Internship Programs in Bali

Testimonial: Journalism Internship at a Local Surf Magazine

After having finished my school, I thought about what to do now. As it was clear that I want to visit a foreign country instead of starting studying straight after school, it was just a question what to do where... So I thought about my interests and goals. One of my options for future was to study sports-journalism in Germany but to be sure I wanted to collect some working experiences before I have to chose anything. After some time of research, I found the perfect program for me with the help of the great organisation “baliinternships.com”: an internship in surf-journalism in a local surf community newspaper in Bali!

"Surfing became my new passion."

The first week was very cool as everything was new for me, we got to know a surfboard shaper and this surf newspaper fulfilled my first dream: We learned surfing! Right from the beginning of the surf lesson, I became addicted to surfing, it was my new passion! The next few weeks I could do more and more like writing articles, taking pictures, getting to know more and more people and spreading the idea of surfing. So we got to know a skateboard pro Pedro Baros or the Motocross Community Bali MX and I also had my first interviews with a Brazil surf and kite surf pro or with Moyo, a local supporter of the community in Canggu.

On the weekends, I always joined other Germans to weekend- or day-trips to other parts of the island or islands in Bali's neighbourhood. The first trip took us in the north-east to Amed and Tulamben where we went snorkeling. After that I visited Lombok and the Gilis with some friends from Germany, who were visiting me in Bali at that moment. In some day-trips we also visited Ubud, different beaches in Bali like Padang-Padang or Balangan, Tanah Lot, Rafting, Uluwatu or the volcano Gunung Batur. My last trip took me to Singaraja and Lovina where we visited some waterfalls, the Holy Springs of Banjar and planned to see dolphins but we had no luck... But the more exciting parts were the experiences I collected with my host company, beyond the normal tourist things everybody could do.

The surf community newspaper gave me the chance to get to know land and people in Bali.For example I could be part of two surf contests, I had a deep view into the local surf industry by shaping two boards with two different shapers, by being guest of the International Vision Image Festival including a film premier and different photo exhibitions or by being part of the charity party of a local surf school where half of the income and lots of money/cloth donations were spent to different orphanages in Bali.

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"I learned a lot about myself and life in general."

The time as an intern was really interesting and exciting the whole time and I learned so many new things about journalism. Maybe that is also why time was flying by so fast and the four months felt like four weeks. The Balinese mentality inspired me to be a better person as Balinese people are really friendly and helpful. To say goodbye, all my friends came together to a small farewell party. They organised everything for me like the drinks, location, music and even cooked the food themselves! It was a really great present they made for me and it was the best ending of my great time in Bali. I was really sad that I finally had to leave Bali.

"When I planned my trip to Bali, I thought of a great time but it was even better than I imagined!"

Did you get inspired by Jonas's story?