Surfing and Journalism! Jonas Shares His Dream Internship in The Paradise, Bali

So I thought about my interests and goals. One of my options for the future was to study sports-journalism in Germany but to be sure I wanted to collect some working experiences before I have to choose anything. Next to these interests of mine, I am a snowboarder for ten years now. So the surfing sport, as another sport on a board, was always very interesting for me, but unfortunately I never had the chance to try it. Having these two aspects in mind, I searched on the internet for options and possibilities to link these two aspects and do maybe an internship in a surfing metropolis.

After some time of research, I found the perfect program for me with the help of the great organization of Studentsgoabroad and its partner in Bali: an internship in surf-journalism in the surf community newspaper in Bali! So I organized all the necessary documents like visa, flight and insurance, and my journey could start. On the day of my flight, I really was looking forward to the four months in Bali!

I arrived after almost two whole days traveling; the pick up from the airport worked well and my home for the next four months was fine as well. On the following Monday, my official work as an intern in the surf magazine started, so I saw all my new colleagues and my supervisor for the first time. About what we spoke and what he explained to me suits me and I liked it right from the beginning!

The first week was very cool as everything was new to me. We got to know Hafi, the surfboard shaper, and the surf magazine fulfilled my first dream: We learned surfing! Right from the beginning of the surf lesson, I became addicted to surfing, it was my new passion! In the next few weeks, I could do more and more in the surf magazine like writing articles, taking pictures, getting to know more and more people and spreading the idea of surfing. So we got to know a skateboard pro-Pedro Baros or the Motocross Community Bali MX and I also had my first interviews with a Brazil surf and kitesurf pro or with Moyo, a local supporter of the community in Canggu.

On the weekends, I always joined other Germans to weekend- or day-trips to other parts of the island or islands in Bali's neighborhood. The first trip took us in the north-east to Amed and Tulamben where we went snorkeling. After that, I visited Lombok and the Gilis with some friends from Germany, who were visiting me in Bali at that moment. In some day-trips, we also visited Ubud, different beaches in Bali like Padang-Padang or Balangan, Tanah Lot, Rafting, Uluwatu or the volcano Gunung Batur. My last trip took me to Singaraja and Lovina where we visited some waterfalls, the Holy Springs of Banjar and planned to see dolphins but we were not so lucky!