International Mobility

LV2 - Language Travel - First Year Internship

Internship Report

At the end of my first year at ENSEEIHT, I had the opportunity to do a 3 weeks language travel and 4 weeks internship in Japan. During the first three weeks, I was in Yokohama, near Tokyo where me and my classmates had Japanese lessons in the morning with native Japanese teachers, and our afternoons were free to discover the city and its surroundings. For the last 4 weeks, we were placed in groups with our classmates and went working in a hotel. I was paired with Hugo SIMON, and we worked during this time in a Caro Foresta hotel in Nasushiobara.

This hotel is pet-friendly and in a forest environment. We were part-time employees, and our responsibilities were cleaning the hotel, making room for the guests, and working in the kitchen, doing tasks such as cleaning dishes, preparing the dining room or the ingredients, helping to serve meals to guests. Those responsibilities were quite important as it was a small hotel with a small team, and other employees were not able to supervise everything we were doing.

During our internship, we had either a morning or an afternoon shift, so we worked either from 8am to 2pm, or from 2pm to 8pm. We had a day off every week, that we were able to use to visit the region. During our first week there, we were trained by the manager of the hotel who had some English skills, but after that, we were on our own. We had to communicate with the other employees in Japanese. It was a great opportunity to improve our Japanese skills.

We were living in the hotel, with some others employees. It was a great opportunity to learn more about the Japanese culture, because we spent our breaks with other employees, and we learned more about each other over the weeks. This was an amazing experience, and I am really glad I had the opportunity to do it : The main manager of the hotel was really nice, and he helped us a lot during our stay. He even recommended us places to visitt during our stay to discover the full extent of the Region we were in.

I think this experience was really important for me, as it helped me improve my Japanese skills, but also others : I had to learn how to communicate with people who do not speak English, and I had to learn how to work in a team, with people who do not speak the same language as me in a professional environment. That is to say learning how to communicate efficiently, simply and clearly without misunderstanding.

This experience of the Japanese culture was also really important for me, as I was able to learn more about the Japanese way of life and culture but especially a culture different from the one I am coming from, France. I find this experience of a professional environment in a foreign country as well important, as it helps me learn more about the world, and about the people living in it. I think this is one of the best opportunities of my life, and I never regret my decision.

If anyone is interested in doing a similar experience, I strongly recommend to do it, as it is a really great opportunity to learn more about the world, but also to learn more about yourself.

I would like to thank the Caro Foresta team for welcoming us, and for helping us during our stay. I would also like to thank Miss Yoshiko, in charge of the language travel, for putting us in contact with the hotel, and for helping us during our stay. If I was able to enjoy this trip as much as I did, it is thanks to them.

LV1 - Professional communication in english

Through my LV1 course, I’ve been preparing debates and meetings in English, which have helped me a lot in learning professional communication in English, as well as organization in companies.