Week 1 of my internship at Boston Scientific is complete! It’s been exciting to settle into the place where I’ll be working for the rest of the summer, meet a lot of people, and learn about my project. This is my first internship at a medical device company, and it being in Costa Rica makes it even more new and interesting.
First day at Boston fiScientific!
On the first day, I met my supervisor and many other engineers at the company. Everyone is so friendly and open to helping me with whatever I may need. It seems like a great atmosphere to work in. Although all of the engineers are required to know English, Spanish is spoken around the office most of the time. My Spanish skills are still not great, but even after the first week I can tell that I am understanding more than when I started. I’m keeping a list of words that I hear and don’t know to look up and study later. (Google Translate has become a constant open tab on my computer.) My coworkers are always excited when I tell them this is my first time in Costa Rica, and have given me many recommendations of places to travel on the weekends. Let the trip planning begin!
The Boston Scientific location I am working at in Coyol is largely a manufacturing location, but is becoming more involved in the product design side as well. I am working in the Process Development department, where much of this innovation is happening. I will be working on a new product in the Urology area that is currently in the exploratory phase. This means that work on it is just beginning, which is exciting for me, as I will have the potential to make a large impact on its design. This week I did a lot of background research on Boston Scientific’s current Urology products, as well as research on the materials that are expected to be used in the new product.
Next week at my internship, I’ll be continuing my research, as well as observing the manufacturing lines to give me a better understanding of that process. We’ll also hopefully be starting some preliminary prototypes for the new product. I’ve learned a lot already at my internship, and I’m looking forward to contributing as much as I can to the new product’s design this summer!
This week we also moved into our condos that we’ll be living in for the rest of the summer. I’m happy to finally be all unpacked and feel like I really live in Costa Rica. We have some non-internship related goals for the summer as well, which include going on at least one adventure each week and getting really good at bowling (there’s a bowling alley right down the street). I can’t wait to see what the remaining 8 weeks in Costa Rica will bring!