My internship at Flen Health
Namaste, my name is Manish. I was born in Nepal and moved to Belgium at the age of 13. I am currently pursuing my Bachelor's degree in Pharmaceutical and Biological Laboratory Technology.
The timeframe for my internship was supposed to be for 14 weeks however due to the COVID-19 crisis, the practical work was put on hold after five weeks.
I am involved in the Research & Development department at Flen Health. During my internship here, I focused on resistance testing, ensuring that our projects run smoothly and also keeping the work area safe are few of my key responsibilities.
The impact of COVID-19 on my daily work has been huge and changes were made to cope with the lockdown enforced by the government. As a result, I have focused more on literature studies at home. Even if current times are challenging, I am still able to learn a lot due to remote guidance from my supervisor and my team members.
Learning and applying valuable knowledge and gaining experience which cannot be obtained solely by reading books and the support of experts helps me to grow in my field of study.
Besides the impact of COVID-19, I mostly enjoy being able to work independently and the friendliness of my team. It gives me the freedom to experiment but it also reassures me that my team trusts me. To me, an encouraging work environment is “the cherry on top of the cake”!
One thing that I have discovered about myself during this internship is that I can learn in plenty of different ways. We took the given lockdown challenge as an opportunity to find new internship approaches and this effort makes a huge difference.
My advice for applicants would be to show that you are driven by ambition and passion for what you do. Strive for self-improvement, work independently and don’t be afraid to share your ideas. Most importantly don’t be afraid to ask questions.
