An internship abroad in the Netherlands - despite Corona

Corona and an internship abroad - how it works...

Aslihan Türkili is studying business administration at the University of Applied Sciences in Emden/Leer and completed her six-month compulsory internship in the 2020 summer semester at DesignByU in Bellingwolde, a full-service company for sustainable fashion and home textiles (see interview with the managing director Monique Moeslund).

"From mid-March with the lockdown, she went back home to Germany - to the home office", reports Aslihan Türkili. The disappointment was of course great, because after just a few weeks she had already familiarised herself very well with her tasks for the company and had settled in just as well as she had done in the team thanks to the family ties between the management and the employees. "Of course I would have liked to have spent the entire time at the company in Bellingwolde, but it couldn't be helped. We then quickly managed to continue our collaboration online and I continued to work in the home office until the end of my internship at the end of July."

Tasks, challenges and internationality

Since Aslihan Türkili is nearing the end of her studies and has already completed several internships in Germany, she already brought a lot of expertise to the Dutch-Danish production company. She was employed in the field of marketing and communication and was able to put a lot of knowledge from her studies into practice. Aslihan Türkili was responsible for the business plan and market analyses and took part in the morning meetings. "I was gradually put into contact with the various national and international partner companies and was thus able to get to know different industries." Mrs. Türkili was also able to use and deepen her language skills in English and Dutch very well. Especially the international aspect of her internship is a valuable experience for Aslihan Türkili.

Conclusion: Despite Corona - it was worth it!

All in all, Aslihan Türkili is very happy that she was able to complete her internship with the Dutch company DesignByU. She is pleased that she was also able to take on larger projects and work in a trustworthy manner, which enabled her to work very independently. "Especially for working in a home office, personal responsibility and independence are very important. After all, this affected almost my entire internship period. But if you have the technical prerequisites and are willing to work flexibly and reliably, then an internship abroad in a Dutch company is also very feasible in the Corona situation," stresses Aslihan Türkili.

As financial support, she has received an internship fee from the company and an Erasmus grant from the International Office of the university.

Author: Christel Boven-Stroman