My story as an intern at Metsähallitus marine team

Hello everyone!

I’m Petrouschka and I am 16 years old, I am living in the Netherlands but currently I am doing my internship at the marine team of Metsähallitus in Oulu. I am following lessons at the Scala College in Alphen aan den Rijn in the Netherlands and I have one year left in the bilingual department at the pre-university secondary education.  My lessons are mostly taught in English at the bilingual department, and this department allowed us to leave the Netherlands for three weeks in April and May. These three weeks of international work experience are called the GLOBE project. The goal of GLOBE is to develop our level of English further and get a taste of life after our studies.

A map of the Netherlands, I live close to Leiden (located in South Holland)

I am truly interested in the study of Medicines so I wanted to do my internship in a company that does a lot of research in the biological sector. Because I am sixteen it was very hard to find an internship position in the medical sector, so I looked outside the medical department and I started to look for another research position. The internship could be anywhere across the world, but I really wanted to go to Scandinavia. That is why I searched for research team in Scandinavia. I came across the website of the marine team at Metsähallitus and my first impressions where very good. It was a biological research department and it was located in Finland. I started sending emails and that is how I got this internship position. I was looking forward to this internship and now I am here, in Finland for a week.

When I arrived in Oulu by plane I was picked up at the airport by Essi Keskinen, she took me to her home and we had a nice dinner together. Later in the evening she brought me to my sleep accommodation and I went to bed quickly because the travelling costs a lot of energy. I had been so nervous for flying alone and going to a foreign country alone, but when I arrived the nervousness changed in excitement. Already on the second day I started working at Metsähallitus. I prepared lots of herbarium samples and I was amazed by the amount of knowledge the marine team had about all the samples. Later in the first week I found a very special type of invasive aquatic species. The specie came from Asia and Northern America but not from anywhere close to Finland so this was very special.

Me at the police statue, Oulu centre

In the past week I have done several tasks varying from preparing herbarium samples to fitting keys and locks together. This first week was above all my expectations, it was great and Oulu has so much to offer as a city. There is beautiful nature; there are beautiful lakes but the thing that impressed me the most is the peace everyone in Oulu carries. There is no hurry, no stress and no violence. Everything is quiet and peaceful.

Vappu in the park of Oulu

After my first work week the weekend started, it was a special weekend because it was Vappu in Finland. All students were dressed in overalls and all the students and lots of graduated people wore white caps. There were parties all over the city and everyone was having fun. It was great!

This second week is almost finished and it was a great week! I have been doing lots of practical tasks varying from carrying heavy stuff to driving around the city centre of Oulu. I met a new colleague and it was fun!

Thursday the 5^th of May; I’ve visited the island of Hailuoto. The island was beautiful and I do not think I have ever seen such a fantastic nature. There was a beach, a forest but there were also dry pieces of land.  It was amazing! Yesterday I realized how incredibly beautiful Europe is, Finland certainly has to offer a lot regarding the beauty of Europe. 

My trip to Hailuoto

Written by Petrouschka Verdouw