Welcome to the United States!

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Salem and Boston, 26/8/2015 - 13/9/2015

Welcome to the United States!

Hi! My name is Jacqueline and I study International Business and Languages at the Hanze University in Groningen. I am in my fourth year now and I’ll graduate very soon, but at the moment I’m doing an Internship in the US. Doing an internship abroad is one of the requirements of my study (that’s why it’s called International Business and Languages!).

Before this experience, I studied abroad in Mallorca, Spain (Erasmus) for one semester, which was an amazing experience! My time in Mallorca was pretty different, but I knew I had to do an Internship abroad after my time in Spain. At the beginning of this year I was very sure that I wanted to do my internship in the US. After I contacted my University, they knew someone who could help me finding an internship in the States. She also studied at the Hanze University, but at the moment she lives in the US and she is helping Dutch students finding an Internship in America! I immediately contacted her and after a few e-mails and skype conversations we were looking for an internship in the States according to my requirements, because the internship had to be marketing-related.

After a few weeks Ingrid found some companies which were looking for interns. I applied for these vacancies and one of them invited me for a skype conversation. The company is a marketing agency close to Boston in Massachusetts. The company gives advice to Higher Education to recruit more international students. Furthermore, they are helping universities with their marketing. For example: My university could be their target group! They are doing a lot of marketing research. The people, with whom I had the conversation with, were very friendly and enthusiastic. Thanks to them I wasn’t very nervous. One week and a half later they send me an e-mail that they wanted me as an intern for their company. The other company (in New Yok) I also applied for, also invited me for an interview, but I really wanted to do my internship at the company in Salem. I was so glad to hear this good news and I almost couldn’t believe. After hearing this good news I applied for a J1-visa. This is a visa for people who are going to the United States, because of an exchange work program. It was a lot of paperwork, it took a long time and unfortunately it cost me a lot of money L (more than €1800), but I don’t regret it at all and I’m very happy I made this decision. It’s a good experience, because I’m far away from home, from my family and friends. This is also my first time I traveled to another country on my own. When I went to Spain for my study abroad I was with my friends. So, this was a big difference for me! I found a nice room in Boston, I arranged an insurance and I ordered the tickets to Boston. I was ready to go!!

On the 26^th I arrived at the airport in Boston. I was looking for a cab, which brought me to the address of the apartment, but the cap couldn’t find the address. He was driving and asking everyone if they knew where the address was. After a while he told me that he couldn’t do anything for me. So, I got out of the taxi and I was walking through the street with two suitcases. I made a phone call to the girl from the apartment, I sent her text messages and e-mails, but she didn’t respond. That moment I thought she was drinking some beers with her friends. I asked everyone, people were helping me and were looking for the address. They used their GPRS from their mobile phone, but three hours later I still had no idea where the apartment would be. A very kind lady, who also was helping me, assumed I was being scammed… I couldn’t believe her, but after all … unfortunately it was the truth. She brought me to the police department and they made a report of the fraud, unfortunately they couldn’t do any further things for me. This happens a lot here, especially with international students and it’s hard to track the money, because they’ll withdraw the money and the girl (or boy?) can be anywhere, maybe in another country. After that, the women brought me to a hotel, but I couldn’t stay there too long, because hotels are pretty expensive here. The next day I contacted my internship and explained my situation. I also contacted Ingrid. Both of them were very helpful to me and they would ask around if anyone knew a place for me to stay. In the meantime I was checking Facebook, Airbnb, CouchSurfing and other websites for a room offer. A few hours later my supervisor told me that I could stay at a colleague’s house till I found something permanent. I was so glad I could stay there for a few nights. The first days I tried everything to get my money back, because I lost almost $3000 (approximately €2500). I made phone calls to my bank, the police, the FBI, the government, I contacted the bank I transferred the money to, unfortunately none of them couldn’t do anything for me… These days were a little bit hard for me. I lost a lot of money and I was in another country without my family and friends. Despite of that I didn’t want to ruin my time here and thanks to the people here (especially to my colleagues) they made it easier to deal with. They made me feel very welcome and invited me for dinners. They tried to help as much they could. I also explored the city of Boston by myself and I really liked it! I still couldn’t find a room in Boston or near to my internship. I was also very suspicious (of course!). After a few days my colleague, where I stayed over for a few nights, told me about his friends. They were still offering a room in their house. The house was very close to the company I worked at and to the train station to Boston. The house is very big, which is normal in this area, I would have my own floor and also my own bathroom. I would be sharing the kitchen with the owners. The people are very friendly and they have a cat (I like cats)! I still live there and I really like it!

The week after I arrived, I started working at the company as a marketing intern. I was immediately involved in a project. I made a list of websites which have listings of universities in the United States. Universities could add their URL and description of their university on these listings without for free. This was something the company would show on their website. This would be interesting for universities, which didn’t want to spend a lot of money to promote their university. All of the colleagues were very nice to me and they made me feel very welcome. A week later another intern started his internship at this company. He was also an international student - from Spain - and we would work on the same projects. We were doing a lot of market research. We made a list of the top universities of the United States with categories, like: numbers of students, numbers of international students and the numbers of graduates with an international job. This is interesting information for my boss and supervisor and they will use these facts for a conference in December. We also made Surveys; one of them was to gain more information about recruiting agents. Furthermore, we helped our colleagues with the social media of the website, presentations, market research, comparisons of different tools and services, digital marketing and e-mail marketing. A few weeks later the company organized an outing for all the employees. We ate fresh fish at one of the best fish restaurants in Salem. After we finished our dinner, we went to on a boat tour. I was a nice day!

Besides of that, I had to apply for a social security (number) card. This is because I am working in the United States. People need a social security number, for example: to open a bank account, to apply for a credit card or ID and to get a paycheck. If you want to open a bank account and you don’t have a Social Security number yet, you can also bring your paycheck of your rent. They just need something official, which can confirm that you’re a citizen in the US. Normally it takes 2-4 weeks after you’ll receive this card. For me, it took almost 8 weeks…

I hope I don’t scare you off because of one bad experience. Besides of the fraud, in general, the people are very friendly here and they really want to help you. This country is beautiful and every state is so different. I’ll tell you more about other states I have visited in the US in my following blogs.

Are you also thinking about doing you internship in the USA? The following tips might be very helpful:

· Start looking for an internship approximately 6 months before you want to start doing your internship! It can be hard to find an internship and companies won’t always respond very quickly. Moreover, it took me 2 months to arrange and get the visa.

· Arrange an insurance. You’ll never know what happens!

· Safe enough money and be very careful with it!

· Before you book the tickets, make sure you already received your visa. There can always be a delay and modification regarding to flight reservations can cost you a lot of money.

· Don’t trust someone too much when he or she tells you that you have to pay rent + the deposit in advance. In my case I had to pay 3 Months’ rent + deposit in advance and I lost a lot of money!

· Apply for meet up, such as: Facebook groups in your city, CouchSurfing groups, MeetUp etc. It’s nice to know what is going on in your city and especially when you’re knew… it’s a good opportunity to meet new people!

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