Hannah Lovinger ‘25 experienced international business at the Valencia Tennis Academy in Spain.

When an email hit the inbox of Hannah Lovinger ‘25 offering a chance at a scholarship to complete an international internship, she jumped at the opportunity to apply.

Upon receiving the Virginia Kincaid Foundation scholarship, Lovinger discovered another open door that helped make this exciting opportunity a reality: Randolph-Macon’s newly formed partnership with Intern Abroad HQ. She signed up to go abroad through their six-week program, and among several options, picked the city of Valencia, Spain. 

Lovinger, a business management major with a communication studies minor, shared her resume with Intern Abroad HQ, which included her experience as a student-athlete—a soccer player—at Randolph-Macon. Based on her application, Intern Abroad HQ placed her with the Valencia Tennis Academy.

Valencia Tennis Academy offers lessons and training programs to tennis players of all ages and skill levels, including athletes that plan to play professionally. Lovinger scheduled and posted content on the company’s social media channels and reviewed and edited English-language blog posts on its website. With in-person lessons fully booked every day, Lovinger also helped as the company worked to expand into a new sector—its Virtual Tennis Program—delivering a webinar and creating advertising around the programming.

She lived with a host family and enhanced her experience through Intern Abroad HQ’s special curriculum for experiential learning, which helps students maximize their learning outcomes and connect their experiences to job-ready skills.

In addition to the practical marketing experiences of her day-to-day work, Lovinger learned important lessons from the cultural differences of her unique setting in Spain that she’ll carry into any workplace.

“Learning how to deal with…not conflict, but how to deal with people who come from different cultures and have different ideas than you,” Lovinger explained. “I’ve really had to figure it out and be super independent and driven on my own to get stuff done with little direction.” Eventually, Lovinger was even tasked with overseeing and delegating work to the other interns, giving her experience in managing both up and down an organizational chart.

In the office and beyond, Lovinger felt that her time in Spain bolstered her independence. As a hybrid remote worker, she sought out new local cafes to work from, navigating public transportation in a new city and country. While she says she’s not fluent in Spanish, she had to speak the language effectively to get around and communicate with her host family.

“I’m really bad at making decisions and I feel like that helped me become a decision-maker,” Lovinger said of exploring Valencia, including its parks and beaches.

Lovinger is grateful that taking action on a scholarship opportunity opened the doors for six memorable weeks in Spain. Additionally, credit hours she earned solidified her plans to graduate early this December. It also helped lay the foundation for her future plans as an entrepreneur.

“Learning about the different applications we used made me realize, ‘Oh, this is super interesting. I can use this when I run a business,’” Lovinger said. “So, it really did confirm what I want to do as an entrepreneur.”