Kategorie: ‘Architecture’
A great experience in Madrid
- Architecture M.A.
- Spain, Madrid
- b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos
- May – October 2022
Living and working six months in the vibrant city of Madrid was a lot of fun for me. I did my obligatory internship in a rather small architecture studio in the northern central part of the city – close to the Bernabeu stadium. I shared a flat with two people in Hortaleza, which is in the north-east between the inner and outer ring, therefore a little bit far from the lively city centre. But it was within a good distance for the everyday commute and for an affordable price. One very important thing to know about living in Madrid is that the public transport system is working really well and if you live close to a metro or cercania station you can move very quickly within the city. If you are under 26 the monthly ticket is more than affordable.
My colleagues at the architecture studio were nice and welcoming. They offered me to speak in English but I asked them to only talk in Spanish with me as I wished to learn as much Spanish as possible during my stay. Even though I did not understand everything on my first days, it did not take long to get used to listening and speaking Spanish all day long. This way I learned a lot and could integrate well in the team. Nevertheless, I would highly recommend a good level of Spanish if you would like to do your internship in Spain.
I have spent the summer term in Madrid to enjoy the nice and hot climate. If I could choose again, I would probably prefer to do an internship of six month in the winter term for two reasons. First, in July and August, it got very hot. Maybe this year has been extreme, but we had a couple of weeks with temperatures above 35 degrees – up to 41 degrees on peak days. Even though every office is supposed to have air conditioning, mine did not because it was broken. As it took until the end of August until someone could fix it, we had to sweat quite a bit. Second, if your office does not make an obligated summer break you are probably to stay while everyone else is leaving Madrid for three or four weeks of vacation. And as people are taking turns, you can find yourself with only very few other co-workers in the office. When everyone came back from vacation, the social life outside the office started to pic up. Not only among the colleagues but also in the whole city. A lot of events happen in autumn in Madrid. So, when the time came that I had to leave, I really did not want to.
Madrid’s social life is inexhaustible. There are always things to do and always events happening. It is almost impossible to find a moment when the streets are empty. Concerning parties, it is probably impossible not to find a bar or club where you can listen to the music you like. You can find all kinds of parties in town. (Even though there is a lot of reggaeton, which was in my favour.) I enjoyed most going out in Cuenca and Malasaña – day and night. Also, even though the river of the city is rather small, Madrid has a lot of parks. I loved spending time at the Retiro Parque and Casa de Campo. But because I lived rather far away from these central parks I often went for a run to Parque Felipe VI. Probably no location where you would go to if you do not live close by, but I liked running there a lot because I had a view of Madrid’s Skyline as well as the mountains in the north of the city. If you search for a nice sunset location, I would not recommend Templo de Debot because it is always too crowded, but rather go to the Lookout at Tío Pío’s Hill.
Madrid is Europe’s highest capital city with about 600m above sea level. I noticed this the most due to the high temperature ranges between day and night. Therefore, it is always recommended to bring at least a light jacket. If you do not need it in the morning, maybe you will need it inside if the air conditioning is too cold.
The last thing that I would like to mention about Madrid is that I appreciated its geographic location within Spain a lot. It is very comfortable to travel from and to Madrid. The distances to all points of interest in all directions are more or less equal. If you book your AVE (the fastest trains in Spain) in advance, it is affordable and allows you to go – sometimes even non-stop – to either Sevilla or Barcelona within two hours. The bus takes about five to six hours depending on traffic conditions.
To put it in a nutshell, I can highly recommend Madrid (and for architects also my studio b720) as Erasmus+ location. I enjoyed the six month there a lot and I hope that I can go back soon. The people I met were wonderful and the food I ate delicious. I have learned a lot in language, professional and intercultural terms.
Copenhagen – A city full of life
- Architecture M.Sc.
- Copenhagen, Denmark
- Sweco Architects
- 28.03.2022 – 30.09.2022
While studying architecture, we have to do an internship before writing our master thesis. I chose to complete mine in Copenhagen. I totally fell in love with the city. Especially during the summer month, its just amazing. The weather was mostly good, not too warm and when the sun shines, the people and the city unfold so much life, lightness and openness. You can see how precious the sun and the light is, as soon as it´s sunny, life happens outside, by the water, in parks, cafés… The city has the perfect size, it´s big enough to fill 6 months with new experience, and I still haven’t seen everything, but you also cannot get lost. There are always familiar corners and sometimes it´s like a little village.
