Embedded Internship Experiences in Mostar

Bethany and Gloria hard at work learning to use CAD.

Beginning on Monday, students began the embedded part of their internship as they were paired with local companies at INTERA and in Mostar that align with their career interests. Ana went to great length to find out what they wanted to do after they graduate from DRSS and find local companies that aligned with those career interests.

Bethany and Gloria are at Alfa Therm, which is headquartered at INTERA. There, they're working with Computer Aided Design (CAD) drawings to learn how to read building plans and turn them into 3D drawings. Given their shared interest in engineering, it's a perfect fit!

Their task consists of taking drawings and turning them into 3D visual representations.

Victoria is interning at Reunion magazine, a local print and digital magazine company that does news stories. She wrote an awesome guest article for their online magazine on her first day, which was published on Tuesday. Check out Changing my Perspective here!

Victoria and her mentor at Reunion.

Austin is at Four Game Studio, where he's working on designing a video game! He couldn't be happier, and video game design is what he hopes to go into one day, so it's a great experience.

Austin hard at work on his video game at Four Game Studio, one of the companies located at INTERA.

His game has something to do with cats and dogs that have human heads... beyond that I'm kind of in the dark.

And finally, Bri is at Bljesak, a local news company with a lot of digital presence and online stories. During her visit, she's had the opportunity to write two stories already and sit in on a press conference that included representatives of the government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, one of the two entities that make up the country (the second being Republika Srpska).

Bri has her own press credentials!

One of her articles (which have been translated into Croatian) is about her rafting trip, while a second is about her time in Mostar and how her perspective has changed since being here. It's worth including the translation below:

Mostar - a city known most for a war that ended nearly twenty years ago. Before leaving for Bosnia and Herzegovina, I knew very little that had been taught in world history. We had a lesson over wars and genocides, but I specifially had the Cambodian genocide. Sadly, knowing that a war happened in Mostar was the only thing I really knew. When people think of Mostar, they usually think of this devastating time. Howevevr, when I think of Mostar, I think of kind people, amazing scenery, and outstanding food. 

Since arriving in Mostar, I have made new friends all around the city, from my homestay family to others I met in a small cafe near Old Town. Everyone is welcoming, even to someone from a small city in Ohio who can only say "hvala" [thank you]. Even when we can't always understand each other, the smiles never stop.

 A lot of learning has also taken place since being here. From learning how to use an Arduino board and fly a drone to learning simple words in Croatian. Thanks to INTERA Technology Park and the friends I have met here, all of this learning will follow me back to Ohio.

Waking up to the mountains every morning has also been a new experience for me. The highest elevation we have in Ohio is a hill about one meter high, so getting to see beautiful mountains whenever I look outside has been one of the best things. Of course, Stari Most and Sarajevo were also gorgeous. And every place we go, getting to hear the backstories and the history of some of the historical spots gives more depth and meaning to even the smallest of statues. In America, finding a nice place to eat can be very hard. In Mostar, nearly every place to eat has had the best food. I've also tried new foods that I thought I would never try, such as eel, squid, and river lobster. However after all this amazing food, the best meal I've had since being in Mostar was food that my homestay family made. Even though I'm not exactly sure what it was, it was the best food I've ever tasted. 

Now when I think of Mostar, I don't think of war - I think of a beautiful city with beautiful people, and I hope to return in the near future.

Also on Monday, June 12, it was Austin's birthday! We celebrated with cake during our visit to Kravice, the beautiful waterfalls near Mostar. It was cold, but some of the kids went swimming anyways! Afterwards they took us to a very nice restaurant called Prirodni vodeni park "Koćuša", where everything was delicious and the neaby waterfalls provided excellent scenery.

Happy birthday, Austin!

At Kravice waterfalls! Thanks again to Telemach for sponsoring our trip, and for the shirts!

The water was chilly, but that didn't stop Gloria, Bri, and Bethany from jumping in!

I forgot to get a group picture here, but I think the food is more impressive anyways. It was really, really good.

The next day internships continued, and I should mention that I got to take the students around in an electric car that we were given to use by Guma M, a local car dealership that sells Renault and Nissan. They allowed us to use this new Renault Z.E., an all-electric car with zero emissions, during our final days here in the city. It's been a lot of fun to drive. I can't even tell when it's on, it's so quiet!

Riding to work in style!

Thanks to Guma M for letting us use the Renault Z.E. during our visit!

During the second internship day, Ana and I were interviewed by local TV for a story about our internship, along with Bethany and Gloria. Looking forward to sharing the story when it's posted!

Ana talking to Naša TV about the internship experience.

I hate being interviewed... I never say the right things. Hopefully all of my mistakes are lost in translation!

Bethany and Gloria talk about what they're doing and why they love Mostar!

After internships the next day we traveled to Herzeg ethnic park, which has an amazing restaurant attached to it. It's actually the one at which Amanda and I ended our trip last year, as we had to leave before everyone else, so it was great to be able to stay longer and see the park.

The students enjoyed the playground after dinner... you could be forgiven for forgetting I'm chaperoning high schoolers :) Glad they had fun though!

Chickens! And other birds too... but chickens!

Taking a stroll through the ethno village.

Up next we visisted Medjugorje, a Catholic church that is a pilgrimmage site for many (which is high up in the hills). 

There's also this statue of Jesus.

Mass was going on during our visit, and it seemed like a large one as there was a Cardinal visiting.

As I finish this post, the students are going into the last few hours of their internship experiences at local companies. Later today we'll go to a pool party at Mateo's house with our friends from INTERA Technology Park for one last night together before we leave for Dubrovnik tomorrow evening (after some activities during the day). It seems like just yesterday that we began this experience, and while everyone is tired, we're all energized by everything we've done and seen and experienced through this exchange. I'll have at least one more post about the trip, but now it's time to start getting packed and getting ready to go home!