I earned a one-year placement with Enterprise in the United States as part of a competition held among interns in my home country of Ireland. I have to credit my US colleagues for helping make the change from Cork to San Francisco so simple and easy. The people I work with are all super friendly. They’ve helped me with everything, really.

Having spent six months here, I’ve developed a few interests in things like baseball, especially watching the Giants play. I’m a new fan of the NFL’s 49ers, as well. That’s pretty much been drilled into me here. I find it a little more difficult to figure out the rules for American football (baseball’s like rounders!), but the atmosphere at the games is great fun.

The contest to win a US placement is part of the company’s placement programme in Ireland. All the Enterprise interns take part in an annual competition where they measure our performance in 20 areas such as sales, corporate accounts and marketing. I’ve always wanted to work in the U.S., so it motivated me to do well.

In addition, we had to complete a customer service project and manage a charity event. I raised €1,800 for the Irish Hospice Foundation by organising a skydive event with employees at my location.

The work experience has turned out to be everything I expected.  Enterprise is known for giving people the chance to learn how to run a business, and you really get to do that here. You get to manage every aspect of the branch operations, and the training is remarkable. There’s a real focus on developing your skills and exercising what you learn to provide outstanding customer service.

Although I’d welcome the chance to extend my stay in San Francisco, it’s sadly an unlikely prospect. When you’re just out of college, you can get a one-year graduate visa to work in the United States, but they’re very strict about the time limit. I know I’ll have to leave the country straight away when my visa expires next June.

That aside it’s really been phenomenal, with all the knowledge and independence you gain from moving to the other side of the world. It’s simply a great opportunity.