I’m from Finland, and I have been doing my internship at IZUM for 7 weeks. Today is my last day. I had wanted to go abroad for an internship for a long time, and now I finally had the chance to do it. At the beginning, I was very nervous and worried about how everything would go. But I was lucky because everybody was so welcoming and friendly. The workers at IZUM were kind and translated whenever I didn’t understand something, and the children were so genuine and eager to play new games with me. Gagik helped me a lot, introduced me to the workplace, and explained my tasks.
I participated in art classes with Jenia, where I helped the children and led some energizers before the class. I also joined Tatiana’s music classes, where I learned how to play the ukulele myself. There was also the charity fair, where we performed. It was really exciting, even though I was very nervous.
I also participated in after-school activities with the 1st class children and played games with them outside. I took part in engineering classes for children, where I helped Timur build LEGO catapults and other different devices.
I was in Tammispea a few times. The first time, I helped Beatrice and Gagik with a project for the volunteers. It was so inspiring and fun to hear about the volunteers’ experiences and home countries, and to get to know them better during the hike with Polina.
Another time I was in Tammispea was when I joined the game camp. I was Polina’s assistant, helping with different themed games every day for the children. We had, for example, Pokémon, Among Us, and Mario games that were turned into real-life outdoor games, and the children competed with each other. It was so nice to see them get to know each other and enjoy all the camp activities. I also led my own energizers for them and taught them some Finnish games.
Overall, I am so happy that I decided to come to Tallinn to do my internship at IZUM. I got to do so many different things and participate in classes, projects, and camps. I loved how friendly everyone was, and even though there was sometimes a language barrier, the most important thing was being eager to participate and open to learning how to communicate without a common language. I now have more confidence in guiding and supporting youth. I will also bring back to Finland the new games and energizers I learned from the colleagues I worked with. I will remember to strive to work with the same positivity and passion that I saw during my time at IZUM.
I am looking forward to continuing my studies back home and implementing everything I learned here into my future internships. I am grateful for everything IZUM taught me, and I am excited for the future.