The Danes are sometimes a bit closed, and you have to warm their heart before they let you in, but in general they are always friendly and up to help you. They will be confused if you smile at them without a reason, but it’s a challenge to win them as your friend, and you will succeed. I met so many amazing people, I don’t want to miss in my life anymore. The city is also filled up with internationals from all over the world, you will for sure find a big community from your home country, if you feel like surrounding yourself with people from home. But I recommend mixing it up, Danes, people from your home country, other internationals. That´s what made it very interesting and also informative for me. That’s also a good way for your English to improve enormously. Danes speak English very well, no matter how old they are. It´s very easy to survive with only speaking English and no one will expect you to change that or look at you in a weird way, if you don’t speak Danish.
Denmark, especially Copenhagen, is super expensive. You cannot survive with the Erasmus money only, it needs to be combined with a salary, and in my case my parents also send me money, since the company didn’t pay me that well. In those 6 month I´ve spend around 11.000 euros while having a normal amount of free time activities. Going to a bar and paying 55 DKK (7,40 euros) is normal.
I rented a Swapfiets during my stay and that was perfect. Public transportation works very well in Denmark, but is also expensive. Everything that can be reached by bike in 30 min, is done by bike. The bike lanes are a dream and on your way to work you will probably meet your boss on a cargo bike with some kids in it.
I would recommend to start the search for an apartment in time. The market is super fast. I didn’t have any success with Facebook groups, but can recommend “findroommate” or “BoligPortal”. You will have to pay a fee to use those portals, but for me, it was worth the money because I found the most amazing room and roommate.
If you stay longer the 3 month and earn money, you will have to register for EU registration and CPR number. Do it as fast as possible, the waiting time is pretty long. You will need it, to open a bank account and to get access to the Danish health system. As a bank I recommend Lunar, the waiting time was 2 weeks and everything is online and English. The waiting time for one of the big Danish banks is usually around 6-7 weeks.
For me, those 6 month were the most amazing month of my life and fell in love with the city. I hope everyone else, who is choosing Copenhagen, has the same experience. I can recommend the city very much and the Erasmus money will help a lot. I am very grateful I got the chance to have that money. Last but not least: Enjoy the time!
My experience in Rotterdam, Netherlands
- Architecture M.Sc.
- Rotterdam, Netherlands
- Barcode Architects
- March 2022 -August 2022
From March to August 2022, I was doing a six-month Internship at Barcode Architects, an international architecture office in Rotterdam (Netherlands). It has been an amazing experience, where I was able to work with many interesting and talented people from all over the world on a variety of different projects. I recommend doing an internship at this office and in general in Rotterdam. Rotterdam is a great city especially for architecture students (but of course also for everybody else) because it is an “architecture city”. What I mean by that is that you can find there various buildings, architecture related events and international offices. It is a young, dynamic city that offers different activities and events every week for everyone who is interested.
Preparation / Apartment search / General tips:
After I got the confirmation of my internship position, I started looking for an accommodation. In the Netherlands, most people I know found their accommodation through Facebook or the housing website Kamernet. It wasn’t easy to find a room, but finally I was lucky to find a nice one in a shared apartment before my arrival. I recommend you to start as early as possible to search for an accommodation and respond quickly to possible advertisements because the housing market in the Netherlands in general and in larger cities in particular is tight. I was living in beautiful Rotterdam North, which is a family-friendly district with lots of old Dutch houses and a calm atmosphere. It’s right above the central station, so very centrally located. I just needed approximately 10 to 13 min. by bike to get to the office. Everything you need in Rotterdam (and the Netherlands in general) to get around, is a bike because there are separate bike lanes next to the streets, almost everywhere in the city. And although Rotterdam is large, you get everywhere fast by bike and if you want to go further, it has a well-developed public transport system.
