by Roman (Germany), CISL San Francisco student

After three months in San Francisco it is time for me to go back home to my normal life. But before returning to Germany, I want to look back to an amazing summer in California. I started with a language course of four weeks at CISL in the Intensive Program and changed after two weeks to the Global Success Program to get prepared for my volunteer program. After a short interview, I got a acceptance to work at the American Red Cross (ARC). The ARC is a humanitarian organization, which helps people who are in a emergency or affected by a disaster and it is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. My job at the ARC was at the front desk of their San Francisco office. I had to answer a lot of phone calls, to greet guests and connect them to the person in charge, and to manage incoming and outgoing mail. So I got a lot of chances to talk to American people.

For the rest of the time, CISL gave me the opportunity to volunteer also in the school’s marketing department. This was a great chance for me to look behind the scenes and to see how the school finds out what their students need and how to attract new students. I also was able to contribute some articles to the blog and Facebook, where the school presents the impressions and experiences of their students.

For me, it was a great experience to work in two different places and to learn a lot of different things. While working at the ARC I improved my speaking and listening skills by answering phone calls and talking to a lot of different people. At CISL I could improve my writing skills by writing a lot of articles for their blog and the Facebook Site.

Now, after three months of school, volunteering and a lot of other experiences, I’m going back home to find a new job. Hopefully, my new experiences will help me in the German job market.