After finally getting my J1 and flying to New York, my training at WorkAC started. I first got to meet the team and visit the office space before starting to learn about the project I will be assigned to. The project was BeMA, the Beirut Museum of Art. Being Lebanese it really meant something to me to work on a project that is located in my home country. In order to start learning about the projects I started to attend meeting with the consultants to be more aware of the development of the project. The first challenge that I had to face while participating in the creation of options for the design is getting to learn the US standards. Being used to the International standards and the metrics system I tried as much as possible to overcome this conversion barrier.
It has nearly been a month since my program has started and I have already learnt a lot. First of all training in an international company that deals with projects all over the globe is really eyes opening on the different codes, regulations, work ethics, systems… each country follows. Furthermore, the work dynamic of the office encourages to be even more invested in the projects we are assigned to. Having regular meetings with the founding partners as well as the consultants pushes us to keep on developing the design and explore more. Therefore, the first month has been really enriching and leaves me eager for the rest to come.
Jumping to the life side of this exchange looking for an apartment was not very easy. I had a hard time finding a place to live, but now that I am settled I am ready to make the most out of this experience, the culture and everything it has to give!
