It’s the friends and adventures that fill your soul

Wow, can’t believe it’s been nearly 5 months since I have returned from that unforgettable, unique experience of a lifetime. But cannot really say it like that, since It doesn’t end here… It is not only the internship or those 3 or 6 months of hanging out with everyone, but also the moments that follow afterwards. It never really ends, since you are lucky to have friends everywhere and continue to make memories wherever you go.

And now let me tell you a very bit of the summer I had.

When they asked each of us to write a sentence for the mid-term meeting presentation, I wrote: “it’s the friends and adventures that fill your soul”. I really couldn’t think of anything better to wrap up everything I lived through these 3 months. Putting aside the professional growth that everyone gets, one really grows personally too, even though you may not feel as you’ve grown or that you have changed.

Living on my own (in German style), finding accommodation, cooking, doing the washing and all the grown-up things in-between (opening a bank account, register for staying) has never been easier and is indeed a very valuable lesson I learned this summer.

And don’t worry, we weren’t thrown immediately in this fast-going river without any life-vest. Before beginning with the internship we had an introduction week in Berlin, where apart from making friends with everyone, partying and enjoying the beautiful Berlin itself, we also had an intro of how living and working in Germany will be like, visited Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development and some German companies like Vattenfall Heizkraftwerk (HKW) and Siemens AG, went to Federal Chancellors Office where we had discussion with Matthias Lüttenberg and a whole lot of more events and fun, which if I start to write more about won’t be even 1% close to what it felt like during that week.

After only 7 days it was so hard for me to part from the people I had just met and had such fun times, not knowing that the best is yet to come. I got an internship in audEERING GbmH, and had a great time there, increased my knowledge in the area of software development, so many thanks to my mentors.

Moreover, I must say I improved my language skills, as I had the opportunity to attend a German course and also a Bosnian course, as I had the pleasure to live with the craziest, redhead Bosnian girl you will probably see most on the photos, my dear Melisa, without who I cannot imagine my time in Germany.

I will let the pictures speak for themselves now, as it would be impossible to describe this mind-blowing experience.

You may feel homesick for an hour, a day, a week, but you are not alone, everyone is here for you, I’d never thought it would be so easy to pack your stuff and go wherever you want with whoever you want. So, cheers to the friends that turned into family.

And I have one more thing to say to sum it all up: It was more than a regular summer… traveling to so many places, having the adventures that we had with these amazing people and at the same time being able to grow on a professional level was really more than I had hoped for when I applied, and without any hesitation I would do it all over again because this scholarship program has it all planned out for you so don’t miss the chance to apply.