Leisure / Going out:
You will always find something to do in your spare time in Rotterdam, whether you want to dance on a festival, get some drinks at a bar, visit another city nearby as Delft or The Hague, do some sports or visit an art exhibition or event. Every week something else is happening in Rotterdam. One of these exciting events were the Rotterdam Architecture month. The whole of June was dedicated to architecture and you could visit lectures and rooftops in Rotterdam. There were also special rooftop installations designed by the architecture office MVRDV, to show how we could use existing rooftops to create more sustainable cities. There also some beaches nearby Rotterdam as for example Hoek van Holland or Scheveningen which you can easily reach by public transport to go swimming, sunbathe or rent a surfboard. Overall, it was a great time, during which I was able to learn a lot and broaden my horizons. I’m grateful for this experience and also for the support of the Erasmus Internship organization.
Many activities in Vienna
- Architecture M.A
- Vienna, Austria
- Alles Wird Gut Architektur
- 01.03.2022-01.09.2022
Since an excursion to Vienna in my third semester, I had already made the decision to complete my mandatory internship not in Germany, but in Vienna. At that time, I was already very impressed by the city and, since I could imagine moving to Vienna at some point in the future, I wanted to get a taste of everyday life and work in Vienna during my internship.
Looking for an apartment in Vienna is not very easy, especially at the beginning of the semester, because a lot of people are looking for an apartment at once. As in Germany, you look for shared flats mainly via WG-gesucht, otherwise there are also many ads on “Willhaben”. However, Vienna has the great advantage that the rents are comparatively cheap, unlike most large German cities. The best and most popular are the neighborhoods around the Ring and Gürtel. I was very lucky in my search for an apartment and found a nice shared flat in the Seventh, probably the hippest neighborhood in Vienna. In general, I would always recommend moving into a shared apartment for a stay abroad, as it is much easier to make friends in the new city.
I completed my internship in a fairly large architecture firm, which also has a large number of interns. We were a total of 10 interns, who all started at the same time as me in March. Since, except for two, all of them were not from Vienna and were also new to the city, we were all able to explore the city and life in Vienna together, which I am very grateful about. Over the course of the internship, a great friendship has developed here that goes far beyond the work and the internship. We often had a beer together after work on the Donau Canal, went swimming together in the Donau on the weekend, or went hiking in the vineyards. I got used to the daily routine in the office very quickly, and over time certain routines became established. For example, we went out to eat together every day as a group of interns in the office canteen, then played a round of foosball or table tennis in the canteen, and then went for a little digestive walk, wich route varied less and less towards the end of the internship. In addition to the activities with the other interns, there were also numerous small events and evenings within our office, where you also got to know the rest of the office better. So in the end, saying goodbye was harder than expected.
Vienna is a city that has a lot to offer – it is not for nothing that it is the most livable city in the world. The city center is adorned with one magnificent building after another and the streets of the surrounding neighborhoods are lined with beautifully decorated old buildings. In general, I noticed that the city is very clean and also does a lot for the preservation of the buildings. In addition, drinking fountains are available throughout the city; especially in the summer when sightseeing with people who are visiting, this is a blessing. The Danube Canal runs through the city, fortunately for me, right in front of my office. This is where people meet, especially in the early evening, and enjoy the beautiful evening atmosphere and residual warmth of the stones on the waterfront while having a drink. Half an hour away from the city center you are at the actual Donau and the Donauinsel. Here you can go swimming, especially in the hot summer months, and sunbathe in the greenery or on the jetties on the Old Donau. Thereby one has a beautiful view, with a mixture of nature, vineyards and urban city silhouette. Those who prefer to spend their weekends actively will not miss out in Vienna either. In addition to the numerous sporting opportunities at the Prater and the Donau, you can also simply go hiking in the vineyards or ride up the serpentine road on a bike. In the vineyards there are Heurige on every corner, where you can enjoy a great view over the vineyards and Vienna and taste the local wines and delicious food. On a classic wine walk in Vienna, you go from Heurigen to Heurigen, enjoying the sun and drinking wine or spritz. Culturally, of course, the city also has a lot to offer. In the Museumsquartier, for example, one museum follows the next, but I can also highly recommend a visit to one of the theaters and the opera. There are often student offers here as well. The nightlife in Vienna also leaves nothing to be desired. So there are, especially in the Seventh and Second District, many cool bars and generally clubs for all kinds of music. I especially liked that there were also dance bars on the Donau, where you could party and dance after swimming with a view of the water.
