Internship Feedback

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bachelor degree Patricia Ptackova, Brno University of Technology,

ročník 3

About the country

Location of the place

Gdansk - the city of my accomodation is wonderful city, full of history, beautiful architecture, good infrastructure including city trains, electric bikes, trams and buses. Everything is well connected and getting around is quick and relatively cheap. Northern Poland is really beautifl place to explore,the combination of forests and beaches is amazing.

City

It was not just one city I was living in, but it was combination of three cities called Trojmiasto. It includes Gdansk, Sopot and Gdynia. They are all connected by city trains, they are just few minutes from each other. The culture is not that different from slovak/czech culture, but the details are totally different.I lived in Gdansk but I worked in Sopot so I just train or bike every day.

Surroundings (possible trips, ...)

Connection of Baltic sea means a lot here, there are beautiful beaches full of tourists and the sea also offers the possibility travelling by boat. I recommend visiting all of th towns from Trojmiasto, because each of them has a different atmosphere. I have been on short trips in counbtryside, but also on bigger ones, for example Malbork - city with the biggest castle in the Poland. Possible trips from here are also other cities such as Warsaw or Krakow, but here I recommend stay at least 2-3 days.

Employer

I worked in company called LANCUCKI ARCHITECTCI - MAARTE. It is a bigger architecture studio around 30 people, there are more working teams on different projects and also in different softwares. I like the workflow and the eployer and colleagues here were so kind and helpful.

Work description

I worked 40 hours a week. I was assigned to design a project with team of three people. The project here has different phases and when I came in we started a technical phase. I worked on architectural details, catalogues of floor plans and cards of apartments. I usually had a lunch break, when I had my lunch with other colleagues in the dining room. We had also a coffee machine, so small breaks for coffee were also okay.

Salary (sufficient for local conditions?)

The salary was great, I had enough to pay all the travel, accomodation and food. I marked my hours to the spreadsheet and after a month a I sent it to my employer. I had flexible working hours but 40 hours a week was a standard.

Language requirements

English was enough, almost all of my colleagues speak English well, but in the office in their casual converstaions they used polish so it was hard to understand when they were having dialogues and it was not adressed to me. Thats why I learned a little bit of polish and I find it a fun language, quite similar to my mother language - slovak. If I worked there for a longer period, it would be useful to learn polish well. But as I said, english was quite enough for me at work.

Accommodation (price, who provided it)

The accomodation was in a student dormitory in Gdansk, I lived on the top floor with other "tourists". There was really nice view of Gdansk. I paid as student around 100 euro a month, it wasmuch cheaper then other accomodation in the area. IAESTE helped me with accomodation, I just came and add my personal info. I had a room for two, our own bathroom and one kitchen for one floor (good place to meet people).

Social life

Meeting IAESTE members (pick-up at the airport, organized events...)

I met IAESTE members at my arrival at train station, they helped me with my luggage and transport to the dorm. They showed me travel apps, shops in the area, and etc. My stay was quite short, so I met them just once, but i know that shortly after I left they organized event for other interns. I went on the trips by myself, but if I had any problems I could easily ask :).

Meeting other foreign students

I had another intern from IAESTE in my office, it was great because he had beem already there for a while and he helped me with many things. We also lived in the same dorm, so sometimes we also travelled together.

Sport and culture

I loved beach, in good weather I went to the beach almost every day. I also liked to use electric bike to get around thetown. I learned much about history in local museums, and I also attended some cultural events. There are many possibilities where to go.

Food, local specialties

I was surprised that food is quite similar to food in my country, but the details are different. For example, traditional meal "pierogi" are served with meat, cheese or in sweet version. Food was really delicious, the polish cuisine is one of my favorites.

Other information

Possibilites to communicate with the Czech Republic

I used Messenger, WhatsApp or Instagram on daily basis, but I had to use my on internet during the day. At dorm, I could use ethernet cabel to connect my device, but at first I had to buy that cabel and create account at the dorm.

Recommendations for students who will go to the same place

You have to bring your own dishes at the dorm and other things if you wish to cook. The place is really nice but weather changes a lot, and sometimes you also need warm clothes in the summer. And do not be afraid about to travel alone, I find the place to be quite safe and the infrastructure is really well developed.

What not to forget with you

Just personal things you consider you need. I do not know about something special.

Benefits of the internship

to meet new people, to learn teamwork, to learn to work with softwares, to discover new places, to have a good view of the future, from new perspective, to be more selfconfident in communication with foreigners

Cooperation with IAESTE in the foreign country

Kind helpful people, do not be afraid to ask questions. We had useful WhatsApp group with people from local IAESTE :)

Overall experience with IAESTE

I do not have anything bad a I could mention. Communication was good and they helped me to manage a lot of things.

Student's website

Employer's webiste

Nice place where you can find lots of projects and people who work in the office. It is good to see at least something like this before you come in.There is also contact for employer.