Summer internship in Saint Petersburg

This summer I got valuable experience of working in finance as an administrative intern in the society with limited liability ‘BALTPROMARMATURA’. ‘BALTPROMARMATURA’ Ltd is a major Russian engineer, producer and distributor of industrial pipeline valves. This internship experience was extremely beneficial for my both working and personal life because as an international business student, I have some goals that I want to achieve during my studies, practical training and exchange period. And this internship was an amazing tool to achieve some of these goals. During the internship, I had an opportunity to put my knowledge into practice not only in the finance and accounting field but also in other areas of business. I have learnt a lot about the internal processes running in the organization. Each day of working and learning about new things in practice, I was feeling very grateful for my JAMK teachers, who gave me a sufficient theoretical basis. Furthermore, I was feeling more confident doing practical things thanks to the projects we had during our first two study years. Finally, it was a valuable experience of working in Russia, as it is my home country, but I have never worked there before. Moreover, I did not live there for almost two years and have studied in another culture. Thus, I have experienced a reverse culture shock during the first week of my internship. Though, it was just a minor one, which did not seriously affect me. When this feeling passed, I was feeling fully integrated into the organisation and adapted to the cultural differences in working life. Finally, I was working in my hometown, St Petersburg, which was one of the best things I could wish for, as I had my family and friends by my side for the whole summer.

Author: Taisiia Zinakova