Doing an exchange year in the USA (august 06 - july 07)

Fragmaster · #1 02-17-2006, 03:42 PM

Hello everyone

First of all, some quick stats about me (if you need to know anything else like special skills etc, don't hesistate to contact me!):
- 22 yo male,
- Born in Bitburg, Germany
- Currently living in Cologne, Germany
- Diploma: June 2005 as a freight forwarder from the German Chamber of Commerce
- Currently working as a freight forwarder in Duisburg, Germany

Today i got confirmation that i'm part of the 'Congress Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Professionals' which lets 100 german students stay at a host family in the USA for one year.

During that year we will be going to college from Aug-06 to Dec-06 and afterwards doing an internship (for which we necessarily need to get paied for) from Jan-07 to Jun-07.

Each student will be provided a J1-Visum and a 'permission to work'.

Unfortunately the students don't have a big influence on where they're gonna spend their year in the usa (it depends mostly on what job each student has learnt), as this is chosen by the organisation that runs the exchange year. During their time at college, each student needs to find a company where he can do his/her internship from jan-07 to jun-07.

But... if a studend can prove before may-06, that he already found a company where he can do his internship, the location of where he is gonna stay that year is chosen by the criteria of the location of that company.

Now my main question is:
Is there any chance for me doing an internship at a park's office? As i am really interested in the business of amusement parks it would be a great pleasure to do so. The problem is i don't know anything about the way that parks handle internships, especially if an exchange student (who in addition needs to get paied...) wants to do one.

A big big thanks in advance to everyone who is going to reply to this thread!
I hope you understand what i'm trying to tell you, and maybe you can help me answer my questions

I'm really looking forward to your replies!

Best regards
Stefan
Stefan.Diedrich@gmx.de

PGH_Steeler · #2 02-18-2006, 08:03 AM

Well i dont know how kennywood does it, i just know they do get exchange students from other countries working there. I knew 2 from Bulgaria they worked in rides, i have no idea if they let some work in the business aspects of the park. U can probably call or e-mail a park and see how they do things.