Primarily male workers
We saw maybe 2 female workers for the entirety of the internship, compared to Estonia where male bakers are the minority)
Diversity
Compared to Estonia in general and thus our work spaces, United bakeries had a lot of different ethnicities and people of different races working. In Estonia, it feels to be primarily white Estonians, at most Russians and Ukrainians as well.
Dirtier workplace?
Thanks to the work taking place and the nature of breads and foccacios, the workplace might be considered dirtier then what we're used to. Thats to say, it might also be an aspect of some bigger company's.
Majority of my internships took place in bigger companys much like this one. In my opinion, bigger companys have the positives of a known schedule, stability and tasks you can lose yourselves in. Still, the work load feels too much to me and while I also enjoy the stagnancy of same work all the time, I do also tire of it. I prefer a calmer, looser workplace.
Majority of my internships have actually taken place in smaller establishments, more like small cafes and so. Therefore this type of an internship in a bigger company was completely new for me. The workload did seem a little too much for me as well, but in the end it was something different that i wasn't particularly used to. I personally do prefer smaller workplaces as they do tend to be calmer and a little less tiring.
Learning our preferences
What we ourselves might want from a job, what we enjoyed or did not in this one Helps for future choices.
Abroad living
It was an amazing experience, travelling was fun and rewarding, living somewhere new was exciting.
Nice workers
The workers never seemed annoyed with us or rejected our presence, we felt welcome.
Practical knowledge
We learnt a lot of new skills, gained strenght and new info about different products.
Physical effect
The internship was taxxing, our excaustion was maxxed and the pains in our legs or wrists unbearable at times
Expensive
Yeah, No, they weren't lying. Norway is more expenisve, while it feels like Estonia is catching up, it isnt quite Norway prices just yet
Other interns
Outside of our school, the other interns were great, though unfortunately we can't say the same for the 3rd person who came with us from school. She had many moments of being rude not only to us, but some of the workers as well.
The experience was great and one we enjoyed, though moving forward to the future and for any other students interested, I'd say figuring out a way to lessen the workload presented would help a lot. Maybe less weeks, maybe less hours.
One has to also be ready for basically complete independence. Ready to choose your own place, manage food and expenses, travel alone and live alone for a long period of time. We handled it really well, but we also had eachother to lean on.