European Internship Hones Communication Skills, Wi-Fi Radar

European Internship Hones Communication Skills, Wi-Fi Radar

By Dan Silvia, Communications Manager

What do you think about when you’re traveling through Greece and Italy? Amazing art and beautiful beaches? Beautiful people and amazing food?

Cherise Shaddix, a Communications student from Marietta, Georgia, was absorbing all those things in addition to some communication theory during a five-month internship experience in Europe. She visited Olso, Norway and Munich, Germany in addition to Athens and Santorini in Greece and Milan, Venice, and Rome in Italy.

“Santorini was incredible. It was one of the most unique places I’ve ever traveled,” Shaddix said. “Venice and Rome were close seconds. I had dreamed of Venice since I was a little girl, and Rome is like a museum under the sky.”

The internship grew out of a modeling opportunity. Shaddix worked with Dr. Kate Joeckel and Study Abroad representative Emily Krueger to bring all the elements for the internship together.

“It’s really great to travel everywhere, but lots of hard work that people don’t realize. It’s not easy, fun, or glamorous until you’re well known, but I made so many international friends that I’ll never need a hotel again,” Shaddix said.

Getting where you need to go and just generally taking an adapt and overcome attitude were some of the main skills Shaddix polished during the trip.

“While most internships are behind a desk, I was with agencies in a variety of countries and my responsibilities were to make it to castings in places I had no idea how to get to, in countries I am unfamiliar with, she said. “So my morning would start with an agency telling me to arrive at a certain location, and for me to be able to successfully navigate in a foreign country with no Wi-Fi in order to book the job (So on my diploma, please add Top Wi-Fi Locator).”

Despite the beautiful beaches and amazing food (Shaddix recommends Athens for the “Best. Seafood. Ever.”), Shaddix was happy to return to her home near Atlanta, Georgia.

“The more I travel the more I love Atlanta, and I really realized how blessed I am as people learned I was from America,” she said. “They would constantly tell me how lucky I was, and that it was their dream to go there. I’m really lucky.”

Shaddix is on schedule to graduate in December 2015.

“I’ve been invited back to Europe,” she said. “but declined as I want to finish state-side and travel back once I graduate. I’m so close!!”