3/2011: From Down-Under to the North Pole

by Heidi Clee

Last autumn AIESEC-Jkl had the pleasure of meeting their new trainee John from Adelaide Australia. John had completed a Bachelor's degree in computer science and was looking for international work experience relating to his degree.

John searched for moths for some job and it wasn't until someone from AIESEC-Sydney who had sent him an email about a job opportunity with Descom that John packed his bags and headed for Finland. ”Without that person I would never have seen the job. Though I didn't know much about Finland, I knew it was cold and there was snow so I was happy enough (crazy? I know :P). The job sounded like it would involve plenty of what I actually wanted to do: programming.”

The five month internship worked out well for John. He not only got to do some programming, but also got to help the employees practice handling business in English. Because the internship was so short, there was not much time for things like training and practice. Sometimes, there was less work to do but, according to John, that didn't happen too often and he believes working at Descom served as beneficiary for both parties and the job reached his expectations if not also succeeded them. ”I'd definitely recommend this specific internship for anyone with a similar degree to mine – it helped me learn and I had fun at the same time. Descom was quite a nice place to work - free ice hockey tickets, opportunities to play many sports or other things with work colleagues.”

And what does our Australian trainee think about Finland? ”Finland was great. Coming from Australia, it was nice to live in freezing cold and snow (crazy again? probably...). The people are also quiet (like me) and strangers don't talk to you on the street (like me). Going to a sauna (which I did many times) is a very relaxing pastime. I got to go to a local ice hockey game (I can never see the puck...) and play some floorball too (doesn't exist in Australia - I'd never heard of it before). Jyväskylä is great to live in because there are students everywhere – and plenty of foreign students so I wasn't the only poor clueless foreigner around :)”

Next for John is a job and career in Adelaide and he hopes that his internship in Finland will prove valuable. What did, however, prove itself already more valuable was the people John met in AIESEC-Jyväskylä: ”All this wouldn't have been anywhere near so awesome without the friendships I made with the people from AIESEC in Jyväskylä, who were always happy to hang out, invite me to their houses or help me with day to day life - things that a foreigner needs a local for.”

**Pictures provided by John and worldofmaps.net, thanks.