Eva Kretschmer, Intern at Crest Premedia Solutions, Pune/India (Feb 2015 to Aug 2015)

Applying for the CCI was a rather spontaneous decision for me. After my graduation from university I was not sure how to approach the search for a job in the publishing field. I had a professional training in publishing before studying Book Science and English. Since I did not go abroad during my studies – the possibility of, finally, being able to spend some time in a foreign country caught my eye: India – 6 months – working in publishing, the combination sounded too good to be true!
But after taking the chance and applying for the internship program, then passing through an assessment centre and being lucky in getting a place amongst a group of twelve interns I know that it was absolutely worth it. The package deal of working at Crest collecting useful professional experience for my future career in publishing while the organisation of the stay is taken over zahlby Springer (including housing, documents and other bureaucratic procedures, the flight, and last but not least some trips to beautiful sights around Pune) offered more than most other forms of staying abroad.
At Crest I was part of the Marketing team and amongst other projects we ensured the quality of the marketing texts which appear on Springer homepages. That work brought interesting insights in the process of not only publishing but also marketing a book in the scientific publishing field. Even more I enjoyed the welcoming and warm atmosphere amongst my colleagues and the various discussions and lunch breaks we shared. In our time together I got to know a lot about the Indian culture and way of living, and also had the chance to try countless homemade dishes 
Of course travelling is also a part of staying in India during the internship – and there are numerous possibilities because of the diversity of Indian landscape and culture. Also being part of a group as an intern gives various opportunities for short trips over the weekend together in addition to the trips organised as part of the CCI.
All in all India is an amazing country – colourful, chaotic, friendly and sometimes seemingly a little bit crazy – but experiencing it on personal as well as professional level was the most amazing thing and absolutely recommendable!