Little Austrian goes Hong Kong

Have you ever considered doing an internship abroad? Are you an IAESTE member but never tried out our exchange project yourself? Or are you just interested in what all your work in IAESTE is good for? I would like to tell you about my experience of going from Austria to Hong Kong for a six-week IAESTE internship to show you the worth of your work and to encourage you to do the same.

You will never get an internship abroad, which is additionally in your field of studies, that easy again.

Besides, obviously, finding the job, IAESTE was organizing a dorm without me having to care about this at all and was taking a lot of work from me concerning the visa. Also during my internship, there was a lot of support from IAESTE members. They were picking up us interns from the bus stop after our arrival, bringing us to our dorm, showing us our working place, helping us with exchanging money, showing us where to go for grocery shopping, organizing activities and always being there for questions.

Skyline of Hong Kong

During my internship, I got to know a lot about Hong Kong and its culture. I had the chance to learn about it in a greatly different way than I would have as a tourist, as I was not only travelling there but living there. Additionally, we were around 40 IAESTE interns coming from around 15 countries from all over the world. As we were all in the same situation, we immediately got a strong feeling of belonging together. Almost every day we did trips and activities together, which made me get to know so many different cultures.

For me, an IAESTE internship doesn’t only mean learning in your area of studies but much more learning for life. I’ve lived in a completely different country together with a lot of diverse cultures and personalities which has definitely broadened my horizon. I’ve earned additional organizational skills, as I turned out to be a good organizer for our group activities. Of course, I’ve improved my English skills a lot. I’ve also learned to trust more in myself, how to cope with unforeseen situations and to be more self-reliant and spontaneously. Last but not least, I’ve become friends with wonderful people from all over the world and I’ve made priceless memories with them in Hong Kong.

IAESTE Hong Kong with their interns

I hope that I could show you the importance of your work in IAESTE and encourage some of you to do an internship as well. As for me, I can only recommend this experience with all my heart.

Carina Dertnig, Chemistry student at Graz University of Technology

 


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