INTERVIEW TRAINEE – PECHENKIN

1 – Why did you decide to join the EU4EU programme?

Finding new experiences is crucial for me, especially when it comes to enhancing my practical and theoretical skills, expanding my social capital in the sector, and gaining exposure to working in different environments. When I first learned about the EU4EU program, I immediately recognized that seizing this opportunity was essential for my professional development in the public sector and for acquiring international work experience.

2 – Was it easy to join the programme?

In my view, applying isn’t too difficult. I really think that anyone, even without experience in similar programs, can manage it without any problems. You just need to make sure you meet the deadlines.

3 – Tell us your experience about living in another country (finding home, social relationships, friends, language, ect…)

As for me, this wasn’t my first experience living in another country, so most of the steps in the adaptation process weren’t entirely new or challenging. I strongly believe that it depends on personal communication and socialization skills. Generally, in most EU4EU participating countries, people are friendly and happy to communicate with you. Living in Thessaloniki, I didn’t face a language barrier due to the widespread use of English in Greece. It was also interesting to pick up some basic Greek everyday vocabulary. When it comes to accommodation, I didn’t encounter any issues because my Host Organisation assisted me with that. Therefore, I would recommend future participants to discuss this with their Hosts as well.

4 – Tell us your experience about working in another country (it was hard/simple, my supervisor was great/bad, my colleagues were great/bad, difficult to understand, ect…)

In my situation, I was placed with an NGO that had a strong background in community organizing and a substantial history of hosting volunteers and interns. The team was welcoming and friendly towards interns. Additionally, there was a large group of volunteers from various European countries, making my internship experience quite interesting in terms of building relationships with team members.

5 – How important do you think it is for a university student to get an internship in Europe?

In my opinion, having an internship abroad is crucial for one’s future job or academic career. Furthermore, the experience of interning in another European country can bring numerous other benefits to a student’s life.

6 – What do you think will be the advantages from this experience?

Participant can get the chance to improove their language comunicative skills, get a soft and hard skills in the concreete professional sector, get a new friends from abroad and get incredible experience from the live in abroad.

7 – Did you get what you wanted from this opportunity?

Yes, despite my doubts on the beggining, I got amazing experience which developed both my soft and hard skills, my language fluentcy, gave my a new friends and a lot of good memories which sutisfied all of my expectections.

8 – Will you participate in the EU4EU programme in the future?

Yes, I would like to. I`ve already aplied this year, in order to develop more my professional skills in more concreet sector of my academic specialisation ( in Circular Economy and Urban Development) before entering the job market.

9 – Would you suggest another student to join the EU4EU programme? Why?

Yes, I would suggest it for everybody. Furtheermore, I think that such programs should be implemented in all study programs (at least on Master Level). This program gives to participant a lot of benefits both on the professional sence and in the sence of life experiance. This is a small but really interesting chalange which, for sure, can give a lot of skils, knoweldge, social contact and new friends from abroad.