Experience report internship abroad

During his apprenticeship as a IT specialist for system integration, Simon Schaaf traveled to Lund (Sweden) for an internship abroad to improve both his technical and linguistic skills. 'During the introductory week of my apprenticeship, we were informed that we had the opportunity to complete an internship abroad as part of our apprenticeship.' About four months before the start of the trip, Simon contacted the IHK in Münster to express his interest in going abroad. After submitting his application documents, he was contacted by a partner organization of the IHK from Berlin. After he chose Sweden, a skype interview with the local contact took place. 'From the beginning he was very friendly, helpful and took over both the organization of an accommodation and the organization of the internship. In addition, I was given the opportunity to take an online language course 'Basics in Swedish'. In the end, I just had to organize the trip.'

The internship started from Lingen train station in the direction of Lund, where he was picked up by his contact person. Four other trainees were already waiting in his accommodation, who were also completing an internship abroad in Lund.

On the first day of the internship, they were all invited to an introductory discussion in the organization of the contact person in order to express their first impressions and expectations of the internship abroad. After the introductory talk, Simon was introduced to his employer - "Bjorkstrom Robotics". This small start-up company specializes in using so-called 'augmented reality' glasses (see photo) to display buildings or infrastructures. These glasses are sold to construction companies so that they can have future construction projects displayed on site. His area of responsibility included creating 3D objects and integrating them into the AR glasses system.

'In summary, it can be said that the stay abroad was a very valuable experience for me. I was able to continue my professional and linguistic training and also develop personally. I would recommend an internship abroad to anyone who has the chance. I will never forget the experience I gained during my stay abroad.'

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