Friday, February 5, 2016

Erasmus finished and career getting started

This is my last post on this blog. My abroad experience has just finished and I am now leaving Bruges. I passed 6 out of 6 classes I had, and I am looking forward to my internship.

These last days, I've been thinking about my experience in Bruges, Belgium. I set up the bar quite high for myself, back in Porto: I didn't appreciate using Windows, I didn't know anything about electric circuits and I was not prone to computer forensics.

Now, looking back, I'm really glad I did it. I know now how to use Windows Server technologies (although I still don't appreciate closed source solutions - but, as a professional, operative systems are just tools to get the job done; I know how to make basic electric circuits and how important is Ohm's Law, which unveiled to me an entire world of hardware creation; and I can get my hands on a Linux server / desktop to understand which actions happen before, and finding any possible hidden information.

I travelled to a lot of cities in Belgium, France and the Netherlands. And, most important, some friends came to visit me in Bruges and to travel together. I'm really glad that I can call these people - friends. In a month, they can meet me in Eindhoven.

Now I would like to write about some of the things I did that I think other Erasmus students should also do.
First of all, design and write some goals for the stay and put them on a sheet of paper on the wall. It's quite easy to get lost with acquaintances, other people's problems and people lacking goals. Well, my goals for my stay were (1) pass all classes, (2) learn Dutch and (3) keeping this blog updated. Happily, I can say that I passed all scores and kind of got this blog updated. Unfortunately, my Dutch skills didn't get any improvements other than the really (!) basic words such as hello, bye, thanks and "you're welcome" (auchblif - the spelling is wrong, but it's always right to say it).
My second tip would be that you should go alone. There's no one to help you so you HAVE TO get yourself out there, talking with people, asking questions and learning from them. (Tip 2.5: get your facts about your country straight and comfortable enough to explain them.)
Next tip: Keep a blog. Get people updated. It's easier to keep a blog post than to have the same conversation with different people. And it's also a conversation starter!
I would add more tips like not being afraid of going to conferences or send emails to teachers, but I'm quite sure that you will get it...

I will start my internship in 3 weeks, at Acknowledge, a company based in Eindhoven.

This is my last post. I'll keep working on some projects, might start something else in the future.

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