Mariana Brilhante
It was less than a month left to finish my spring semester at University and I was about to give up on summer internship or to choose a place which I didn’t want to go. I applied to many places for Erasmus internship, but some of them I didn’t get a reply, for others I had a visa problem, and some of them I just didn’t like the tasks.
I remember that day, I opened erasmusintern website to check for the last time if there was any new vacancies, and I came across SPEAK. It looked like jackpot, everything I wanted was in one place: startup, web developing and Portugal.
I have always preferred to work at startups rather than big companies, but I never have had the chance before. Thanks to SPEAK I got this opportunity, it is nice to work with a smaller company, because as it grows and takes the next steps, you feel that is also your own big achievement, no matter how small or big your contribution is to the team.
I have been studying in different countries, as an exchange or full-time student and every time when I arrive to a new city I feel lonely, bored and a bit depressed, because I don’t know anyone there. That’s why I like the idea of SPEAK, how it connects different people and foreigners to locals to make them feel like they are at home. I think, every city needs SPEAK! 🙂
I did 2 months internship in Lisbon as a web developer. To be a part of small and at the same time great SPEAK team, was a great honor for me. Those who attend to events or classes already know how amazing SPEAK is, but behind it there is a strong and big SPEAK online platform. Sometimes it was fun and interesting to get lost in platform while coding.
Wherever I go, I love to make Brain Battle/ Pub quiz style events, it is kind of my dream to make it in as many locations as possible, but it is not easy to organize the event in a city where you don’t speak the same language, and don’t know how to contact places and people. SPEAK helped me to make my dream come true, so we organized Pub Quiz, which got good feedback from the people who attended the event 🙂
Beside that, SPEAK gave me a chance to be a student of Portuguese language and culture, to learn basics of Portuguese, and the classes were awesome, the methodology and interaction helps to make the learning process a lot easier. So, the only thing I can say to SPEAK is OBRIGADA!
It was the best summer internship experience for me so far, if you have opportunity to join SPEAK, don’t miss it!
Narmin
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