Today is cleaning day. During the last few days we created a plan for cleaning and today we put it into practice. Every one of us got a task and the tasks are alternating every weekend. Today Tobi had to clean the kitchen, Tim had to wipe the floors, René had clean the bathroom (1st floor) and I had to clean the other bathroom on the main floor. Everyone did a good and accurate job. The whole apartment looks very clean. It feels good and it is important to us to have clean, good smelling and hygienic living room. I feel reassured that I am living with people who have the same claims about this area. Besides it was funny to see the guys doing their jobs.
Going Out For a Run
Yesterday Oliver and me decided to go out for a run in the evening. You might think it’s unbelievable, but it’s true: sporty nerds! 😉
First we decided to take a course of approximately 3.5 km, but due to some orientation difficulties we ended up with about 5.1 km. Here you can see the running course we finally took:
It was quite interesting to see some new areas of Belfast. The view along the waterfront at Ormeau Embankment is beautiful! And of course it was a very good feeling when arriving at home again. 😀
A walk around Howth
Hi there,
today I were at Howth with Josephine because there is a Prawn Festival at the whole weekend. We had a pretty nice day with full of sunshine and a fresh breeze at the beach. The walk around the habour was very cool. There were so cute seals between the ships (see picture below).
I may make a gallery with all pictures inside and in higher resolutions.
Let’s see what comes tomorrow.
Greetings
Daniela
My first experience at work…
Hi,
it’s me… My first day at the no non-profit organisation „Volunteer Now“ was really interesting, because i am involved in two projects over the two months. One of them is the migration of Sharepoint server to a newer one with a new version of Sharepoint. The new design of this page will be created by me and the other project is a migration, too, but this will be the new version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Well, my workplacement is very nice and my colleagues are so friendly, the atmosphere is very friendly. I have so much freedom at my workplace, i like this, that’s what i need to develop.
Here are some pictures of my workplacement and belfast, too.
My first days
I got the job at ECIT and the job description sounds great! While I was listening to my supervisor’s introduction I felt his passion for the job. I really like people like him, because of the good working atmosphere these peoples create. So during our interview on Tuesday he gave me the chance to think about what I want to do and what I hope for during my placement at ECIT. He wanted me to write him an e-mail after thinking about it. The equipment they own and the opportunities they offer are skyrocketing. We will see if everything is as great as he told me, but from my point of view I found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
Luckily my work experience starts on Monday at 10 o’ clock. This fortunate circumstance has its reason in the short timed acknowledge of my placement. ECIT wasn’t prepared for hosting me, so Mr. Ruddock, my supervisor at ECIT, told me it would be easier for the both of us to start on Monday. Off days! Hey! But I am not sitting at our apartment the whole time. I took the chance to get familiar with Belfast. I am looking for the best supermarkets and malls and I am doing a bit sightseeing, so the time I got donated is well used. I am also looking for sights and creating a plan for sightseeing at the weekend. I am looking forward to starting work on Monday whereas I am also grateful to have these off days.
The usual IT job startup tasks
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Tue, 24th Apr 2012
After taking the Translink staff bus from Europa Buscentre at 8:45 (which I’ll probably do every morning I go to work for the next two months) I arrived at Translink’s office at Milewater Road in the northeast of Belfast near the shipyard the famous Titanic was built at.
Tue, 24th Apr 2012
After taking the Translink staff bus from Europa Buscentre at 8:45 (which I’ll probably do every morning I go to work for the next two months) I arrived at Translink’s office at Milewater Road in the northeast of Belfast near the shipyard the famous Titanic was built at.
Paul McGrattan, my supervisor here at Translink, gave me some information about the department I will work for: Information Services (IS). Probably this is the only IT department which does not have IT in its name. 😛 I learned about the department’s structure and general tasks, the core network infrastructure and some other general IT stuff. After being introduced to the colleagues (whose names I can’t remember, except for maybe three or four people) I was shown my desk:
Before getting a user account I had to read the User Acceptability Policy (UAP), which consists of rules and guidelines on how to use the IT infrastructure.
I also had several nice talks with my new colleagues. One thing that really fascinates me is that people in Northern Ireland are so friendly. Even when just asking someone for the way he notices you are not from here and shows interest in where you are from and what are you doing in Belfast (as René already posted). I can’t imagine experiencing something like this in Berlin.
The first Friday
Hey folks!
This is my first Friday in Ireland. In some companies, there is a so called „Casual Friday“ which means everybody can wear T-Shirt and jeans. Yesterday I was told that at Steria there is this „casual Friday“ so I’m sitting here in T-Shirt and jeans, although wearing a shirt and a smart trouser didn’t feel uncomfortable.
At Steria, all the staff has lunch together outside the office every Friday, talking about private things, just having a good time. So I’m looking forward to this event and I hope that I get in contact with Matt today, who wants to introduce me into the field of SAN configuration and management and into Windows clustering.
Tomorrow, our English teacher Mr.Schlenger is expected to visit us, but we don’t know when this will happen, so at this moment, there is no plan of action for this weekend. I hope to get some information about his arrival this evening.
Ireland is still fascinating me.. I really have to take some more pictures..
Best,
Rene
At Work
Yesterday was my first day at work. Kevin Shine, Jannik (another student) and me want to meet us at RSM Tenon at 9:30 so that we can drive together to work. But Kevin told me at RSM that the manager from NIBEC had postponed the meeting to 12:30. So I went home and came back later. At 11:30 I met Kevin and Jannik again and we went to the bus station. With the bus we have been travelling over the motorway to the University at Ulster at Jordanstown Campus within 11 minutes – by the way this is a distance of 10 kilometers.
At NIBEC we had a meeting with the director of the Engineering Research Institute Professor James McLaughlin BSc, DPhil., CPhys., FInstP., OBE (or short Jim). Unfortunately he was in a meeting so we waited about one hour. But then he told us about some projects with MiFi and medical monitoring sensors.
After this little introduction Kevin, Jannik and me drove with the taxi back to RSM Tenon. We are not sure what we can expect to this job, because Jim told us only some projects but not exactly our work. So I’m really excited what to expect.
My birthday in Belfast
Hi guys,
Tuesday was my birthday and it was very funny here in Belfast. On Monday evening, we have purely celebrated in a pub. Unfortunately we were thrown out at 11 o’Clock pm. Of course have we then further celebrated at „home“ (in the apartment).
A very important tip for the other guys in Belfast: never drink Belfast Ale, it tastes very bad. 😉 (IMHO)
Martin drank it in the pub and I could try it.
Best regards from Belfast
Benjamin
My first days at work
Hey!
Yesterday was my first day at Steria. At 9’clock Maria introduced me to the other guys working at Steria and after that, I started to organize my sparsely equipped desk. I got some information concerning the projects which are maintained at this moment. Hardware replacement seems to be one of my tasks here at Steria. Today I met with Stephen (from Steria) and made a trip to a hospital in Londonderry. There was a problem with a monitor, which had to be calibrated. Back in Belfast we had lunch and continued working…
Next updates will be available a.s.a.p.
René