Interning Off the Beaten Path: My Summer in Europe

Interesting internships: Student Abbie Judson spent her summer interning France and visiting other countries including Switzerland as pictured above. Contributed photo by Abbie Judson. 

To most college students, traveling throughout Europe over the summer is a luxury that one cannot afford to take, both from an economical and a practical standpoint. Instead, summers are dedicated to juggling multiple jobs and working as many hours as humanly possible in order to earn money for the upcoming school year. There’s a reason why the catch phrase “let’s get this bread,” became so popular this past year and it’s not because carbs are amazing. Nonetheless, straying from the normal route of internships and waitress jobs, my older sister and I decided to take a completely different path for the summer months – one dedicated to traveling Europe, meeting new people, learning about different cultures and expanding our horizons. 

My sister and I planned our summer trip through a program called “Workaway,” a website designed to arrange homestays and cultural exchanges between members, “hosts” and “volunteers.” Through Workaway, both the hosts and volunteers are able to seek out and message each other, the volunteers working for a prearranged amount of time each day in exchange for lodging and food. 

When we discovered Workaway, we knew immediately that it was filled with opportunities that we had been dreaming of being able to have. Both being travel enthusiasts and wanting to redefine traveling as a tourist, we were excited to have the opportunity to experience the lifestyles of families around Europe, staying for a long period of time in Europe, gaining a full understanding of the culture and truly balling on a budget. 

A few months before leaving for Europe, we registered as “volunteers” and began messaging hosts based on what kind of work they wanted help with and where they were located. Knowing that we wanted to be flexible with our travels, we booked our first month with four host families in France and decided that we would figure out the rest as we went along. 

We landed in Paris and stayed for two weeks, next traveling south to Pressigny, a small town of 200 people where we worked in a 15th century priory renovated as a bed and breakfast. We continued moving closer to the west coast of France, volunteering at a campground in Sepvret and then at another bed and breakfast in La Rochelle. Afterwards, we went back to our host in Pressigny where we traveled to England with her and then came back to France. From there we moved on to Switzerland, Germany, and finally Ireland, where our journey came to a close.

The work we did for each host differed based on their needs. While we chopped wood, pulled weeds and made gardens all neat and tidy at some points during our stays, other times we would be cooking dinner for our host families or delivering meals to bed and breakfast guests.

While the entire summer working and living in Europe was an experience of a lifetime, that is not to say that there were not difficult times and stressful situations we were put in. However, all of the negative sides were significantly outweighed by the amazing historical sights we were able to see, the growth and knowledge we gained from the different cultural exchanges we experienced and the amazing people we met who all feel as though they are extended family members. We hope to keep in touch with them for our lifetime and visit again sometime soon. My sister and I continue to feel the blessings from our experiences this summer and plan on continuing to use Workaway as a means of traveling throughout our life.