Lost and Found in space: Navigating my first month as an intern at Laika

By Raki Adu

Moving abroad to work in a communications agency for 4 months? People at home thought I was crazy for doing something this big, but as Albert Einstein once said, “A ship is always safe at the shore, but that is not what it is built for”. So, I put on my big girl pants, looked endlessly for a suitable company and finally ended up at the best (and possibly only) spaceship in Berlin!

Exploring Berlin’s business cosmos

Finding Laika, I would have to thank my teacher, as well as Isabelle van der Trappen, one of the Space Dogs. Being in Belgium and having to find an internship abroad by mailing a ton of companies (and not hearing back from them) was hard. After several months of looking, I contacted my teacher saying how I really wanted to go to Berlin, but it’s difficult to find an internship and the deadline was coming close. She gave me the contact information of Laika, which she had because Isabelle has studied the same degree as me, and the previous year she had also done her internship at Laika. 

When I emailed Michaela, I got a response in less than 30 minutes. I was very shocked and excited, as this was the first time I had received a quick (and positive) response. She invited me to a one-on-one meeting and the rest is history…

Flew to another world and got settled

I have always lived in the countryside, so being in a huge city like Berlin is a big change for me. Sometimes I get overwhelmed by all the noises and have to take some time for myself every now and then. But I still love it here. Moving abroad and leaving your friends and family for months is tough, but gives me the opportunity to be on my own, which used to be very hard for me. 

My first day went smoothly, except for one program that kept me up at night until the fourth week (won’t name call, but you know who you are). The team was extremely welcoming from the first day on. We ate some Asian food during lunch, which was the best surprise ever, because I love noodles and rice with curry, oh my god! 

What I love about my internship at Laika is the variety of tasks. Studying International Communication Management, you see all aspects of communication, making it hard to choose in what direction I want to go. During my internship, I am part of the marketing team and also supporting the PR team. Being able to focus on these two different angles of communication make it clear what I want to do in the future. 

I like to feel and be productive. If I don't know what to do, I’ll ask for a task in the SOS-channel on Slack, the main internal communication tool. I like Slack, because it’s not that serious. We all say good morning and good evening every working day. That’s nice as I get to hear from the people that work remotely, since I don’t work with them daily. 

Laika gives you a lot of space to combine working with other stuff. Because of this, there are plenty of colleagues that work remotely. It would be so great to meet everyone from Laika at a certain point, so that’s definitely on my internship bucket list ;).

The Space Dogs are like a real pack and learn from each other

Working in an international team is something I was really curious about. Learning everyone’s background story of how they got to Berlin or at Laika is so interesting. It gives you a lot of different perspectives and ideas. Being able to combine these different cultural backgrounds and create original projects is a big plus. 

Another good thing is that we have a lot of learning and growing opportunities. We have a lot of feedback moments, which is good for when I’m stuck or have questions. On the other hand we have all kinds of workshops related to communications/work life. All these things ensure a good team atmosphere and personal development. I have already learned so much in this first month, and I’m looking forward to three more!

Although I’m only 20 years old, I’m excited for everything that will come. I don’t know what the future holds, but if I had to quote Albert Einstein again, I would say "Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning". He was a very inspiring guy if you ask me.