Work
I redesigned the centre of a suburb of Kuopio in two very different versions also made a concept for the surrounding area. First I made several analyses about that area and Kuopio - infrastructure, buildings, inhabitants etc. Then I started to design. There where several feedback meetings. In the end, I had a big presentation in front of the whole department.
Experience
I lived in a student dorm - but university starts in September in Finland, so I was almost alone in the dorm during the first month. There is no IAESTE Local Committee in Kuopio, but fortunately, I met a Spanish girl over there and spend a lot of evenings together with her. Also, my colleagues from work were very open-minded, even those who already had children, so we also made some plan after-work plans. In Finland they have two coffee breaks each day - one in the morning and one after lunch - so that was the perfect opportunity to get in touch with all of my colleagues. They were all so friendly.
Discover
I definitely was a bit scared about how I would perform in a different country and with other bosses, in a bigger department than I was used to. But I was able to impress them. So I gained more self-esteem. At this time it was also the longest time I was abroad on my own. This experience also showed me that I was really interested in not only architecture in small structures, but also bigger ones like real urban planning. So there is a huge change for me to go in a different direction than architecture. Since there is no IAESTE LC I also needed to socialize more actively with other people and build up my own social network over there. And it worked perfectly ;)