In a 4-part series, our team member Pascalle Tanis shares her experiences with working at ErasmusX, to provide you with a glimpse of what working with us looks like. This is Part III of her blog series.
If you missed her two earlier blogs you can read them here:
In the previous blog, I gave you a glimpse of what it is like to work as a student assistant at ErasmusX. And as you have read, I simply love working there. I very much appreciate the accepting work environment, my colleagues, and the autonomy and trust I receive while working as a student assistant. However, as part of my curriculum for my studies (International Bachelor Communication and Media), I needed to do an internship starting in April, which meant I would have to quit my job and needed to find a full-time internship.
Nonetheless, this turned out quite different than I initially expected…
In February I started looking for an internship that needed to last from April until the end of this school year. Due to COVID-19 it was rather difficult to find a short-term internship and I was quite sad to have to leave my part-time job at ErasmusX. A few weeks passed by and suddenly I realized: Why not do it at ErasmusX? So, I consulted Alex (Whitcomb) about my idea to do my internship there and I was thrilled to hear that he was just as excited about it as I was! Together with Farshida (Zafar) and Jonathan (Flores) we further discussed and developed the tasks for my internship and made sure it fit the requirements. We finalized the details and decided that apart from my job as a student assistant (8 hours a week), I could work alongside Jonathan for the communication and branding aspects of ErasmusX for the rest of the week. I was very happy about the fact that I could continue working for ErasmusX. Besides, this meant I was going to be the first intern at ErasmusX, ever.
So, on the 12th of April, I began my internship period and started working together closely with Jonathan (Communication Advisor at ErasmusX). While ErasmusX is a relatively new organization, the marketing of the organization is of great importance for the growth and publicity of ErasmusX. So then, what have I been doing for the past few weeks?
Besides being in charge of creating several marketing posters and content for our LinkedIn and projects within ErasmusX, I got involved in ErasmusX’ new initiative: the ErasmusX Student Community. As ErasmusX is an organization that aims to improve the lives of students studying at ErasmusX, “ErasmusX Students” got initiated to not only complement ErasmusX with a broader view, from the students themselves, but also to make students in charge of their future. While I personally believe it is very important to give students more agency over their study course, I was very thrilled to help and be a part of this. Next to these tasks that came along with both the content creation and the ErasmusX student community, I started helping Jonathan out with the launch of our website. Jonathan had been working on creating a website for ErasmusX for the past months and I assisted him in creating a visually appealing website that included all the required information about the organization and projects that we did.
Jonathan and I scheduled several weekly meetings in which we discussed each week’s tasks and kept track of our progress. Then when we were discussing how to increase the publicity of ErasmusX, in one of these marketing meetings, Jonathan came up with the idea to create an ErasmusX brand video. As a relatively new organization, we felt the need for a short video that would include our mission and give a brief introduction to ErasmusX. Only a week later we got a yes from Farshida (the ‘captain’ of ErasmusX) and we started working out our ideas. For one of our projects, Minecraft Virtual Campus, we had previously created a video with Chilled Winston which we were very enthusiastic about. Thus, when we had put our ideas on paper for the brand video, we connected Chilled Winston and were delighted to hear they were, again, willing to cooperate with us to create our brand video.
And guess what? One month later, we had not only launched our website but we also launched our very own brand video. As this was a milestone for ErasmusX, it was a reason to celebrate, and a chance to look back at our past successes. So, we did. On the 17th of June, I organized a website reveal party in which we came together to reveal our website and show our brand video. It was a great success! We discussed future ideas, had some quality time with the team, and, of course, celebrated with drinks.
When I told people I was doing an internship, most people assumed it must have been very boring as I mostly worked from home due to COVID-19. However, if you ask me about my experience working as an intern at ErasmusX I would be more than happy to tell you that it was everything but boring. ErasmusX simply is not boring. Not only did I get to work with an amazing and diverse team, ErasmusX is also an organization that makes sure that there is a great work atmosphere or, what I as someone born in 2000 would call: vibe. The daily online stand-up meetings in which we gather to have a casual chat before the day, the fun close-down sessions before we start our weekends, and coffee ‘dates’ with colleagues all make sure of that. And even amid a pandemic, while taking COVID-19 measures into account, ErasmusX manages to organize the coolest team days and welcomes their new colleagues with an onboarding ceremony. I mean all of this simply assures a team that is extremely motivated and engaged.
So no, boring is not the word I would use to describe my experience as an intern here. Amazing, is.
Besides, I loved working with Jonathan and I am proud of what we have achieved. For me, this experience was also a way to discover my abilities and my interests. And I must say it has been so nice to finally put my creativity to work, get a sense of being in charge, and making a difference. And although I loved this experience very much, I learned that work is not always about rainbows. However, it taught me a lot. And that’s exactly what an internship is supposed to do. So, I can call it a big success.
Interested in my lessons learned at ErasmusX? Then I guess you will have to read my final blog. See you next time 😉
