Robin's Incredible Media Internship Story in Dublin!

A boy is in the Irish headquarters of Microsoft. Around him, the company's leading, influential managers sit in a large room that resembles a modern spaceship. All of them wear Star Trek costumes and are wearing strange make-up. The boy does not know what to think about the situation. He thinks about what makes him feel more insecure: The fact that the successful leaders laughingly vote who looks the hottest in his costume or the fact that he wears artificial long latex ears and a black wig that is styled by a stylist. There was one question the boy couldn't get out of his head: How he could get into such a bizarre situation within one day.

The beginning of the 3-month semester break was just around the corner. 3 months - Damn! A very long period of time, during which, due to the many free time, the bad conscience of how to use one's time meaningfully arises again and again.

I decided to combine travel with an internship. As I have already completed several internships in the German media sector, I started looking for an internship in Dublin. I wanted to improve my language skills, increase my intercultural competences, and learn about other country-specific ways of working in the media industry, which would be especially beneficial for my studies of European Media Studies. However, the independent search for a suitable internship quickly turned out to be harder than I thought.

I decided to use the service of Studentsgoabroad's internship placement service, which turned out to be a wonderful decision, as there was finally structure and I was advised very nicely. After an organized interview via Skype with an Irish film production company, which impressed me very much, I was accepted! Nice!

A month after I was accepted, I set off for Dublin! After the helpful briefing from the Irish contact partner of Studentsgoabroad, I went to my internship. Immediately I was warmly welcomed by my colleagues and guided through the premises. Mark briefed me on the current projects and then insisted on having burgers with me during the lunch break. While we enjoyed the fresh burgers, he told me that a shoot for Microsoft was planned for the day. For the next international conference, the Irish bosses of Microsoft wanted to inform the other foreign representatives about the current economic situation of Microsoft in Ireland through an ironic short film, which was to be shot in Star Trek style. As soon as I realized it, I helped the producers with the organization, set up a green screen, assisted the cameraman, and accompanied the Microsoft executives to the make-up, where they all had to put on futuristic Star Trek costumes and heavy make-up. A wig still had to be cut to size. Before I could say anything, the stylists grabbed me, put on the black wig, and started to do my hair, which amused my colleagues a lot.

I had a really exciting first day. We were filming until 8 pm and everyone had a lot of fun, especially the bosses of Microsoft. Almost every scene had to be repeated several times because at least one of us started to laugh. I got to know my team very well and learned a lot about the working methods of the company, which I liked very much.

The Irish film production company realized TV shows, such as cooking or music shows, as well as many commercials for several clients. During my time I helped most of the time with assignments for Audi, Skoda, O2, the law firm Matheson, Retail Excellence Ireland, and Irish Award Shows. My colleagues and bosses always integrated me as part of the team and I was able to try my hand in many areas. I assisted producers and directors, was occasionally employed as a cameraman, and worked on various projects. I also got to see a lot of Dublin, as, for example, an assignment from Retail Excellence Ireland stipulated that certain stores within Dublin were to be filmed, competing for the "Company of the Year" award. We went to Kilkenny for an Audi assignment to film a major dealership event and a golf competition.

On the weekends I use the time to get to know Dublin. I met with my colleagues, got to know people at the notorious "Pub Crawls", listened to Irish street musicians, or had tea with the elderly lady Anne, where I stayed with other international students.

Dublin is a very versatile, cozy and small city - Several times I met some well-known people on the street by chance: From a girl who often served me in a Mexican restaurant (and greeted me loudly on the street with "Buuurrritoooo") to my bosses whom I met by chance at the airport on my departure day and who invited me for breakfast.

My time in Dublin was really very interesting, instructive, top, and full of variety! I can recommend an internship abroad for everyone. The insights into foreign ways of working, the main interaction with locals, and getting away from the daily routine at home greatly broaden your horizon and strengthen your self-confidence if you are open to new impressions. Everywhere there are new and special things to discover and absorb, which, whether positive or negative, are conducive to character development, or simply provide a top story. The confrontation with a new everyday life forces one to rethink and doubt certain old conclusions, just like Descartes did.

The country is traveled without any local contacts and is left with many friendships.

"To throw oneself away is to keep oneself" -Odysseus