Madrid Internship Program

"While studying abroad in Madrid, Spain during the Spring 2017 semester I was able to intern with Grupo Zena, a franchising company. I worked in both the international franchise and the expansion departments. This was an amazing opportunity for me to gain not only real life work experience but also experience working abroad. It also gave me a chance to learn more about both the marketing and financial sectors within the business world. I was assigned to analyze and create market studies of possible new and profitable international and domestic locations, the creation of presentations for possible investors and franchisors, monthly sales trend analyses, and translations of presentations and legal documents.

Working as an intern at Grupo Zena has helped me in many ways. I have learned how to work as part of a business team in a real work environment and it has given me the ability to see what it is like working for a real company. I feel that this has made me more experienced and has given me knowledge I can use in my future career. I am a Business Administration and Spanish double major and decided to intern abroad in order to learn more about the business world and to improve my Spanish language skills. My time at Grupo Zena has allowed me to do both. I am extremely grateful for my coworkers, and my bosses, Carlos and Ivan, for teaching me and making me a part of their team. I am also extremely grateful for Professor Rafael Cabañas Alamán support throughout my internship."

"I still can't believe I was accepted to complete an internship at the Institute of Health Carlos III. When applying my top pick was to work in a lab because I am a biology major. I have always hoped to work in a lab for a biotech company back home and being able to intern in the lab of one of Spain´s best hospitals has been a privilege.

When I arrived at the institute on the first day I felt on overwhelming sensation of excitement. I knew I was going to be working of Dr. Rojas but I was unfamiliar with his specialty. Arriving the first day I discovered he was in charge of the cellular biology laboratory. When I met him as well as his team of investigators and lab assistants, they were all so friendly and welcoming.

The first month of being at my internship it was mostly becoming familiar with the vocabulary, the work space, daily routines and developing new skills. By the second month I was very familiar with everything and began to do more hands on experiments. Most of the experiments were ones I had not done before such as DNA/RNA extractions, protein extraction, PCR testing, quantitate analysis, Western blots and Bradford assays. Towards the end of the second month and into the third month I developed a routine. I was more confident and took initiative to begin experiments without having to be asked.

I am truly grateful for the opportunity to have done this internship abroad. Not only did I push myself beyond my comfort zone but I learned a different work style as well. In the beginning of my internship I was skeptical as to whether or not I would be cut out for this kind of work. I always knew I wanted to work in a lab, but I did not know if it was going to be how I imagined it. Now having completed my internship I can say it was better than what I had imagined. Doing this internship reinforced my desire to want to work in a lab. It made me realize I picked the right career path and that I will enjoy what I am doing in the future. I grew not only as a student but also as a scientist. I applied the knowledge I already had of cell culture to my tasks while also continuing to expand on it, as well as learn new techniques and skills that will also benefit me in my future career. I can confidently say that I can adapt to any working style after having this experience. I am excited to go back home and apply everything I have learned here to my future job."

"I learned a lot during my internship experience in Madrid the summer of 2016. This opportunity helped me improve and develop my working attitude and skills, and now I understand what it is like to be in the workplace and how people work.

My experience at Attitude Asesores in Madrid was amazing because I learned a lot of new things about finance and investing. I learned a little bit from every department of the office, from how to invest in the stock market to capital risk. I had the opportunity of being at most of the meetings that they held during my internship, and I even made an important presentation of a new project to future investors!"

"During my stay in Spain, I fulfilled an internship working in three different departments: Human Resources, Training, and Administration for Kleison. Kleinson is a language consultancy company, which provides services to companies that want to improve their language level. They offer in-company, online and telephone classes to their clients and work with well-known brands such as Heineken, Nivea, Marionnaud, Spotify, and Samsung."

"I am very grateful for and overall pleased about my internship with Carlson Wagonlit Travel. Many of my friends did not apply for an internship opportunity because they were apprehensive about their level of Spanish, but coming away from my internship, I feel that my initial level of Spanish had little to do with the work that I ended up doing; my internship required me to learn a whole new set of business vocabulary anyway. This was great for me; one of my principal motives for coming to Spain in the first place was to improve my Spanish abilities to a professional level, and I feel that I have certainly been able to accomplish this even after just three months of working.

Apart from my Spanish abilities, I am grateful for this new workplace experience as well. I felt very professional going to work every day, dressed business-casually and interacting with co-workers much older and more experienced than me. I am humbled to have been placed in such a well-known and successful company, whose reference I am positive will help me going forward.

From working in the Financial Planning and Analysis department, I have learned what I like and do not like in finance and in management. When I was doing finance jobs, I worked a lot with numbers, contracts, and payments, and I found that I worked very routinely. Surely there are people who enjoy having a routine workload like this, but I learned that I do not. On the other hand, I was occasionally given work from my supervisor which had more to do with financial management that I liked a lot more. The work had to do with analyzing data, creating tables and drawing conclusions. I enjoyed this part more, and I feel that this experience has solidified my double major in International Business and Management."

"After studying abroad at the Madrid campus for two years, I wanted to return to and find out what it was like to work at a Spanish company. I felt that interning in Spain would give me a new and different perspective on the country and its culture. One of my goals is to work abroad; Suffolk Madrid’s internship program gave me the opportunity to see what it is like to work in a foreign company. I also choose to do an internship in Spain because I felt it would be one of the best ways for me to improve my Spanish language skills.

I was fortunate to work with a team of extremely welcoming and helpful people at Be Madrid and Madrid Easy. My co-workers came from all over the world, exposing me to many different cultures and working styles. I helped Be Madrid with their online marketing, management projects and even wrote a few blog posts for their website. I’ve really enjoyed working at Be Madrid and have learned a lot, not only about working with people of different cultures, but also about myself and how I can adapt to new challenges. I’m very happy that I decided to intern in Spain for two months, although I was nervous about doing my first internship in a country other than my own I think it has been a fantastic learning experience!"

"During my freshman year of college, I took a Public Relations class and hated it. Naturally, I panicked and questioned my entire existence as this was my major and the sole life path I had selected for myself. However, I didn’t want to give up after just one class – I knew that I had to put theory into practice to truly discover what it was about Public Relations that attracted me in the first place. It’s quite impossible to put into words just how much interning abroad has done for me. This has been an extremely rewarding opportunity that without a doubt enhanced my study abroad experience in Madrid. During my commute to the office, I would often ask myself: “Is this real life? Am I really nineteen years old and working in Spain?” It is the most amazing and reassuring feeling in the world to be able to get a glimpse of what you could be doing in the future and find out that you truly enjoy it. I’m beyond thankful to have had the opportunity to wake up each morning with a smile on my face, wondering what new skills I would be learning that day, and thinking of new ways to improve my work ethic."

"First, I would like to thank Fundación Mapfre for having me as an intern for three months. I will always remember the Fall of 2014 as an extremely rewarding and precious experience for me. After hearing I would be working with the top insurance company in Spain, I was a bit overwhelmed in thinking I would not be good enough to work for such a prestigious company. Since it was my first work experience, I thought that I was too inexperienced to execute tasks in a professional way. However, as soon as I arrived, I was warmly welcomed and immediately felt the friendly atmosphere of the workplace."

"My internship experience in Madrid during the summer of 2014 has been wonderful and incredibly rewarding; immersing in a new culture has encouraged me to look at the world from a different angle and has enriched my cultural background. It has allowed me to tap into my strengths and weaknesses more clearly, get out of my comfort zone and try new things.

My experience at the Hospital Niño Jesus in Madrid has been amazing because it allowed me to work with children and adolescents with different feeding disorders. I was able to look at a wide range of patients and had the opportunity to work with highly skilled professionals in the area."