Reviews
In this section you will find some typical reviews from participants of our remote and in-person internships:
Dianna Liakos (If I Could – Medical): Overall, I had a great time in this program! I’ll start with my coordinators – they were always willing to advise myself and the other girls places to visit around Athens. My airport pickup was swift and my apartment was cute and the perfect size for me. It was about a 10 minute walk from the hospital and 15 minutes from the metro station. By far the best part was meeting the two other girls in the program, we instantly clicked and are planning to meet again in the next coming months! It was crazy that they were both from the west coast as well. As far as the program at the hospital went, I spent my days either in cardiology, radiology, surgery, hepatology, internal medicine, physical therapy or neurology. It was great to get a glimpse of the physician’s day to day procedures while learning some more Greek! Most of the doctors were super caring and welcoming. My favourite specialities were surgery and neurology; I could really see myself pursuing a career in neurology! I met the BEST doctors in neurology and the machines to diagnose the disorders were fascinating. I truly learned so much the last two days of the program, and I observed a case with a brain tumor and consulting neurosurgeon. Super cool. In surgery, I saw some amazing procedures (hip replacements, Da Vinci GI procedures, rotator cuff repair) and the surgeons were extremely kind and explained everything. Overall, I had a really great time on the days as physicians were willing to teach and entertain conversation, plus the other girls I met were a huge bonus.
Francesco Conrado (InternAbroadHQ – Medical): I conducted my Medical internship in Athens, Greece, in a top private hospital with cutting-edge technology. It was one of the most impressive organizations I have ever seen in healthcare. My internship role as a medical trainee was to assist doctors during their clinical activities and to observe them during surgery and endoscopy. My favourite memory from my internship experience was the prostate biopsy that the urologist let me perform under his supervision. It was a challenging, important and new experience. I also had the chance to observe one of the best hematologists in Europe at work, they were an amazing supervisor, teaching me a lot! As a medical student, this internship supported my long term goals, as I gained a lot of new clinical and hands-on experience, while also further developing skills I already had. Everything I learned during the hospital internship placement will be useful in my future career as a clinician. It will also help me to complete my medical degree.
Jake Navarro (InternAbroadHQ – Dentistry): My main role during this internship was to observe, learn, and ask questions about dentistry. I was able to shadow a general dentist, oral surgeon, and prosthodontist at the clinic. Some examples of procedures included general cleanings, crowns/bridges/dentures, implants, root canals, and tooth extractions. I was also able to learn about new technologies within the field, including guided implant placements. Since I do not currently hold any professional dental certification, tasks were not able to be performed on the patients. However, I was able to help out with operatory setup/clean-up, and sterilization. I was able to witness a variety of dental procedures and understand how dentistry in Greece varies slightly from dentistry in Canada. All of this knowledge and experience has helped me to solidify my career aspirations within dentistry. Some specific skills include dental terminology, and interpersonal skills/patient-professional interactions. My favourite memory was being able to witness an abutment placement (for a dental implant). This was the most complicated case I had seen thus far, and my supervisors explained everything and answered questions, while performing this procedure. After completing my internship experience, I now feel on a personal level, more mature and responsible. Travelling on my own in a new country has been an eye-opening and welcome experience. Furthermore, I now feel more confident in my interactions with others. I gained a wealth of knowledge from my two weeks of shadowing and solidified that this path is what I want for my future career.
Karam Aldakak (InternAbroadHQ – Dentistry): I enjoyed everything in the internship – it was 100% worth it, I learned a lot and met new people that were amazingly helpful. From day one, I was made to feel like I’d always been part of the team. They taught and helped me in all ways – I honestly cannot find any substandard points to comment on, because this team gave me everything they could. I found that the locals enjoyed each moment by assisting you with happiness, which made my adaptation to the placement easier. I got what I expected from this internship, as it helped me to improve my own skills, while learning new skills that can help in the future. The doctors taught me how to deliver the ideas of the treatment to the patient, how I should communicate with patients, and how to implement a treatment plan (from the first step, through till the final step). This is going to help in my future postgraduate studies, because treatment plans are so important. My favorite memory from the internship was when we helped a patient by replacing his posterior teeth. This memory will stay with me for a long time, because it made a huge impact on the patient’s quality of life.
