Helsinki

SO HELSINKI IT IS!

I had never thought, that this traveling-working-adventure would turn out this difficult to organize! In the end I actually sent 121 (!) applications before I finally got a work placement. But let’s start from the beginning:

In the end of March I started planning the trip. I wanted to start in a European country because this makes many things easier like the visa, health care and of course the arrival. My wish was to start in either the UK or in Scandinavia. As my plan is to go to and work on every continent, I decided to apply for 3-months-internships only, which is a rather short period in my profession. This, plus the fact that I applied very short-dated (the ideal was to start in June already) made it seem very difficult to find a placement. Anyway, I started optimistically.

The optimism slowly faded away when the number of unsuccesful applications increased, while the days counted on. At least when June, the aimed start of the travel project, passed by without any change of the situation, scepticism almost dominated. I was already thinking about cancelling the whole thing and to continue the master’s program at the uni instead.

This was when one of the first studios that I applied to – which left me hanging with a “Maybe” since April – finally made up their mind and accepted me! I am very happy to say that I will start an internship at ALA Architects in Helsinki in August. It is a very innovative studio, focused on public buildings, which I was lucky to visit on a university excursion to Finland in 2015.

In this sense: Helsinki, täältä tullaan!

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