When I was at university there was no question of an internship, never mind a foreign one, unless one was a modern language student. But with increasing globalisation students are increasingly encouraged and sometimes compelled to experience at least one internship. In Europe this is facilitated by the European Union in the form of formal schemes and grants under Erasmus.
Although we have touched on internships several times in the Absolutely Intercultural podcast before, the latest show is devoted completely to the topic and looks at it from many different angles. There is an interview with the person who facilitates incoming students at the Remagen campus of Fachhochschule, Koblenz as well as an interview with the person who arranges outgoing students. There is also a chat with one of the students at Remagen, Carsten Ritterath, to examine his reasons for trying an internship. Language learning is not top of the list of priorities and I was interested to learn that for Germans, learning Danish is not such a challenge. Another surprise was to hear Carsten say that he had not until now been away from home for more than two or three weeks and that he was looking forward to the experience of living in a metropolis as a change from the small towns he has lived in to date.
There is no guarantee however that if I were starting my degree studies in Britain right now that I would be touched by much of this since British students remain those least likely to take up these internship offers.
Keywords: Absolutely Intercultural, Erasmus, internship, podcast, Remagen
