Marta from Spain sharing a few insights from her Erasmus+ traineeship in Slovakia

Marta is from Spain and she did an Erasmus+ traineeship as a PLC programmer in a leader product development company in Trencin. Coming to Slovakia she not only had an opportunity to gain some practical experiences, but also to explore Slovakia and various countries.

1. How did your story first begin and why did you decide to take an Erasmus+ internship in Slovakia?

I was finishing my studies and one day I decided that I wanted to live one experience working abroad so I decided to start searching for a company to do Erasmus+ intership. While searching I found a good possition for me in a company in Slovakia (offered by PS). I never had been in Slovakia before so this could be a good opportunity to discover it. So finally I applied and I am here now.
 
2. What skills did you improve the most during your traineeship?

I improved social skills, level of English, programming skills, the ability to adapt to new situations..

3. How did you find out about our programme and how would you evaluate our assistance provided during your period here?

I found this programme in the web erasmusintern.org when i was searching for some intership. The assistance was perfect , when i arrived PS picked me up at the airport and brought me to my city. They provided some things that we needed in our flat and then during the months that I was in Slovakia PS always solved the problems that i had.
 
4. What do you think of the life-style in Slovakia?

The best thing is that Slovak people love to do sports. In winter is very usual that they practice hiking, skiing ,snowboarding...And when the good weather starts the people start to use bicycle and practice some water sports in the river.
 
5. What did you find as the most different from your usual environment, country? Was there any culture shock?

The first thing was the sunset, when i arrived in January around 4:30 pm starts to be dark...It was a big change at first becouse in my country the earliest time for sunset is around 6:00 pm. Other change was the timetable to eat , becouse in my country I usually ate between 2 pm and 3 pm, nevertheless in company we had the lunch time at 11:30 pm. But these are small things that you can get used to in a few days.

6. What did you like the best here in Slovakia?

The nature, even near the cities, it is possible to find very good places for hiking. The castles, you can find a lot of beutiful catles in Slovakia. And I love this thought that the Slovak people have: The most important thing in the life is the relations , with family , friends...So enjoy the moments with these people.
 
7. Did you have any work or social difficulties during your stay in Slovakia? If so, how did you solve them?

The problem was the language. I couldn’t find people speaking English in some public places like train station, shops, bus station...To solve these problems I used google translator, I found some people that could speak English and Slovak around me or I asked for help to my Slovak friends.
 
8. Did you have enough time to travel and explore Slovakia and neighbouring countries? Which places did you visit and what left the biggest impact on you?

Yes! Fortunately I could visit a lot of places in Slovakia, like High Tatras , Bojnice Castle , Bratislava...And I could also visit a lot of countries around Slovakia. Exactly I could visit places in 6 countries in addition to Slovakia (Hungary, Czech republic, Croatia, Bulgaria, Austria among them).

9. Which moment of your stay in Slovakia has been the most memorable for you?

It is difficult to choose one, but probably the weekend that I went to a folk Slovak festival, where I could see the traditions of Slovakia , food, music, dance...It was very funny!

10. Is there anything you would like to say to students still deciding whether or not to do an internship in Slovakia?

Just don‘t think more and do it! It is a good opportunity to know a different culture and to visit a lot of places in central Europe without spending a lot of money because Slovakia is in a very good position in the middle of Europe.