So one month into my placement I’ve decided to document this next year abroad, so that when I do go back to the UK and desperately try to make sense of my Bachelor dissertation, I can look back to the adventures lived and lessons learned throughout this year and maybe inspire myself a little bit.

For those of you that don’t know the whole background story of my being here, I am doing a BA in German and Spanish at the University of Surrey and have an obligatory placement year during my third year. This means that I’ll be spending 6 months in a small town in Germany, called Friedrichshafen  (where I am now) and from March I’ll be living in Barcelona for another 6 months.

Since the plan is to go into translation when I do a Master’s Degree, I have tried to find myself placements that are within the language departments of different firms and hopefully get a bit of translation done at some point. For now, however, I’m doing Project Management. What a pretty name, isn’t it? Managing projects – it almost sounds easy, stress free… Well, let me tell you: it really isn’t.

One month into my first placement I’ve probably eaten my weight in cake to try and manage the stress that my job can bring. Clients sending huge texts that need to be translated…for the same day. Yh, cool, no worries. I’ll just translate your 7 page instruction manual on how to operate heavy machinery into Japanese, because of course we at the office speak every single language in this world. It can be quite frustrating sometimes.

Now I did start with the stress factor, which is a big part of the job, but there’s also so many good parts (did I mention there’s cake?). For once, have I never had a job where I had this many responsibilities and was given so much trust to deal with them. This, while it can lead to the above-mentioned stress feeling and cake consumption, is also doing wonders for my self confidence. Knowing that each project that comes in and I take on, is mine and mine only and I can look after it from start to finish, does give me a sense of empowerment. Plus, I have an amazing team of interns and non-interns that help me so much with every single stupid question I have.

Apart from cake eating, I also have found a gym where I can release the stress of the day. Those who know me, know how important exercise is to me and how much I need it to feel good (and stay sane). Now gyms in Germany are not quite the same as in the UK – for once you can’t pay for your membership with your credit/debit card, it needs to be cash (why??) and people in the changing rooms always greet each other and say goodbye when someone leaves, even if they’re total strangers (and naked). Am I right to be surprised by this or have I just been extremely rude and antisocial for the past 4 years in the UK?

While on the subject of “culture shock”, I have made myself a bit of a reputation as the “foreign” German girl. When talking to other interns, I probably don’t finish one sentence in German without adding a word or expression in English somewhere in it. This can also be a verb, conjugated according to German grammar rules (because this is how I roll). Since for the past 2 years I’ve mainly spoken German to my best friend, who does the exact same thing, I have never actually noticed it: until the Germans called me out on it. So the whole “speaking German like a German” thing is something I have to work on.

This has been my first month – in a nutshell -, even though so many more things could be said and more stories could be told. I think I’ll leave those for the next post. For now, I am excited to see what the next month has to bring, as I have now lost my “Welpenschutz” (puppy protection), as they call it here, meaning that I’m now meant to be able to work on my own and do my own thing. Let’s see how that goes…