Finland: Jakob Knauss

Program: JYU Achilles Tendon Research Internship, Summer

To explore international internship options available to UW-Madison undergraduate students, visit the Intern Abroad webpage or meet with an Intern Abroad advisor.

Jakob’s Major: Biomedical Engineering

How did the JYU internship fit into your academic and career plans?

The JYU internship fit perfectly into my academic and career plans. Throughout my undergraduate career to this point, I had several co-op and internship opportunities in industry, but I did not have any academic research experience. As a biomedical engineering student with a focus in biomechanics, this opportunity to work with one of the top tendon researchers in the world was invaluable. Working with an international research team was also important because I will have to work with individuals from different cultures and backgrounds in any career path I decide to pursue.

Most challenging moment of internship or time abroad? Most memorable moment?

The most challenging part of my time abroad was being away from friends and family due to the 8-hour time difference between Wisconsin and Finland. However, I learned to enjoy the time to myself and coordinated times to call my parents on the weekends. It was also nice to have two other interns from UW-Madison to eat lunch with and spend time with outside of work. The most memorable moment was going on a weekend trip to the lab supervisor’s summer cottage. I enjoyed the true Finnish sauna experience, had some delicious food, and learned a lot about Finnish culture. The supervisors really went out of their way to make the experience as rewarding for me as possible. This included the weekend trip to the summer cottage and having a week off to travel independently (which I used to visit the neighboring Nordic countries of Sweden and Norway).

What suggestions would you have for students considering this internship (or international internships in general)?

My top suggestion to students considering any internship abroad is to embrace all of the new experiences and opportunities that come your way. That being said, new experiences can be hard to process and potentially impact your mental health, so make sure you set aside time to connect with friends and families and find activities that you enjoy back home. For me, those activities included attending football (soccer) matches in my host city as well as in other cities I visited during my time abroad.

Where would you like to travel next?

This opportunity to live and work in Finland for 11 weeks has made me even more excited to travel in the future and even potentially pursue a career outside of the United States. Having had the opportunity to explore several European countries after studying abroad in Spain and interning in Finland, I am eager to travel to other parts of the world in Asia, Africa, and South America.