Back in the Working World and Loving my Feiernabend

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So the school phase has finally ended and I have started an internship in Remscheid Germany. Finding an internship, even unpaid, was no easy task and I did not find it until the end of January and we had to start beginning of February. My job is working for city marketing for the city of Remscheid where I have lived for the last 4 months. City marketing is basically event planning for the city. We plan events like an auto show and organize the weekly farmers market. My office is in the main government building and is only a 20 minute bus ride from my home. Our room has 2 other people that work in city marketing and the Mayors chauffer is also in our office. I have actually gone on a couple to drives with him and the Mayor when things are slow around the office.

The internship has been really good for my German since English is never used in the office and even my boss said his English is terrible so I will be able to practice my German a lot. Working in Germany can be very different. My work day is from 9am to only 4pm and then on Friday I get off at like noon or 1pm. It is also interesting to see how important paper work is in the German office. Every document must be sent with an official city stamp and the paper work isn’t useful without it. At times the language can be very difficult to overcome but every day I feel like I am more comfortable speaking and accepting that people right away will know I am not German. Every time I make a phone call I can almost hear the moment they realize I am not a native German speaker. The work is very different than I have ever done before and it has been nice to see a totally different career field.

Shortly after I first started up my internship I came home from work and had a large package waiting for me. The host kids where so excited to see what was inside. It was a care package from friends of my family back home. It had lots of food and stuff from USA and also stuff for my host kids for Valentines Day. So one night I sat down with the host family and explained about our traditions for Valentines Day in school. They made Valentines for their friends at school and ate traditional candy like the conversation hearts. It was fun to share with them American traditions of a holiday that isn’t widely celebrated in Germany.

The internship by city marketing will last until the end of June and I will hopefully get a great feeling of what German business is like. It has been really nice getting back to working every day and have a schedule. Don't get me wrong I still enjoy my time away from work or Feiernabend which means the free time after work. I loved my time at school and all the flexibility that came with it but it is nice to have a change and really feel like I am living in Germany.

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Photos

My Office
This is my office and the city government building. All the fog is a typical day in February in Remscheid.

My Desk
This is where I work in city marketing.

Hallway to my Office
As you can see the architecture inside the government building is pretty cool.

Press Room
This is the press room for the mayor of Remscheid. You can see the remscheid crests on the wall hanging.

Farmers Market
This is the weekly farmers market. It takes place right in the plaza in front of my office.

Making Valentines
Here are all the girls working on valentines for friends.

Host Kids
They really enjoyed seeing what Valentines is like in the USA.