Have you ever thought about working during summer? Let me rephrase the question. Have you ever thought about seeing new places and learning new things during summer? This sounds better. I am talking about an Erasmus+ Traineeship opportunities offered by the University of Tartu.
However, let’s start from the very beginning. For me, as a student of Spanish Language and Culture at University of Tartu, it is compulsory to do an internship somewhere: be that at a university, at any company in Estonia, or abroad. So, having kept this that in mind, I decided to give it a shot and move to another country yet again. For once in my life, I actually thought I had everything under control, but apparently knowing what you have to do is not enough, you have to do it due time.
Views of Brno with the cathedral of St. Peter and Paul
It is good to know that you can apply for a traineeship abroad at any time during an academic year. However, you have to apply for Erasmus+ grant for traineeship no later than 1 month before the traineeship starts. I thought that keeping these deadlines in mind was enough, but it was not. I started searching quite some time before the planned period of my internship, but I was just saving interesting options to bookmarks and storing them there. Do not think it is too early to apply. There is no such thing. Once I started sending my CV and motivation letters to different places, many of them answered that they had already found people for this period of time. Eventually, some companies were interested in hiring me, I had to have different interviews, which generally took place over Skype. This was another big and time-consuming step. When your potential employer invites you for a job interview, and you know that you have a class at that time, but you also know they have other candidates for this job, now that is a dilemma. Try to consider that after you send your CV to different places, it will take some time for it to be processed and evaluated, then for the interview you will also agree on a date, and you will have to wait untilthat day, and, finally, you will have to wait for the results of the interview. So, probably, you will need more than one month to find an actual internship placement within your desirable time period.
A photo of myself and of my view from the office
Overall, be prepared to wait; people tend to take their time reviewing your CV and motivation letter, or maybe even “stalking” you on LinkedIn. So, it is good to give them time. It might happen that you want to go to a particular country or to work for a particular company, but they have not responded yet. You should be willing to wait for your dream job.
The good news is that there is not much paperwork to be done, and it is quite easy to collect all the necessary documents. Although I started doing everything in advance, I still had some last-minute errands to run. So far, this is my third week in Brno, Czech Republic working as a translator for a nice start-up company. With more than 10 universities situated here, Brno turned out to be the Czech student city. Yes, kind of a different Tartu.For the first time in my life, I work in an office, doing something serious and related to my studies, and it feels great! To be honest, it is quite a challenge to think of an appropriate translation at times, but knowing that other people will actually read it and find it helpful is a huge motivation to work better. At work, I have met other trainees, and all of us believe that pursuing this traineeship is a valuable experience. Of course, when moving to another country, you have to deal with some things you never thought you would have to. You will definitely have to leave your comfort zone, but you will learn so much! Plus, it is not just about work, it is also about new connections, travels and growth!
photos from my trip to Olomouc, a super old city