During this restricting pandemic situation, many students like me think it will be difficult to find an on-site internship. Are there still companies or institutions that offer internship programme in the midst of this COVID-19 situation?

While there are still a plenty of distantly-held, there are features which can be experienced only when you move to a new location and live there firsthand. For me, tasting a new culture is what I await the most when it comes to an internship abroad as it would surely broaden my perspective and help me eventually become a lifelong learner.

Cultural exchange in France

And so I decided to look on the internet for intern or volunteer positions in places other than my home country and Finland where I am currently studying, and came across this project called La Giraudiere. It is a perfect match for what I expected as this program takes place in France which in fact is one of the most diverse European countries. Moreover, La Giraudiere itself aims that during their weeks that can range from 3 weeks to 2 months, not only are the participants immersed in the French culture but also cultural exchange can be promoted among the group of volunteers and interns.

I cannot wait for this exciting adventure. At the moment there is only me, since the project manager is very strict about the ongoing pandemic situation. La Giraudiere indeed puts this into consideration and so should volunteers or interns wishing to come. Vaccinated applicants are preferable but if that is not possible, for example because the countries they are residing in cannot afford it yet, they can bring recent negative PCR test result. More details of this health measures can be found here.

Internship with safe measures

The location of La Giraudiere is a kilometer away from the village Brossac which is the nearest commune. The nearest city is Angouleme some 55 kilometers away after which there is Bordeaux the nearest major city is about 85 km. In other words we participants are isolating ourselves from the crowd as we stay and volunteer here.

In addition to that, there are four gîtes or self-contained apartments at La Giraudiere so whoever has just arrived from overseas can self-isolate for the recommended number of days, which is exaclty what I am doing. We have an adaptive project manager called Paul here who can adjust the day the work schedule that even during the self-isolation period you are able to contribute by for instance writing something on the blog like this. Plus I am learning how to get it listed in google and much more which I did not know about.

Therefore, if you want to have an exciting but also safe internship or volunteer project, La Giraudiere is a perfect choice. You can work, learn and enjoy the beauty of rural France at the same time, and for sure it is better than any other lifelong learning internship institution that I know of.

Lifelong Learning Written by Bill whilst volunteer at La Giraudiere 31/05/2021