Last but not least, Angel point of view

Hello followers!

I’m Angel Jimenez. In this entry i will share with you my point of view since i arrived Germany. Germany is a country with a beautiful landscape, there are rivers, forest in perfect conditions, the streets are very clean, you won’t find a single rubbish on the floor like candy wrappers and lot of people here uses train and bicycle as means of transport so the air is not polluted.

 The people here is very friendly they like foreigners and are very interested in their cultures.

 Almost everybody understands English but if you are looking for a good job, German is a must. In my company for example, all members involved in the project i work has an English level almost bilingual.

We have meetings twice a week, on tuesdays one meeting standing in a circle and one by one explain the current task, problem, etc... There are around 20 people gathered, here i describe my task in English and everybody interacts with me.

And fridays in a big conference room where the project boss show graphics and explain lot of confidential information that i’m not allowed to reveal in this post :) In this meeting we are around 40 people, the boss explains and asks members in German, here I can’t ask for an English translation because I would delay all the steps and it is already two hours conference.

Last saturday all spanish students met at Spich to watch Madrid-Barcelona and talk about our final projects for Ies Campanillas. We are really having a good time here, missing family and friends but getting work experience and improving english fluency. This weekend we plan to go bowling and köln center to buy souvenir gifts for special people and hang out all group.

I suggest to all those who has the possibility to do their internship in other country to stop thinking, you will not regret.

 Regards, Angel.

My first month in Koln

Hello

I am Manuel Sánchez. I work at DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service), the company is in Bonn. Jorge and i wake up at 5:00 and we come back home at 15:00 we were unable to stop for lunch, during the first two weeks. Now we are leaving the house at 6:15 and come back home at 15:00 and we have a break for lunch, we pay the food, not like the rest of Erasmus. The first two weeks we did pc inventory, there are about 1000 peoples in the company. The third week we registered 3000 publications, and last week we didn’t once. Many days we have to wait 1 hour to get into the office because there isn´t key.

Erasmus has been a good experience for life, but not for learning.

This is only a part, we have anecdotes for other day.

Our third Week

Hi!
It is our third week in Köln. We are  accustomed to lifestyle in Germany. There are very big companies in all Köln; Dani and me are working in REWE. We are in diferent departments but we always have lunch together. The rest of my impresions of Köln are very good. The transports are very punctual and i can see very beautiful views while I'm staying in the train.

In the company we've got some work. Maybe we are working an hour in all the day, because the persons lose a lot of time explaining us the functions of the project.

Our partners are very sociable, and they show us interesting places in köln.

We can say some words in german, and it is a dificult language.

And it's all for now!

We'll see you soon!

Sprechen Sie Englisch oder Spanisch?

Here they are some pictures and comments from Sarah in her week in Cologne.

 

The students' first steps in Germany

 

 The Rhein River

 Michael and Angel at their internship company

 Traditional German Bratwurst

At Georg-Simon-Ohm-Schule

All of us in front of the Cathedral

 The students and one of the teachers from the host school, Georg-Simon-Ohm-Schule

 The famous bridge with hundreds of locks. Couples put a lock on the bridge with their names on it and throw the key into the Rhein River. 

 DAAD, another company where 2 of the students are working in Bonn

 Out for dinner with 3 of my students in their little town where their living, Spich

 Our tour guides for the day are standing on the ends, Matthias and Regina. They're two teachers from the host school in Cologne and they were so nice!

The view of the city center from one of the bridges

The students having their first German beer "Kölsch" and some typical German food

First day at work!!!

Angel Fco Jimenez and me (Michael) are doing our internship at Talanx / HDI-Gerling. HDI-Gerling is a big insurance in Germany. We meet there a spanish guy who lives here for 18 years now, he is called Iñaki. He introduced us into our new jobs and helped us a lot. There are 2500 employees in this company and the building is very large!! All people are very kind and they help us a lot too. We are going to make some applications in Java and XML. Here are some photos.

 Angel in the office

 Michael in the office

 Angel in front of HDI

Michael in front of HDI

The life in Köln

Esperando el avión en el aeropuerto de Málaga.
Waiting for the airplane at Malaga Airport.

First of all I want to say "thanks" to Michael Kunze for all the effort and attention. Without his help, we only would stay at home. He explained us all the train stops and all the streets. He translates us from German and English to Spanish at any time. Tomorrow we will start the work. See you in Köln.

Yesterday was the first day of work and Alberto and me saw the company. The name of the company is Rewe and is a supermarket. I have search information about my work because this is new for me and I want learn.

The road from my apartment to my work more or less is 40 minutes but with music good is more short. You can download my music for do it the way more short in this link.

DaniCFlow - Contraste

I hope you like it.

First Impressions of Cologne

When we arrived in Cologne, two teachers from our partner school, Matthias and Regina, were waiting for us at the airport to take us all to our residences.  During the drive, we were given our first view of the city where these six students will spend the next nine weeks of their lives.  We all agreed that Cologne looks like a beautiful city and a great place to live.  

Today, we met the same two teachers again at the cathedral and got a special tour from Matthias through the inside of the cathedral and around the old area of Cologne.  Afterward, we went to a typical German restaurant, where the students were given their first taste of the typical beer of Cologne called "Kölsch" as well as some authentic German food. 

Afterwards, the students had some things to do in order to get settled into their apartments.  I, on the other hand, was able to do some more sight-seeing on my own around the city. I took a long walk through the park along the Rhein river, saw a few of the 12 Roman churches scattered throughout the city, and even had the chance to do some shopping along the main shopping street in the center of the city.  


Tomorrow, we'll go to Georg-Simon-Ohm-BerufSkolleg for a welcome meeting, where I'll introduce myself and the students and give a brief oral presentation about our IT vocational program at IES Campanillas.  The rest of my time in Cologne will be spent visiting the companies where the students will be completing their internships and completing important paperwork.  The students will begin working on Monday.  


After spending only about a day and a half in Cologne, I can say that I am entirely enchanted by this city.  The architecture is gorgeous and to me, the location of the Rhein river and grassy parks make the city seem a little less city-like.  Also, it seems like there are plenty of things for the students to do in their free time in the city as well as outside of Cologne.  It almost makes me wish I could stay with the students and live in Cologne for the next nine weeks! 


Sarah Odebralski
IES Campanillas English Language Assistant