Imagine jumping into a taxi with a pesky Moroccan man who won’t stop offering a “free” tour of Tangier after having guessed your native tongue in three languages. And try to envision what it would feel like jumping into six degrees Celsius water in Lake Geneva.

For Kelly Doyle-Mace, these are merely pastimes that have ventured their way onto her gasp-worthy list of travel stories.

Doyle-Mace, a fifth year Romance Languages major from Cumming, entered the World Traveler Intern 2009 contest through STA Travel, the world’s largest student travel company.

And got first runner up. But a big let down isn’t what she’s getting. Instead, she received an eight week internship in Barcelona, Spain with the University of Dreams – the world’s leading internship program.

Doyle-Mace will have the opportunity to make lasting relationships with other college students in the program and further her career goals focused in whatever field she chooses.

Her self-proclaimed status as a “mover and shaker” and “general fan of life” helped Doyle-Mace propel herself into the top ten of the competition out of more than 700 applicants.

She had to assemble a short video showcasing her kooky personality to the world, and even featured a fanatic cheer in front of Sanford Stadium.

“I spent countless hours working on the minute details trying to get the message across.”

She compared the competitive experience to “Survivor,” weighing her personal skills against the other top ten contestants.

“I had to figure out what are my strong suits and especially compared to the other contestants. Who could I choose as an ally and who could work against me.”

Among other caveats, she also had to keep a blog of her adventures along the way, which happened to be in Évian Les Bains, France.

While in France, she has been teaching English to students, some of which have frequented her artsy videos highlighting sophisticated dinners with international friends and her spunky jump into Lake Geneva.

“I contacted several students at the high school where I teach and I asked if they had free time to come down to the lake,” she said. “I didn’t tell them what I was going to do and 40 students showed up.”

Although Doyle-Mace wasn’t so lucky, two other top ten contestants will gallivant hand-in-hand across 15 different countries such as India and Fiji.

Enter dirty work: the winners must document their expeditions through videos, photos, and blogs.

Yes, they are given permission to actively tease others with far more boring lives like those here in Athens.

“We look for people who catch our attention that will be entertaining while documenting their travels,” said Patrick Evans, the marketing communications coordinator at STA.

This is the first year that STA has chosen two interns instead of one for the first prize contest. And although Evans attributes this change to logistics, it sounds like it could be an excuse for the first installment of The Real World: Globetrotter Addition.

“We definitely want to send two people that we think are going to work well together, that’ll compliment each other,” Evans said. “They’ll be travelling in close quarters across the world.” Does anyone else smell the drama?

Still, Doyle-Mace remained unfazed by not winning first place.

Although she won’t be partaking in the extravaganza, she plans on continuing to add to the treasured stamps in her passport all on her own.

“I’m planning on doing a big tour of the UK and then I think I’m going to move to Paris,” Doyle-Mace said. “I’ve got some leads on writing and teaching jobs, but the long term plan is to graduate.”