My Internship in Caen

Hello I am Sam Marchant and I study languages at the University of Portsmouth. I have had the chance to spend this August in Caen working as a 'saisonnier' at the Abbaye aux Hommes in Caen, giving guided tours to tourists.

This internship was arranged by the Caen-Portsmouth twinning committees. An intern from Caen came to work in Southsea's Kings Theatre as well. Here is an abridged version of my report to The Caen-Portsmouth Friendship Committee:

My experience as a tour guide/receptionist at the Abbaye-aux-Hommes

My main role is to give guided tours of the abbey. My secondary role is to provide information to tourists about the different ways of visiting the abbey.

The first 4 days was my training period. The first 2 days I spent learning my facts, and the next 2 days I did 2 short tours a day.

For the rest of my time, I have been working weekdays from 9:30 to 17:30, with an hour lunch break, and have up to 3 visits a day, lasting 50 minutes or 1 hour 30 minutes. In practice, I have been having an average of 2 tours a day, and the amount of people in the group ranges from 2 to 20 visitors.

Overall, I can undoubtedly say that this was a very valuable experience to me, as I have had the opportunity to find out what working in the tourism sector is like, and it has given me the opportunity to learn about certain aspects of history in more detail.

I get on very well with my colleagues and will keep in contact with them. I have also had the chance to meet two others from Caen’s other twin city, Würzburg, similarly doing a month placement in other administrative roles. As we are in a similar situation we have been able to help each other out and visit other places together. The city of Caen is a good-sized city and if you like history, there is plenty to see and do in your free time within the city and in places nearby.

Importantly, this placement has enabled me to improve my linguistic skills as I have had to use the language to communicate with customers, colleagues and friends. This means that I feel readier to go onto my next job in Versailles as I have settled into the country, and have been able to start getting some administrative tasks out of the way before moving on.

Another important aspect is the fact that this placement will pay fairly well considering accommodation and travel (Brittany Ferries) was included. The accommodation is in student halls around 20-25-minute walk away, is modern and has everything needed i.e. a hob/fridge and a small private bathroom within the room. The room did not come with cooking equipment but I was able to borrow cutlery, a plate, a bowl, a frying pan, and a pot from the 24h reception in the building.

Here are some photos of Portsmouth's Twin City and the Abbaye aux Hommes where I have been based this month.