In my final week of Bilfinger I spent the first couple of days back working in the Gothenburg office with the other Bilfinger members there. I was assigned to help with project documents in a large tender that the rest of the office has been working on. It was really interesting to get introduced to another project and to see what Bilfinger's involvement would entail. On Tuesday afternoon, I then flew back to Frankfurt and returned to Wiesbaden. It was great to see the familiarity of the place again and I realised that I had grown really fond of Wiesbaden in the month that I had been there at the start of my internship. I spent my last couple of days in the Major Projects department and had meetings with Axel Metzger and Frank Becker again, discussing the work that I did in Sweden. I also had to write a final report in which I gave an overview of my weekly tasks, the areas of knowledge that I have expanded and all the new things I have learnt about working for a large company as well as in different countries and then some feedback of the overall experience and tasks that Bilfinger provided me with. I got to discuss this report with Mr Metzger and I had a meeting with Stephen Cardwell, Head of Bridge Department, talking over this as well. It was great to go back to the Technical Office and Major Projects as well to once again thank everyone who I had met, who had given me tasks, and who had helped me out. It was the 'Night of the Churches' in Wiesbaden on the Friday night and in one of the churches there were two pipe organs which were playing some German compositions in a performance together. It was really beautiful to listen to and I had never heard two organs played simultaneously before. It was a wonderful way to end what was a wonderful experience both in Gothenburg and in Wiesbaden.

I am sure some of you have heard the saying that makes the title of this blog before, but I feel it is very appropriate for my last blog of the summer. With pretty much everything in life, nothing runs smoothly or follows a plan exactly. This also applies to construction projects. There are set-backs, delays, unforeseen circumstances and there is a constant need for adaptation, inventiveness and ingenuity. When we talk about careers, very few people (if any at all!) reach the pinnacles of success without any obstacles or set-backs and there is no straight-forward plan to get there. We need to be adaptable, accept any knock backs that come our way and turn them into a positive motivation, and put in that hard work to reach our goals. It is through each rung of the ladder that we climb, each milestone of success in our career plan, that we build our confidence, feel the satisfaction of putting in the hard work, and refocus our desire to fulfil our potential, (potential that the Saltire Foundation has seen in us) to become the best we can be. I believe that having completed each of our Saltire internships, we have just passed one of those milestones. It is a great sense of achievement and something to be proud of.  

I would just like to thank the Saltire Foundation and Bilfinger Berger once again for giving me this incredible opportunity and I feel that all the skills and knowledge I have acquired over the past eight weeks will hold me in great stead for my future career! I have had a superb experience and have many wonderful memories!