During my stay in Vienna, I explored not only Vienna, but also the surrounding area. In addition to trips to other parts of Austria, such as Lake Neusiedl or Graz, Vienna’s location makes it ideal to travel to other countries. For example, I took a bike tour to Bratislava and a weekend trip to Budapest. There were many more trips planned, but in the end I decided to spend more time in Vienna, because the time there goes by much faster than one would like and I wanted to enjoy it, especially with the people there. The people in Vienna are, as in probably every capital city, very diverse. Nevertheless, I had at least the feeling that Vienna is overall a fancier and not quite as open city as I had imagined. Depending on the district, one often finds rather unfriendly, often well-heeled Viennese. However, if you have found your circle of friends and your favorite places, you can work around that well. All in all, I found my stay in Vienna very successful and can only recommend it. Vienna is a beautiful city that has something to offer for everyone. I will especially miss the Donau and the view of the vineyards. But also the daily walks during lunch break, where you always discovered new corners and houses of Vienna.
Living in Sevilla
- Architecture M.Sc.
- Spain, Sevilla
- Vázquez Consuegra
- April 2022 – July 2022
My internship in Spain was very spontaneous. I applied right before the six weeks deadline and when the Erasmus confirmation came I had only three weeks left to find a flat, book a flight and insurances. I thought that would be an impossible task and almost didn’t try at all. Looking back, I am so happy that I did try! Because everything worked out just fine just as it usually does and after the slightly exhausting organization I had some of the best months so far.
Before going to Sevilla, I had this expectation of the Spanish people to be as openhearted and extroverted as I knew it from the South Americans. I was a little shocked to find this to be not very true, at least in my experience. It definitely took some time to figure the people out and make genuine connections and I am very grateful that I had this time!
Where I found this expectation to be true was in my Mexican flatmate. She made the first weeks so much easier for me and I found a great friend in her. During the weekends we would go for trips around Sevilla, for example to Granada, Cadiz Lagos, and during the week for Tapas and Tinto de Verano in the evenings. I am very happy to have met her and cannot wait to visit her in Mexico next year! So, I recommend to not get a flat alone but with flatmates because that is a great way to meet other people that don’t work in the same office.
In the architecture office, in which I did my internship, I met some great people too. The other interns were mainly from Italy and especially with one of them I became good friends. Once a week we would go to our favourite bar, Galeria Taberna Anima, together with my flatmate where they played Flamenco Music every Wednesday. Highly recommend that. Another intern was from Croatia and one week a few friends of hers came with one of her professors from Slovenia to visit her and our office.
This was a very happy coincidence because I connected well with them and now will start my next internship in their office in a few weeks.
So, the thing I am most grateful for are definitely the people I met and the connections I made during this internship!
But besides that, I also fell in love with Andalucia and Sevilla itself. The landscape with its mountains and beaches is stunning and the culture so rich that there seems to be a different fiesta or feria every other week. I loved to live by this new rhythm – work in the morning, siesta in the evening and going out at night -, I loved the food and how they put olive oil on everything and I even loved the climate, although I am not going to lie, the late July with 46 degrees every day was hard. If you go to Sevilla, make sure your apartment has airconditioning!
Because of the heat the office had a special summer schedule. We would start at 8am and leave the office at 3pm. An exception was the time right before a submission deadline, when everybody had to stay longer but in general everybody left really punctual. Non-negotiable was the coffee break at 11am. The office had no coffee machine, so we left the office to go to the next bar in small groups every day. Very quickly the Coffee and Tostada con Aceite y Tomate became a daily ritual for me and I already miss that.
In conclusion I can say that this internship abroad contributed highly to my professional growth as an architect and allowed me to network with a lot of interesting people but also helped a lot to my personal growth and gave me many great experiences! I recommend taking this chance and just doing it to everyone who might be thinking about it.
Architekturpraktikum in Kopenhagen
- M.Sc. Architecture
- Denmark, Copenhagen
- 01.09.2020 – 31.08.2021
Meine Erfahrung:
Im Rahmen meines Studiums ist ein Pflichtpraktikum vorgesehen. Wie die meisten Architekturstudenten, hatte ich vor mein Praktikum zwischen meinem Bachelor und Master zu machen. Februar 2020 war gekennzeichnet mit meinem Bachelorabschluss und mit der weltweiten Ausbreitung vom Coronavirus. Dieses Ereignis zeigte globale Auswirkungen und hat auch mein Praktikum beeinflusst.
