I sit in my small, cramped room, in front of my computer screen. Opposite me is Diana, to her right is Salva, and her left is Curro.... and we research. Literally, someone gives us a subject to study, a format for the information and a time limit and then we are set free to work for hours on end and possibly pause for a quick tea/coffee break at 12.
So, to answer your question, there's not much of a difference from what I'm doing, however, what I am researching and how I do it can be extremely new to me.
One difference between school and Elcano is my dress. My usual jeans a v-neck do not make an appearance. I wear nice dress suits or skirts/dresses and have to say, I feel so bundled up in clothing that I feel that it all could be some form of adult swaddling.
The research, though similar to what Eli was going over for the last month of class, is pretty different as well. I'm in Spain so European issues occur more than those in the U.S. and it's just a-whole-nother world here. For example, there's a lot more on the Spanish Economic Crisis and La Casta (a political party) and how the Catalonians all wish to split from Spain where as when I was in America I heard lots more about Mike Brown and Police related news.
The last and scariest difference between school and Internship is the fact that everything that I am doing is for someone else. I am not getting a grade for MY GPA, that I can use for MY college application, that's going to get me into a good college of MY choice. It's all for someone else and if they look bad, it's all MY fault. And me being the reason someone failed does not sound good at all.
Otherwise, I feel pretty confident that school has prepared me well for this. Researching is something I have done way too much to not know how to do effectively. I think I'll do well.