Work

I was scrolling through the different IAESTE internships until I came across this one at Sharjah Center for Astronomy and Space Sciences (SCASS), right next to the city centre of Dubai. Living abroad and working in the aerospace sector seemed like an exciting adventure; it definitely was! SCASS, or Sharjah Academy for Astronomy Space Sciences and Technology (SAASST) as it is called nowadays, is a high tech research facility. I worked with GNSS data (a general term for GPS), to calculate positions of users like your phone. Apart from this challenge, there was also a workshop about very small satellites (CubeSats). Not only did I see the technical side, but this internship also brought me to a UAE Space Agency conference. Every research group in the country, the Japanese space agency and various Japanese private businesses presented the progress on their research and gave proposals for future projects. The UAE Space Agency decides how much each project gets funded. It is unique as an outsider to see how these kinds of organizational decisions are made.

3de5c85b 0e8a 4497 8b48 65e45b0451c8

Experience

IAESTE isn’t all about work, it is also about experiencing. The weekend starts on Thursday night and ends Saturday night in the UAE. I had a very good relationship with my colleagues at work. We even met asides from the working hours to have dinner together or to take the car and explore the country. IAESTE also organizes activities each week and that’s good because there is a lot to see in Dubai. The tallest building in the world Burj Khalifa, huge aquariums, the Dubai Frame, the Palm, the souks in old Dubai,... Dubai is perfect during the day to be a tourist and at night there are a lot of different clubs to experience the nightlife. I was so lucky to have met local and international people who wanted to show me both aspects of the city. I feel like I really experienced the United Arabic Emirates. Dubai was the main place to go, but I also visited other places of interest like the Sjeik Zayed Mosque in the capital Abu Dhabi, the Rain Room in Sharjah and the zoo in Al Ain. However, it is not these places that made the biggest impression on me. It’s the endless hospitality of the Arabian people and the ease to become friends with internationals.

Discover

My IAESTE-internship was an unforgettable experience, one of the best decisions I made so far. It allowed me to gain experience as an aerospace engineer and I met a lot of wonderful people. It’s amazing to discover a country with new international friends. If you have any doubt about going on an internship abroad: just do it!

Discover More IAESTE Experiences

C2c9e127 4863 40f4 b20f f89345a4de83
Benin City, Nigeria

Linnea

Biomedical engineering

Company

University of Benin

Home country

Sweden

READ MORE
0692906e 6224 49f7 9c44 d4e5f0448ee5
Jaipur, India

Rimamchika

Information and Communication En...

Company

JECRC University

Home country

Nigeria

READ MORE
373cc58c 1808 4a78 ae38 07b9a0e3aa5b
Tehran, Iran (Islamic Republic of)

Mattea

Biomedical Sciences

Company

K. N. Toosi University of Technology

Home country

Germany

READ MORE

Explore Our Internships