate from college and become a waitress? Nope, but I realized saving money both as a waitress and violin instructor teacher for four months would open up my options when September rolls around. I decided I would take the summer to financially prepare for my “gap year,” and also strengthen my Danish using Rosetta Stone to widen my job-pool.

My hope for next year is to return to Denmark, where I studied abroad for 8 months. I have a Danish friend from when I studied abroad that is willing to live with me, but the tricky thing with being in Denmark, specifically, is finding a job. They do not have formal internships, and most jobs are for Masters graduates only who speak Danish. Their university system works so that they go for five years straight for a Bachelors and Masters degree, so almost no person looking for a job has only an undergraduate degree. They also will not issue anyone a work permit unless that person already have a job secured, and many times you can’t secure a job until you are in the country. This makes planning for my gap year in Denmark difficult, to say the least.

However, I decided to go straight to the source, and will be visiting Copenhagen for spring break to look into my options. I’m still crossing my fingers I get an interview with the formal internship I applied to, but also making my list of “places of inquiry” to email and look into while I’m in the country next week. Some things I’ll be looking into are various tour companies looking for English speaking tour guides, writing for the Copenhagen Post (an English newspaper), various museums, and even The Danish Royal Theater. Websites that have been very helpful are Jobs Bump, CBP Network and Expat in Denmark. Most of the jobs listed are not entirely feasible without speaking fluent Danish, but they’re a great source for places to look further into.

My advice to anyone looking for a job or internship internationally is to look into businesses that are international, send a lot of emails, and ask anyone you know (or may not know) for places to turn to who has a connection to your city of destination. Scripps’ Life Connections and LinkedIn are great way to do this, and even your friends and family may be valuable sources.

Now, if only my violin teacher had a Danish cousin….

 

The love affair with visas

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Visas tend to be an irritating obstacle and painfully long process that one has to face when studying, visiting, or working in a different country. Luckily, as an international student, I have come to learn all about them.

Currently, I am on a student visa, which means that I get to stay in the States for 5 years starting with my first year at Scripps. Having that extra year allows me to work after graduation, but within those 12 months I need to apply for a working visa, which can be even more difficult and take a longer time to obtain. Though many students are American and do not face these challenges here, you will probably have to if you go abroad to work or study in a different country.

Whether you want to become a guide in the Mongolian Gobi desert, an English teacher in Argentina, or work at a bank in Switzerland, and you are not a passport-holder from any of those countries, you are going to have to get a visa. Lucky you!

Here are a few points that I have found helpful and useful over the years and hopefully for more to come:

  1. Organize yourself and get all the paperwork done early. In my sophomore year, I was so nervous about not being able to intern in New York that I made sure to find an internship by November and have my summer-working visa by the end of January. Of course, it is not always going to pan out this way, but it’s smart to stay on top of the whole process.
  2. Talk to someone who knows about visas or has gone through a visa experience. They tend have great advice, some of which you would never find anywhere else. If you’re an international student, I-Place is a great place to start.
  3. Research the country and its visas. One time, when I flew into the States for a connecting flight to Canada, I had no idea that I was supposed to apply for a visiting visa, which is how I ended up in the security office of the Dallas airport. Long story short, after having to talk to a couple of officers about my confusion, they let me fly to Vancouver.
  4. Immigration officers, no matter where you are (except maybe Canada) are scary. Remain calm when they ask a bunch of questions about your visa and always remember the address that you will be staying at.
  5. Visas can be expensive and there are many types as well. Make sure that you are applying for the right one and if it becomes confusing (which it usually does), ask for help!
  6. Each country is going to be different and have a different visa process.

So no matter which exciting country you are going to work at, be prepared for an adventure to obtain a visa. At the end, after the pain and frustrations, it will all be worth it.