Mit der Suche nach einem Praktikum muss man ca. ein halbes Jahr vor dem geplanten Beginn anfangen. Für die meisten Architekturbüros bewirbt man sich entweder bis April oder bis Oktober und wenn man eine Zusage bekommt, hat man genug Zeit sich auf die Reise vorzubereiten.
Während des Studiums habe ich schon fast 3 Jahre als studentische Hilfskraft bei einer Architekturfirma in Aachen gearbeitet. Da ich den Überblick vom Alltag eines deutschen Architekturbüro bekommen habe, bewarb ich mich außerhalb Deutschlands. Ich wollte bevorzugterweise nach Skandinavien, wo die Architektur in den letzten Jahrzehnten einen Aufschwung nahm. Nachdem ich etwa 3 Wochen lang nach Stellen gesucht und mich beworben hatte, habe ich einen Platz in einem Büro in Kopenhagen bekommen.
Nach der Zusage will man wahrscheinlich sofort mit der Wohnungssuche anfangen, aber in Dänemark oder zumindest in Kopenhagen funktioniert es anders. Das Wohnungsangebot ist sehr kurzfristig. In den meisten Fällen suchen Mieter jemanden, der schon in 2 Wochen oder höchstens in einem Monat einziehen kann. Aus diesem Grund wird die Suche nach einer Unterkunft schon 3 Monaten vor der Reise wahrscheinlich keinen Erfolg bringen. Um eine Wohnung zu finden gibt es mehrere Möglichkeiten. Auf Facebook gibt es einige Gruppen, in denen WG-Zimmer oder Wohnungen beworben werden, jedoch gibt es dort sehr viele Interessenten und man muss sehr schnell sein und Glück haben, um überhaupt eine Antwort zu bekommen. Zudem gibt es noch spezielle Onlineportale, für die man zwar monatlich bezahlen muss, aber eventuell bessere Chancen hat. Ich habe ein Konto bei https://www.boligportal.dk erstellt und habe relativ schnell ein Zimmer bekommen. Die Preise sind je nach Lage, Größe und Ausstattung sehr verschieden. Durchschnittliche Preise sind ca. 4000-6000 dänische Kronen für ein WG-Zimmer. Günstigere Zimmer liegen dann meistens etwas außerhalb des Zentrums, etwa 30 Minuten mit der Bahn.
Um schnell von A nach B zu kommen, sind Fahrräder sehr praktisch. Das Fahrradnetz ist sehr gut in Kopenhagen ausgebaut, daher empfiehlt es sich schon früh ein Fahrrad zu besorgen. Das kann man entweder gebraucht über Kleinanzeigen auf Facebook, dba.dk und Flohmärkten oder neu in einem der zahlreichen Fahrradläden kaufen. Eine andere Möglichkeit ist Swapfiets, dort kann man monatlich ein Fahrrad mieten. Dies beinhaltet auch einen Reparaturservice und kostet je nach Ausstattung 160-180 Kronen. Das lohnt sich vor allem wenn man vorhat, nur für ein paar Monate zu bleiben, wenn der Aufenthalt länger ist, sollte man eher ein Fahrrad kaufen. Falls man jedoch den öffentlichen Transport für die tägliche Fahrt zur Arbeit nutzen will, kann man sich eine Monatskarte bei dsb.dk besorgen. Wenn man dies nicht braucht, lohnt es sich für Einzelfahrten eine sogenannte Rejsekort zuzulegen.
Das Wetter hat einen großen Einfluss auf die Kultur und Lebensweise in Kopenhagen. In den kälteren Monaten verbringt man sehr viel Zeit im Inneren, da es viel regnet und es oft sehr windig ist. Es macht also Sinn eine Regenjacke und eventuell eine Regenhose mitzubringen, die man in Deutschland günstiger kaufen kann. Bei schönem Wetter jedoch sind die Kopenhagener Bewohner*innen sehr viel draußen aktiv und genießen die Sonne.
