Olga Pavlovskaja / ICAMC / Ostrowiec Św., Poland

I did my internship in the ICAMC (which stands for International court of arbitration and mediation center). The ICAMC is a private international organization launched in 2010 which is dedicated:

a) to host arbitration and mediation proceedings as per the Rules hereunder described) to act as legal advisor in important cases, at the request of clients) to initiate international actions on behalf of, or in the interest of numerous claimants/victims in order to stop prejudice and/ or get compensation due to illicit practice and facts affecting natural, social, economic, political or health environment of people. So, basically it provides mediation, arbitration services and acts as a legal advisor for a party in arbitral, as well as non-arbitral litigation and cases.
My duties in the ICAMC were more administrative. I had IT-related tasks. My daily routine was providing a sort PR services of the company by registering the ICAMC in different advertisement websites, replying to the e-mails, greeting clients, accepting post deliveries and etc. During my stay period I was the only exchange student doing internship in this organization, so most of the time I have spent alone in the office. The supervisor is really nice. He is always there to answer any questions you have and his English is brilliant.

Living in Poland

First of all, I want to mention that you are going to be living in a small city. For me personally it was too 

small because I am more of an "asphalt kid". If you do really have intentions to do your internship in this

place you do need to know at least basic Polish. People here are nice but not all of them speak English/ Russian.

The ICAMC organizes housing. This is a huge advantage. So, before coming here I did not need to spend time searching  for a place to stay at. But I have to warn people who like living on their own - you are going to be staying with a family (which did not cause big problems for me).

Poland itself is a really nice country, so I have spent some time travelling here.

A sort of  conclusion

All in all, I do believe that Partners 4 value is a risk worth taking. It did bring a lot of advantages for my future career.

Rita Norvaišaitė, UNWTO: Find the luck!

Find the luck!

I was lucky! I filled in the application form, passed the selection process and got scholarship for the internship in United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in Madrid. I was lucky twise! Because I went to my dream country – Spain.

Rita Norvaišaitė (me) at work

Me

I am studying Creative Industries in Vilnius Gediminas Technical University. Creative Industries is quite new speciality in Lithuania and mostly everyone askes what it is about. I have a prepared answer for that! Shortly saying, it is business from intelectual property – the business which uses creativity as the main source (for example: TV industry, film industry, music industry, advertising and so on). After 3 years of my studies I needed to find an organization for my practical training. My main objective was to find serious organization which would give me the area to improve my skills and to grow.

Luckilly, I found the project "Partners 4 value"!

Organization

United Nations World Tourism Organization – is the United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism. UNWTO generates market knowledge, promotes competitive and sustainable tourism policies and instruments, fosters tourism education and training, and works to make tourism an effective tool for development through technical assistance projects in over 100 countries around the world.

 UNWTO is the leading organization in tourism sector (more).

UNWTO Headquarters

Creative Industries and Tourism

What does Creative Industries and Tourism have in common? Why I chose UNWTO? The answer would be – they have a lot. Nowadays tourism could not live without tools of Creative Industries. Communication, marketing, branding and creativity are most important elements of tourism today. Cultural and Creative Tourism have even more elements. I a deeply in Cultural Tourism! I am planning to write my final thesis about that. UNWTO as the leading organization in tourism sector is the best to get more information and knowledge about tourism.

The main square - el Sol

The first luck: Responsibilities and experience

In the UNWTO I was working in Programme and Coordination Unit. I was responsible mainly for building the database of case studies. I needed to identify case studies in various publications, describe them and put them in the table. At the end I have identified more than 400 of them.

Also for 5 weeks I was substituting the asistant of Executive Director. I did various administrative tasks – arranged meetings, documents, letters, made calls, organized trips and other. As well as I was involved in other UNWTO activities – I attended the conference for travelers safety in the case of force majeure, watched the presentation of UNWTO publications, made my personal observations about future publication...

To sum up, during my time in UNWTO I did various tasks and I improved my skills considerably.

I was new in the organization, I didn`t know the order of the organization, I had a lot questions and doubts... And everyone was very nice and helpful for me. My supervisor was amazing! So friendly and kind! From the first moment I felt welcome.

It was such a  pleasure to grow in this organization!

My entrance card

The card of participant to the conference

Before the conference

One of my working office (Executive Director assistant office)

Internal mail system

The second luck: personality and Spain

If you haven`t lived anywhere abroad you definately should! It changes the perception and worldview. It becomes much easier to understand the world as the whole.

Couchsurfing community in Madrid

During my free time I was traveling, experiencing culture, meeting people, learning Spanish, dancing salsa... Madrid is famous for the nightlife. It is really great! I participated in various activities of couchsurfing community which is very useful for getting to know different cultures... I could not describe all the experience and joy I got. You should feel the Spain by yourself!

Travel to the mountains

My friend street musician

With friends in Valencia

Living and prices

The prices are more or less the same as in Lithuania. Just the accomodation and public transport are a bit more expensive. But public transport in Madrid is one of the best in the world!

Talking about accomodation, we started searching the room when we were in Lithuania, we had the list of most suitable and during the first days we checked all of them. We were lucky to find very good one. It was just 10 minutes by metro to work and centre. I shared the room with other Lithuanian girl and we lived together with two Spanish guys. They helped us a lot – lerning Spanish, dealing with laws, finding information and explaining Spanish living style.

With our flatmates celebrating Spain football team victory in European Cup

Summary: find your luck

Now I am in Lithuania – continuing my studies. I feel different. The only thing I could say for everyone – find your luck. Maybe it is somewehere around "Partners 4 value"? Check it!

Toledo

Contact, comment, share:

Rita Norvaišaitė, MEP-09/2

http://www.facebook.com/rita.norvaisaite.9

norvaisaite.rita@gmail.com