A thousand kilometers away
The internship in Germany is just one part of the complete story of the Internship Programme of German Business, but every story needs a beginning and this one started a few thousand kilometres away. My name is Luka Petrić and I am a mechanical engineer, coming from Bar in Montenegro. I did my internship in 2020 in Uniper Energy headquarters in Dusseldorf at the Proposal Management department.
I belong to the 2020 generation, if I may say “the first corona generation”, and even though we faced some challenges in the beginning, in the end it was a unique chance not only to do an internship but also to see what the future has to offer when it comes to the working environment.
Working in Germany in a multinational company is not a common opportunity, but that is actually what the Internship Programme of German Business offers. I had a chance to closely cooperate with senior professionals, learn from them and see how a big corporation works. Comparing Germany and Montenegro when it comes to working conditions the stereotypes about German precision, punctuality, and devotion to work are true, but in a positive way, because you can learn much from that. You learn which qualities are needed to be a successful professional, to contribute to the company you are doing the internship in, and maybe in the future create more of those companies with such workers that leads to creating stronger economies.
However, the internship is not only about working. It is also about meeting German culture and customs, meeting new people, and creating lifetime-long friendships with other scholarship holders. Living in a ‘WG’ (shared apartment with roommates) was a helpful experience of getting a bit of a wider picture about Germans, since the bars and restaurants were completely closed in 2020. Talkative, relaxed and open minded, that is how I could describe them. And speaking about the fellow scholarship holders, well you find your buddies for sure within the group. The best part of those friendships is that they last even after the internship and are fortified even more through different common interactions and activities in the regional alumni network of the Internship Programme of German Business.
All in all, doing an internship in the frame of the Internship Programme of German Business was a unique experience for me, from every aspect I look back now, and if I had the chance to repeat it, I would sign it immediately.
Luka Petric, generation 2020
Bar, Montenegro
