19 May EU4EU Internship experiences during COVID-19: Adamantia Skourti
Rome, 19 May 2021
Adamantia Skourti is in her second year of a Bachelor’s Degree in Law at the University of Lille, France. She carried out her EU4EU Internship at the Host Organization IDEC, in Piraeus, Greece, from February 2021 to May 2021.
It was back in August 2020 when she first came across the EU4EU Programme. Her university sent all its students an email introducing this programme.
After applying, she contacted three Host Organizations based in different countries, but she only had the chance to do the interview with IDEC; as the other two were requiring a B2 italian level, which she hadn’t yet. The interview with IDEC went well, so she decided to accept the internship because from its description, she thought that it would fit her skills and expectations; and actually it did. The company’s work is also in her field of interest and expertise. “I like the company, I think that the work that they do is something that I can do, that I can cooperate with colleagues and everything”, she says. She also commented that “I study Law and I don’t think it is an internship 100% for Law students, but it seemed like an important opportunity that could possibly give me the possibility to enter the labour market”.
“My mentor was really helpful throughout the internship; during the first days I asked her a lot of things, because I was having some difficulties with the tasks. As for the whole company, all of my colleagues were very friendly. They kindly told me and explained to me the tasks that I needed to carry out, which greatly facilitated my work”, Adamantia stated when we asked about her relationship with her tutor and colleagues.
Due to COVID-19, Adamantia worked from home because of the strict restrictions in Greece. Only three up to four persons were allowed in the office, despite the team consisting of thirteen people, including the interns. “I think that Working from home has its pros and cons; it was calm and pleasant but working in the office is also a unique experience for someone like me who is having their first professional experience”, she says.
Adamantia’s daily work started with a meeting in the morning with her tutor who would give her the tasks and explain to her how to proceed with them. “The tasks sometimes were taking up to two, three or even four days, depending on the amount of work. After finishing my tasks, I would send her my work to see if something needed to be changed”. Throughout the internship, she managed and worked on different tasks such as the disseminations of the proposals, the recording of some professional interviews in Greeck or in English, the quality reports, the proposal presentation and the leaflet of the proposal. “Overall I think I contributed through my work to the organization’s performance and I am very pleased that the tasks corresponded completely to what I expected when I applied”, she comments.
When asked if she would use our Programme again until she finishes her degree, Adamantia exclaimed: “Definitely yes!”. “It gives a lot of opportunities in whichever field you need to improve your skills, and it’s really helpful! Another plus is that it gives the opportunity to have a professional experience abroad in the EU. Working in the UK or in the USA is really hard but in Europe, as a European citizen, you have the possibility to move to a lot of different places”, she explains. “The EU4EU Portal greatly facilitates the research of different internships in several different fields of work and countries. It was also easy to create the profile and upload all the documents; the process went smoothly. Getting in contact with the companies through the EU4EU Platform was effortless and direct” she affirms.
“It was a nice experience to have the possibility to enter the labour market throughout this internship. I liked what I did and the company where I carried out my traineeship. Despite the fact that I had to work remotely, it was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had”, Adamantia concludes.
