Internship experience in Slovenia Koper youth center

Ernestos Karosaitės

I studied Creative industries and got a minor degree in New media art in Vytautas Magnus university and just like many other students who finished as broad programs as such, I was a bit lost on what exactly I would like to do so an internship seemed like the best option to take upon. I found my internship place by participating in a traineeship in Kaunas where I met a person who later invited me to be an intern in Slovenia, Koper youth center. By having a chance to know about the organization and its activities, values in person, the decision to try to be a youth worker did not seem so scary.

Even though I got there by autumn, I was greeted with warmth both in weather and people there. The team was very friendly, helpful in finding a place to stay at and getting to know the country itself while the international volunteers made my stay feel a bit more secure as an “outsider”. I fell in love with this town at the very fist glance. The slow going, relaxed seaside rhythm, caring people, absolutely beautiful nature views and the town itself with its colorful houses, narrow streets and little squares felt like exactly where I wanted to be.

Despite the wonders of the country, most important was the working experience I could get. For me, the definition of a good place to work at is in the focus of not only getting the tasks done, but also encouraging the professional improvement of workers and that is the attitude I gladly got to face. I’m happy I got to work at a place that showed equal amount of care and respect for all that are taking part in the organization, whether it’s a worker, intern or a volunteer. This guaranteed the great working atmosphere with the equal opportunities to improve. As well I was glad to have a freedom of choice on what I want to be a part of. Youth center offers a variety of different spheres to work on: from projects organizing, coordinating to media production making, which perfectly suit my degree. Even though I got to try out a lot of different things, my main tasks were taking photos of various events, concerts and doing an audience analysis in order to define the needs and opinions of youth. While photography deepened my technical skills, analysis work, besides revealing the possible adjustments for the organization, also gave me a broader understanding of the youth needs and the town itself.

Working there has not only been a pleasure, but also a great way to test myself on what I want to see myself as or what I might be good at. This experience and the people I got to meet on the way added up a lot to encouraging me to reach for my long held dream and settle my mind upon creating my own organization back home. I am sure getting an internship here was the best decision I could have taken as it made me grow professionally, know myself better and realize what I want to do next and for that I will always be grateful for everything and everyone that made this experience possible!