Arantxa's farewell

The six months international internship of Arantxa reached its end. Supported by the Basque Government and the Basque Country University, this initiative allowed Arantxa to work abroad and improve her technical skills in the areas of Quantity Surveying and Cost Management. It was a very good experience for us to have Arantxa and we wish her the best, both at personal and professional levels. We hope we can meet again!

We asked Arantxa to share with our blog the final balance of this experience:

"It’s been almost six months since I arrived to Portugal to work as an intern at DIMSCALE. It had always been on my mind to live abroad since I started university and this was an exceptional chance. Besides, because of the high youth unemployment rate in my country, this opportunity was an excellent way of improving my professional skills. To sum up, it was a win-win situation. That’s why when I heard about a grant that allowed me to have a work experience in a foreign country, I didn’t doubt for a second that I had to give it a try. Luckily, I was one of the many participants that were chosen for the chance to work abroad for six months. 

Since I started university, I’d been working as an intern in two different companies related to architecture, but in this case the type of work was completely different from the ones that I had to carry out in my previous experiences. This was one of the reasons why I was glad to come to DIMSCALE. It was a good opportunity to learn about something I didn’t know anything about. Quantity Surveying has been the main task I’ve been performing, and it was a very enriching experience because I had no clue about it and I’ve learnt more than I expected. I also had the chance to be part of a very interesting project (Arrebita Porto) that aims to rehabilitate a building that’s situated in Porto. It wasn’t interesting only because of the social side of the project, but also because the team involved in the project is composed of an international team and this way I could practice English. 

The more valuable thing about this experience was that Quantity Surveying is the best way to get to know accurately an architectural project and learn about different constructive solutions and materials. I mean, the process requires being meticulous and thorough about every detail and the outcome was that I learnt about architectural aspects that I hadn’t paid attention to before. 

Another reason why I wanted to be part of this experience is that I wanted to practice English because I didn´t have a chance to speak in English and I needed to improve oral expression. After six months I’ve realized that my English now is better than before, and that was one of my goals, so it was good practice. Besides that, I wanted to make the most of my stay linguistically speaking, so I attended Portuguese classes for five months and even if my Portuguese level is not very high, I can easily understand a conversation and I’m able to speak a little bit. Therefore, I’m really happy because I didn’t expect that I’d be able to understand the language. Even if people say that Spanish and Portuguese are similar languages, it’s not as easy as it seems, so I’m happy that I achieved my purpose. 

Professionally speaking it was a good experience because, as I said before, it was like attending a Quantity Surveying course. It was very beneficial because it is another type of task that I can perform and it adds value to my CV. 

My stay here in Portugal has been very positive. Getting to know another culture and language was great, and I was very well received. I loved the country and the people, and of course the food. I don’t know about other countries, but being a foreigner in Portugal is a pleasant experience and I really appreciated being treated as I wasn’t a foreigner. It’s a good country to be a foreigner, that’s for sure.

Working at DIMSCALE was a really good experience. It was completely different from the companies I had worked before coming here. I had the feeling that it is a place where everybody’s opinion is taken into account. I think that’s the way it should always be, even if it is not the way the places I’ve worked before function. It also gave me the chance to be part of international projects, and it was a really fulfilling experience. 

In conclusion, it was an unforgettable experience from the professional and personal perspective and I’m glad I was given the chance to live this adventure." 

- Arantxa Arano

Arantxa's farewell lunch with DIMSCALE

Arantxa's first two months in DIMSCALE

On January 21st we welcomed Arantxa Arano in our office, that is doing an international internship with us. With a degree in Building Engineering, Arantxa is helping us with several projects and obtaining training in the areas of Quantity Surveying and Financial Project Management. We asked Arantxa to write for the blog about her experience in these first two months.

 MY EXPERIENCE AS AN INTERN ON DIMSCALE

"It’s already more than two months since I arrived to Portugal to work as an intern. It’s true what they say, time flies by, because I remember the day I got here as it was yesterday. I still have four months ahead, and I’m really enjoying my stay in here. I’m glad I was given this opportunity, because working or studying abroad had always been on my mind, and this was great timing because I had just finished studying a master’s degree before moving to this country.

As a civil engineer, until now, I only had had experience working as an intern on construction sites, so working on Dimscale was a great opportunity to learn more about the process of making the measurements that are the key of a good financial control and also indispensable when having to construct or renovate a building. The previous experiences I had as an intern were really good to understand the building process, because I was able to see the construction of the building live, getting to understand how all elements of a building work together. However, I recently realized that the procedure of measuring the different elements that are part of a building is a very laborious work that gives you a thorough idea of the whole process. Therefore, you get to understand the way buildings work because you have to gain an understanding of the way materials and constructive solutions function. Therefore, learning about building measurement is being very satisfying. When I was in college, I had a subject about how measurements are supposed to be made, but I was only given a general idea of the process, and right now I’m having the chance to really learn the technique.

Being part of the Arrebita!Porto project is also one of the reasons why I decided to come here, not just because the social reasons involved on the project, but also because I have the opportunity to work in an international environment, getting to work with architects and engineers from all over the world. It has been a really rewarding experience and I am looking forward to continuing working with them so I can contribute in my small way to the innovative idea of rehabilitation at zero cost.

Besides this, practicing my English was another goal of mine, and this adventure also meets those requirements. In addition, I’m attending Portuguese classes, so I can add another language to my CV, even though it’s a very basic level. I can at least say that I almost understand the language, even if I’m not capable of speaking it yet. Actually, I’m very happy because of that since I had problems to understand the language even if Spanish and Portuguese are supposed to be similar languages.

To sum up, the four months I have left might be useful for expanding my knowledge on constructive concepts and languages, so I can’t complain. Right now I’m focused on making the most of what this company and country have to offer.

Best regards/Melhores cumprimentos/Un saludo/Agur bat

Arantxa."

Welcome Arantxa!

Today is the first day of Arantxa Arano in DIMSCALE! Coming from Spain, Arantxa will be working with us through an international internship. With a degree in Building Engineering, she has also Training in Thermal Engineering and work experience as site manager assistant.

Arantxa will be helping us on managing several work on sight projects, such as Arrebita!Porto and Rua do Alecrim apartment rehabilitation, being also qualified to develop some work on Quantity Surveying and Financial Project Management areas. Currently we have several projects on hold, on which Arantxa could be an added-value to the DIMSCALE team. She will help us also on our international expansion strategy, highlighting the Spanish language countries.

It will be very important for us that Arantxa receives good inputs from this first experience with us - in this way we'll make sure that she learns a lot about Project Management, Financial Project Management and Quantity Surveying. Also it will be important that this internship can be as rich as possible for her regarding the cultural and social aspects.

We are sure that this will be a very good experience for both Arantxa and DIMSCALE. We will continue to divulge her internship experience on our blog.

Welcome Arantxa!