How I Got Paid to Travel Around Switzerland
Traveling is a goal that many people have in their lives but seems unobtainable for many, either because they feel that they have not enough money or time. In the early summer of 2023 I flew to Switzerland directly after my college graduation to get paid to travel around Switzerland for five weeks. In this article I’ll go into how I did it and how you can do something similar.
Study Abroad Programs
The reason why I was able to go abroad to Switzerland for several weeks completely paid for was because I was working as a Program Assistant for a specialized study abroad program. The program was run through the university that I graduated from and was a faculty-led design-focused program where I led 18 students through each daily activity. The entire program was based in Basel, Switzerland where we focused on the history and implementation of Swiss design.
It was truly such an amazing opportunity for me. I got roundtrip plane tickets (I was able to make a second trip out of it and flew out of Athens two weeks after the program ended), a free single hotel room, a meal stipend, international phone bill reimbursement, and I was paid Massachusetts minimum wage for working 40 hours every week.
How Did I Get The Job?
As a design major in my undergraduate years, I had taken two previous classes with the professor that ran the program. In the early months of my senior year I had received an email from him stating that he was looking for two people to fill up the Program Assistant roles for his program and had reached out to his previous students that stood out to him. I apparently did which worked out in my favor in the end! This is a good example of how standing out in class and showing face is extremely important.
Since you probably don’t have the same kind of opportunity that I had, I would recommend being proactive if you want to do something similar to what I did. First step is to research and find American universities that have strong international presences. This means either colleges that have international campuses or just colleges that have a lot of students that study abroad. After you find a list of these types of schools you need to research if they’re hiring any sort of positions that are similar. The position names may not be called Program Assistants but typically they’re titled something that ends in “Assistant” or “Coordinator” such as Residential Assistant or Student Coordinator.
You always have several options to work abroad, but typically they’re working for international employers of whatever country you’re going to, which typically either won’t pay as much as American employers, or there will be a lot of tax issues to worry about. If you work for an American employer abroad you won’t have to worry about any of that as you are technically employed in the United States and are making US Dollars. Good luck on your journey getting paid to travel!
