Students across the country may be breathing a sigh of relief when they’re searching for housing or roommates for summer or semester internships far from home.

Professional experience awaits many eager interns, but may take them to a new city where they’re faced with finding friends, a place to live and roommates.

Internnation.com, a new Web site founded by a recent Notre Dame graduate, offers students a chance to network with other interns and find these components to the internship experience.

“Wherever students end up, there are other interns — hopefully from their own school,” Internnation.com founder Fran Larkin said.

The idea sprung from an experience Larkin said he had in Brussels, Belgium, where he was completely out of his element and had a hard time adjusting to his new surroundings.

“The first two weeks were impossible for me,” he said.

Larkin was eventually able to connect with other students from his area through parents and mutual acquaintances — which ultimately gave him the idea to start a service that would make getting hands-on experience more accessible for interns.

Students who register with the service are able to post current housing opportunities, find apartments in their destination and hopefully be renting from other students in the same position.

He said the service is free, but requires students to fill out a profile of themselves so other users can tell who they’re dealing with. The profiles do not require sensitive information such as social security numbers or addresses and phone numbers.

Facebook.com and Craig’s List are two of myriad sources students have to find housing and roommates currently, and Internnation is a compilation of the services that are more secure due to the limited age group and registrant pool, according to Larkin.

The user-generated content is a community that polices itself with students having the opportunity to post advice and comments about their experiences for future users.

Larkin said the site has served interns in most major Metropolitan areas across the country.

Wood Catoe, assistant director for University Career Services, said he had similar difficulties when his son lived in Dublin, Ireland.

He said he found a service that helped his son find housing and lined up a job — making the transition much smoother and giving the family more piece of mind.

Catoe pointed to Internnation.com as an effective resource for students but urged them to evaluate any fees these services charge and to look at the safety aspects.

He touted the importance of internships as a supplement to the college experience and said it was necessary for entering such a competitive job market.

“I can’t imagine a student going through college without having had hands-on experience,” he said, explaining that some form of job or internship is extremely valuable for most professional fields.