Die Stadt bietet zahlreiche Möglichkeiten seine freie Zeit zu verbringen, besonders im Sommer. Es gibt viele Museen, Ausstellungen, Galerien und vor allem architektonische Highlights, sowie Veranstaltungen, Konzerte und Parties in der ganzen Stadt. Ein beliebtes Ausgehviertel ist vor allem Vesterbro und der dort befindliche Meatpacking District. Im Stadtzentrum gibt es viele Orte, um baden zu gehen; die Dän*innen nutzen diese nicht nur im Sommer, sondern eigentlich zu jeder Jahreszeit. Zudem ist auch der nächste Badestrand in Amager nur 20-30 Minuten mit dem Fahrrad entfernt. Weiterhin ist der Rest von Dänemark, wie z.B. Aarhus oder die Westküste, mit dem Zug in wenigen Stunden gut erreichbar und auch Schweden ist nur eine halbe Stunde entfernt.
Zusammenfassend kann man sagen, dass ich mein Praktikum in Kopenhagen sehr genossen habe. Die Stadt ist wunderschön und auch die Arbeit hat mir sehr viel Spaß gemacht. Ich kann es also nur empfehlen sich dort zu bewerben. Wenn man die Möglichkeit hat, sollte man jedoch länger als 6 Monate bleiben, um die Stadt und die dänische Lebensweise bestmöglich erleben zu können.
Praktikum in Wiener Architekturbüro
- Architekur, M.A.
- Österreich, Wien
- Goos Architekten
- 01.03.21 – 31.08.21
Meine Erfahrung:
Nach meinem Erasmussemester in Wien entschied ich mich meinen Aufenthalt zu verlängern, indem ich mein sechsmonatiges Pflichtpraktikum vom 01.03.2021 bis zum 31.08.2021 im Architekturbüro Goos Architekten absolvierte. Ich bewarb mich damals für mehrere Architekturbüros in Wien. Schon nach wenigen Wochen meldete sich dann das Büro Goos Architekten bei mir und ich wurde für das Praktikum angenommen. Dadurch, dass ich das Praktikum an mein Erasmussemester anknüpfte, war die Wohnungssuche und das soziale Umfeld schon Bestand. Denn auch weitere Erasmusfreunde entschieden sich nach ihrem Auslandssemester ein Praktikum in Wien zu absolvieren, was ich auch sehr empfehlen kann. Doch in Wien ist die Wohnungssuche und auch das Kennenlernen von neuen Freunden nicht sehr schwer. Zum einen findet man auf WG Gesucht immer preisgünstige Wohnungen in den beliebten Bezirken 1-9 und zudem bietet die Stadt sehr viele Freizeitangebote für ihre Bewohner an. Hierbei kann man sich auch beim ESN (Erasmus Student Network) der TU Wien anmelden, welche tolle Freizeitaktivitäten für Erasmusstudenten anbietet.
Meine Wahl für das Architekturbüro Goos Architekten ergab sich daraus, dass mir die schon gebauten Projekte gut gefielen und das Team sehr klein war und man somit stärker in die Arbeit mit eingebunden wurde. Die Schwerpunkte des Unternehmens sind Architekturprojekte in diversen Größenordnungen, einschließlich der Innenarchitektur, sowie der Außenanlagenplanung. Das Angebot erstreckt sich über alle Leistungsphasen, vom Entwurf bis zur Ausführung, der Bauüberwachung sowie die Bereiche Projektentwicklung und Projektmanagement.
Meine Aufgaben waren divers verteilt. Zum Beispiel zeichnete ich Ausführungspläne für eine Dachgeschosswohnung in Wien, entwarf eine Küche für eine Eigentumswohnung oder erstellte Konzeptstudien für einen Entwurf für ein sogenanntes „Lerndorf“ für Schulklassen. Die Mitarbeiter und mein Chef bemühten sich sehr nett, mir einen gesamten Überblick des Alltags eines Architekten zu zeigen und Grillabende im Büro gehörten zur wöchentlichen Routine. Ich fühlte mich somit sehr wohl in meinem Praktikantenalltag und lernte sehr viel dazu.
Die Stadt Wien und auch Österreich selbst stellten sich als sehr lebenswert heraus. In Erinnerung bleiben auf jeden Fall der Badespaß an der Alten Donau, die vielen tollen Museen, die gemütlichen Cafés und die Ausflüge in die Alpen.
