I spent a year in Anchorage, Alaska for my Tourism & Hospitality Management internship and my internship was in Hilton Anchorage Downtown, starting from February 2015, ending February 2016. For Alaska, hospitality jobs are seasonal. Summer time is the peak, winters are totally dead. Since I arrived almost at the dead season in February, the first few months at the Front Desk, I wasn't given more than 20-25 hours to work weekly because of the extremely slow season and I was one the first to be sent home if they needed to cut some hours. It was a hard first few months financially. I couldn't socialize a lot, it was very hard to find a place to live and my work place wasn't very helpful in this search. There were quite few other Turkish people there and I both had advantage and disadvantage of this situation as some was very helpful to me to get back on my feet during those first few difficult months and other bunch turned their backs to me just because I am Turkish. As summer season arrived, I started to get more hours and things kind of got better. There is plenty of over time options during summer. Most of the J1s were the most hardworking ones, always. Never late to work, never called in sick, never was allowed to get more than few days off. Because locals were picky with jobs, hotel was trying hard not to lose them even though they were quite the opposite of interns. It's safe to say there were double standards most of the time. There were a lot of times, I felt like I wasn't appreciated enough for my hard work and labor. Despite few difficulties, I have to admit, there were good things, too. I met a lot of new people, made great friends and contacts, saw so many beautiful places. Difficulties made me stronger and more resistant to stress, my customer service skills improved a lot, I learnt so many new things that I still use in my daily work and private life. I appreciate all the challenges I have been through and would do it all over again.
A little bit about Alaska.. Anchorage is a very interesting place to live. Summers are short, bright, plenty of day light, winters are very cold, dark, lots of snow and ice. Nature is amazing, you can't compare anywhere, mountains, rivers, lakes, glaciers, wildlife, just amazing... I also took a chance to visit Hawaii after my internship ended, from one paradise to another one, two best places to be in the USA! USEH was very helpful from the decision to start my internship process until the end, they made sure my application and visa process were smooth. I recommend USEH to everyone considering a paid internship abroad.
