Why coming back to Slovakia?

Vitor, an economics fresh graduate from Portugal, has completed his internship in Bratislava in a pharmaceutical company, providing assistance in administration tasks. He came to Slovakia in October 2016 and spent here 5 months, according to him the winter was the hardest period, but neither the snow or the cold prevented him from traveling.

What other experiences did he have during his stay in Slovakia?

Let’s find out.

Vitor, you chose an adventure in Slovakia, how did you find our internship programme?

I really wanted to move forward after finishing my bachelor, so I started searching a lot on the internet about internships and I found Placement Slovakia programme in one internship portal.

Did you know something about Slovakia before you came here?

To be honest it was the programme that made me feel really interested in Slovakia, I didn’t know much about the country before coming here. Only the basic information, but I am a person who likes adventures, so I liked the idea of going abroad for an Internship, and started discovering a new country even without knowing much about it.

What was the biggest difference in comparison with Portugal?

Well, it was the winter for sure. I arrived in October and the weather was already becoming cold. And the next months were hard for me, because in Portugal the winter is not so hard. But even with that cold it was very beautiful to see the city full of snow.

Have you ever wished to go back to Portugal?

No, that never crossed my mind. At the beginning, sometimes I felt a little bit demotivated because everything was new and the weather, with that cold, I didn’t have much to do in most of the days. But I never thought about giving up and leaving this big opportunity before the end. 

What do you think about the city, Bratislava?

I think the city in the winter is beautiful, there is a Christmas market which is very attractive, but I prefer after the start of the spring. The promenade next to the Danube river is beautiful, and the sunset there is also nice.

There are many pubs, the beer is cheap and the night life is good.  There are many Erasmus parties as well.

Did you travel a lot?

Yes, I tried to take the most of this experience, not only improve my professional skills, but to travel a lot and have fun. I visited some cities in Slovakia and also visited others countries.    

Good to hear you enjoyed your internship. Now the internship, do you feel that you improved your professional skills?

Yes, of course. I really improved a lot my professional skills. For me it was very good work in the environment of a big company. I put in practice some things that I learned at the university, and it was also good to improve my soft skills.

So, what you learned at the university was useful for your work?

Yes, especially the market analysis.

Did you have difficulties to do your first tasks?

Yes, some tasks I was not sure how to do, but this was never a problem because they explained me well when I had some doubts. And over the time I became more autonomous, until I got to the point of doing everything by myself.

Also at the beginning they gave me more basic tasks, but later on they gave me tasks with more responsibility.

What are your future plans?

For now, I plan to start my Master's at the end of summer. If I cannot, I'll do again an internship abroad.  

Do you want to come back to Slovakia?

I am thinking of going back to Slovakia, visiting the one of the most famous mountains, the High Tatras, because unfortunately I didn’t have the opportunity to visit that place, and of course to remember some of the experiences I lived there. But I would prefer to go back in the summer, you know why...