Remote Internship Reviews
Bethany Moss (InternAbroadHQ – Agriculture & ICT): I have learnt so much about how to measure and assess different types of stress in crops, such as weeds or drought. This will help with my long-term goals of having a career in sustainability, whether that be sustainable resources or water management, or even climate sustainability. The hands-on research I have done with software will allow me to better understand other versions of software that may be used when I begin my career, and will also allow me to suggest new methods of GIS assessments. The role I had in my internship was to research, learn, and use different software and sites and then write a report on whether they are worth using, their costs and benefits, their ease of use, and how they aided end-users. This role benefited the organization as it allowed for other employees to work with clients more efficiently and could potentially lead to them adopting software that will allow them to communicate with their clients and collate data more efficiently. I feel more empowered in my field because I have gained a lot more of an understanding in researching software that will be relevant to my future career plans, and I now know what may be expected of me when researching and writing professional reports on the relevant software and the data they generate.
William Marsala (InternAbroadHQ – Cybersecurity & Ethical Hacking): In the meeting with my coordinator for my virtual internship in cyber security, we laid out everything for me to accomplish. We had multiple weekly meetings and remained connected throughout, sending messages when online meetings were not practical. My role as a virtual cyber security intern had a focus on encryption and helping an organization to secure data, which is vital for every organization in our modern world. I found it interesting to conduct research on ROUV’s and learn more about them and how they function in the world of cyber security. Everything during the remote internship went as planned and I definitely gained more experience in conducting research and presenting my findings to others. I also learned more about the coding language Python and received more hands-on experience with it. My favorite take-away from my remote internship was overcoming all the challenges that were put in front of me with hard work and dedication. I feel more empowered in cybersecurity work now because I know I can now actually do work that is required of me when I get a job. I am majoring in cybersecurity and homeland security and before this internship, I was slightly apprehensive about how different school work would be from real-world work. However, this internship allowed me to get the experience I needed to understand how real-world assignments work.
Huiwen Zhang (InternAbroadHQ – Data Analysis & Machine Learning): My internship experience has been full and rich. I was given tasks by my supervisors, whose patience made me feel respected and motivated to speak up when there was something I did not understand. In the future I want to apply technical skills to solve practical issues, and in this internship, I was able to use open-source software Ilastik and imageJ, as well as the programming language Python to perform image analysis. I now feel more empowered in my field, as I was pushed to learn new software I previously believed would be much too hard to master. This internship has allowed me to familiarize ideas of machine learning and strengthen my computational skills, which will prove incredibly helpful in my future development. From here, I have a desire to further strengthen my understanding and ability of machine learning, searching for more learning materials and seeking more internship opportunities.
Lubna Hazeem (InternAbroadHQ – Occupational and Environmental Health & Safety): My internship experience has been great! I felt comfortable talking to my supervisor and my team and I communicated well despite the language barrier between us. I was very impressed with the level of commitment from my supervisor and internship placement. Upon receiving my very first task, I could see that they were well-prepared and organized, and were ready to answer any of my questions and concerns. The most important task I was involved in was report writing, and other skills that I learnt along the way included communicating with clients. My internship experience went a long way in developing my time management and communication skills. All these skills work in both the short term and the long term, as the long-term goal of the organization I was paired with was to build multicultural relationships and gain expertise from other countries, so I helped in expanding the knowledge and expertise of the company in this regard. I am currently training to be a consultant in the field of occupational safety and health, and now I am qualified in terms of my degree, and my practical experience from this placement.
Faculty Led Program Reviews
Northern Michigan University
In May 2023, through our partner network, we hosted 20 students and 2 academics from NMU on a diverse and fully customized experiential program that included 5 different activities and 4 excursions across the country, over a 2 week period. Read what NMU faculty members, Rachel Harris & Cara Kamps, thought of our services:
We had an absolutely wonderful experience traveling to Greece with Cerca Abroad. Our local guides Dennis and George could not have been more amazing. Even before we arrived they helped us with the planning process, answering questions and making arrangements. From the minute we landed in Athens, we were taken care of. They were so thoughtful, professional and competent…and fun and easy going!
It was fantastic how much we were able to experience in Greece…more than we could ever have imagined.
Our university has taken students on many international trips in the past and this surpassed all of our expectations. I don’t have words to describe how phenomenal this trip was! It felt great being taken care of! All of the days/activities were planned and executed seamlessly. The students are still raving about all the fun they had in Greece. We highly recommend Cerca Abroad to anyone!
You can leave your program review here
