Test kitchen externship? Or Italy?

I am considering doing an externship in a test kitchen, and I was wondering if anyone has experience in this field. Is there room for lots of input and creativity? Where can I find more info about this line of work? Also, I would love to go to Italy (who wouldnt), so I am torn. I also considered the cruise ship gig, but I read the responses to the other thread.
I am not sure which route I want to go when I am finished with school, but I do know that I want to be able to express my creativity and work with food. THANKS!

What type of test kitchen-editorial, promotional, food science? I have worked as a test kitchen director in several editorial test kitchens. Externs generally are used as support staff, the experienced recipe developers are the ones that get the real creative work. It takes time to get to understand the market served by each respective magazine, the style of recipe writing they use, and the exacting process of developing, testing and retesting recipes.

Test kitchen recipe development is my dream job. Any idea how one finds available opportunities? I have no professional experience, but am the real consumer, since I cook my way through Bon Appetit, Saveur, and F&W each month.

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Abra

Hi foodnfoto, thanks for the reply. I was thinking of editorial, for example, Cook's Illustrated. What is the criteria that companies such as these are looking for? Is it difficult to find a job in this field? And what about promotional, could you give me an example? Thanks!