My first days at work were different to Germany but still okay.
On Monday we met with about 20 other people from all over Europe
which all had their first day at Concentrix and we were introduced all together to the company.
Except Max, Eric and me all would become real employees and had to receive an
introduction first. So we met at the Lesley Exchange building near the central station
of Belfast to meet Allan who’s something like the manager for different personal
matters. He’s usually around in the Electronic Arts section of Concentrix but on this day
he was the one that has shown the group the 3 different buildings in Belfast which
are spread over the city. On tuesday we met Peter at the reception of the branch on
Lanyon Place which is also pretty close to the Lesley Exchange one. He gave us
our first task to move PCs which weren’t in use to another room and take care
of the cables and network equipment. After accomplishing few another small jobs
inside the building our second day was over.
All in all I look forward for other tasks that are IT related because the most
of them are done by the Tech department itself and we are given more facility keeping
related ones but the colleagues are nice and I’m sure we can talk about
that with them soon.
Autor: Timm Clauberg
The last few days
I used the last few days to get to know Belfast a bit more.
Yesterday we went to the city while the first of 21 stages of the big cycle race Giro d’Italia was going down.
The streets were filled with people and it was like whole Belfast came out to see and to cheer the competitors.
Many stores were decorated in pink and the windows were full of pink cyclists. Since a few days there was a big stage
where you had the chance to see an entertainment program full of music, talks and other attractions.
After viewing the end of the race (with the German „Marcel Kittel“ as winner) Martin, Leo and me decided to go to the big Metro Tesco
in the city center. It was hard to find a way through the masses of the people but with a lot of scramble and some time we were able to reach before it closed.
After buying some groceries and taking a cab back home we had a nice evening with a few people we met in front of our flat.
They were musicians and went for an aftershow party to the club opposite to our home.
Tomorrow Eric, Max and me will have our first work day at Concentrix and we look forward to have a good and productive time there.
The company lately announced that they will create around 1.000 new jobs in Belfast so I think there is a plenty of work to do.
Exploring Belfast
On Wednesday we again went to the language school. It was pretty interesting as we talked about regular illnesses and what you can do against them. Also we’ve been taught how to express emotions in sentences and had several talks with different people. After the school we’ve had 1 hour free time where we took our lunch and prepared for the walk to the „Crumlin Road Gaol“. Our walk started at the international house in the University Street and took about 30 minutes. It was quite interesting to see the other parts of the city, which I haven’t explored yet. We arrived around 2.30pm and the group consisted of several students from Spain, Germany and some locals which took also part of the tour. It took a few minutes and we were introduced to the history of the prison. The prison itself was a big complex where up to about 1.400 people were held in custody. Today the locals say it’s haunted and it is an akward feeling to access the ground floors after 0am. The guide was very kind and told us many facts about the past time. We also where shown photos of arrested persons. After one and a half hour the tour ended and we were taken to the entry again where our group split up. After a little walk to the city center we entered TK-Maxx which is a company where you can buy expensive clothing for reduced prices. I buyed some clothes and when we were finished we went to few another shops and strolled around the city. Around 5 o’clock we went back to our homes and enjoyed the evening.
First few days
On Saturday the 3th May at 12.00am MESZ our plane lifted off from the german ground and headed towards Dublin Airport. The flight took about 2 hours and I spend the most time sleeping in a comfortable seat. Around 1pm we arrived at the airport and after picking up the luggage we went to the bus stop. The bus to Belfast departed a few minutes before we got there so we had to wait about 1 hour for the next one. The view on the bus ride was awesome and it was a nice example for the rich countryside the Island of Ireland has to offer.
When we arrived on the bus stop we called Colin from Intern Europe to announce that we are now in Belfast. After a little talk with Ruth Baxter from Intern Europe we were told where to head and we took cabs to our apartments in the University Street. The land lord already awaited us and we were shown our flats. They are pretty new and well equipped.
We took a walk to TESCO and bought the most important stuff. On Tuesday we had our first day in the international house which is a language school for persons from different countries to improve their english skills. They offer courses for each skill level and prepare for language examinations as well.
At first we had to take a skill assessment including a little talk to rate our current level of english and on the second half of the day we went to our classes. We introduced ourselves to our teacher and were taught a few things about common english usage. When the school was over we went back to our apartments and had lunch. On 2pm we met our coordinator for the school and she offered us a few events which we could participate in the next few weeks. After signing in for some of those activities we went for a walk through Belfast where we were shown a few great places to go and sights that are worth a visit. Later that day we met again at the Intern Europe building and had a talk with a few associates to exchange our first experiences. We also spoke about the next days and our work placements, the people were very nice and offered us their help on any kind of problems that may occur. After all I could already feel that I will enjoy the next two months in Belfast a lot.