As a trainee carpenter in Finland

My name is Philipp and I did a vocational training as a carpenter. For my internship abroad I wanted to go to a country where wood plays a central role. There are many forests in Finland and the timber industry is the third largest industry there - so it was just perfect.

I went to an inter-company school in Finland. There the trainees build houses, which the school then sells! The Finnish master craftsman explained to us trainees what had to be done. He didn't speak English, so others had to translate for me. What helped me: in theory I already knew how to do it from vocational school in Germany. To do all that in practice now - that was great!

The other trainees were younger than me, 16-17 years old. They don't get paid for their training, you could sometimes tell by their motivation. Nevertheless, we got on well with each other and mostly worked in pairs.

I stayed with a host family - the best host family you can have. There was a programme almost every day so that I could get to know Finland. The typical Finnish sauna was also prepared for me on the first evening. Frisbee golf, also typically Finnish, was something I had to google first. My guest brother often took me along. The principle is like playing golf, but with a frisbee and a basket.

Because the Finnish trainees have a 28-hour week, I had plenty of time for sightseeing. For example, I visited Helsinki and the national park Nuuksio with great old trees and many lakes.

Updated on Woensdag, 08/12/2021