Friday 23rd May

After today, I stand corrected when I said that yesterday was my best day in Berlin.

Today is the last day of the working week and of my work experience. It has been an amazing experience and I have learnt so much and nothing will ever compare to it.

This morning was really great, I did so much, with many of my colleagues which was very enjoyable.

Firstly as I normally do I took people’s orders for drinks and when at the coffee machine, I loaded up the dishwasher and tidied everything up a bit. I then delivered all of the mail (on my own!) to the clients. Then my day took a very steep turn, but for the best.

Tomorrow some clients have booked a meeting room for a large gathering, so it was “the team’s” job to get everything ready. This meeting invloved computers, and lots of them. To start with we had to transport the computer monitors, keyboards and hard-drives from the storage room to the meeting room. Then when that was completed, we had to connect all of them to one another (two monitors, one keyboard and one hard-drive per table). This was a very useful skill for me to learn for the future when I eventually buy my own computer.

 
   
   

We finished setting up the inside of the room and made our way back to the CTA (Centre Team Area), however I wasn’t finished yet. I then had to set up part of the buffet table outside of the meeting room. The table now consists of soft drinks and coffee.

That was almost the end of my morning, but there was still one last thing for me to do, which was to clean up a meeting room that has previously been used the day before. This didn’t take very long, so when I was finished I was ready for lunch.

Unfortunately there was nothing else for me to do as I was only having a half-day, because I was going to meet some friends.

This has been a great experience for me and I am really glad that I took this oppertunity. I would like to send a special thank you to both my employers for allowing me to work with them. Lastly, I would like to offer my biggest of thanks to my mother, Jozefa Fawcett, as she was the one who organised this whole experience for me.

Thank you everyone.

 

Thursday 22nd May

Today was another great day for me. By lunch time I had already done as many jobs as I’d done on Tuesday, it was great. 

This morning I had taken orders for drinks (again!) and I had loaded the dishwasher (again!), however that wasn’t all I did. I also interviewed a client about their job, which was a requirement requested by my school booklet. The client, who was named Jozefa, had some interesting answers in response to my questions, which taught me alot about how people feel about their professions. Also this morning, I delivered the mail again, but this time, I did so unattended! This gave me a great sense of independence. To end the morning, I had a good talk with Cornelia, the Operations Manager at Regus. She discussed with me all of the things her job invloves, for example handling the contracts for newly assigned clients. She also takes care of the presentation of the building. There are approximately 125 points that she must make sure are taken care of, so the building looks great and these points are then checked by a specialist that comes to inspect the building, every 3 months.

After another great lunch, it was back to work. Not as much happened in the afternoon compared to the morning. It was the usual: emptying the coffee machine; changing the milk (twice); and loading the dishwasher. However, I was asked to go round the building and check off all of the points (the ones I mentioned earlier) that I saw fit. Lastly to end the day I went shopping with another student worker, Susan. It wasn’t a big trip it was just to get some supplies for the building, like milk and napkins. 

Well that was all for today and I hope my last day, tomorrow will be a great send off.

 

 

Wednesday 21st May

Today was a really eventful one and definately my best in Berlin so far.

The day started well, as I had a brilliant nights sleep and was full of energy for the day approaching. It was a nice and easy journey to the Regus building as Jozefa and I got our required trains for the morning. We arrived at our destination, roughly an hour after we left home.

Today was great, mainly because I had so much to do. I was taking orders for coffee regularly throughout the day, I was being asked to take things to different places and the dishes had to be regularly put into the dishwasher.

Aswell as doing all of those things, I also did some specific work for clients. One requested me to print off a document for them on the computer, another asked me to go on an errand for them and I helped the rest of the clients by delivering their mail for them. 

My last event of the day was a fairly long talk with Marcus, a manager at Regus, who normally works at the front desk. Marcus discussed with me what he does for the company. He is in charge of the fees that the customers pay. He is also responsible for mailing out reminders, if the client doesn’t pay his/her fee and he is the person who writes all of the invoices on the computer. The company organises all of this information on the computer in a spreadsheet, it is all very neat and organised. 

Today was a great day and I hope there are more to come before I leave.

 

Tuesday 20th May

Today I started at 10.00am and have been learning more about Regus using a virtual tour and interviews with the general manager, Roger Thiel. I have discovered that they rent office space to lots of different businesses and that there are many different advantages that come with renting an office. For example: you get quick internet access, the receptionist takes your calls and the front desk greets your clients, if you have any visiting you at your office. The offices are really clean and well organised and the office appearance can be altered if it doesn’t fit your liking.

Roger showed me the history of Regus, which included: how many branches the company has and how long it has been established etc. Roger also showed me, via DVD, what a GM does when conversing with new clients over renting an office. This was both interesting and enjoyable.

Aswell as working with Roger, I have also been talking to Vivien and Lena, two other managers working for Regus.

Lena showed me what the secretary does and how they do these things. This was interesting and I now know some new things about what goes on behind the front desk.

I then had a quick lunch break and was soon back to work. I had some retrieving to do as some signs needed to be collected from various places in the building.

Next I worked with Vivien. We prepared letters for a client, which were about a fun-run. Vivien then talked about the extra packages that clients can order for their offices, food and drink for example.

Then the clock struck 4pm, and it was time to retreat back home, as a good day came to an end.  

 

Monday 19th May

I am here at work in Regus, Berlin in Kurfurstendamm.  I have a badge with Trainee on it and my mum has been given an office to work in.

In the middle of doing lots of different tasks for the office and clients who are renting office space here.  Learned how to do a fax for one American client and off to Post Office to send mail and to the bank with Sven, one of the Regus permanaent office staff.

Here are some pictures of where I am working. This is my building, Regus is on the 7th floor

             

Here I am on my first day at Regus

             

Time for a break – I can help myself to all the cold juices, tea and hot chocolate that I want – woo hoo!

 

 More tomorrow.

Saturday 17th May

We took Malev Airlines (Hungarian) from Budapest to Berlin on Saturday 17th and it was great.  Lots of leg room and very clean plane.  The quick sandwich and chocolate biscuit was nice too.  I was so tired I slept most of the way while my mum read a magazine all about Hungary.  They want to host the Olympic Games in 2020 but have a lot of building repairs to do before they can even apply.

Maybe I will remember to look out for information about this in a few years to come.

Good flight and soon we touched down at Berlin Tegel airport (TXL).  It was so quick to go through customs and my cousin, Natalia, was there to meet us and take us home.  Berlin is a very interesting place, this picture is next to the remains of the Berlin wall which was taken down in 1989, this picture below shows how Berlin was divided, East from West.

Go to my Berlin page for more pictures.

Friday 16th May

Today was my last day in Budapest, as I would be leaving for the airport early tomorrow morning.

I was down to the conference room a little later that morning, because everything was set up on Thursday and there was nothing else to do. However, I was needed to set up the projectors in two of the three rooms, which I didn’t do on Thursday, so that was a new challenge.

As normal there was another six talks today, with coffee breaks in-between.

New to the conference today was the ‘Market Place’ workshop. This was were people had prepared talks and presentations and anybody who wanted to listen could go over to that table and listen.

After the Market Place, the conference came to a close and so did my first week of work experience. It ended really well as my mother won an award for her speeches and I recieved a great present from the members of ECLO, for my help and commitment.

We all went out afterwards for a tremendous meal and to say our last goodbyes.

I really enjoyed my time in Budapest and I made some great friends. I’d just like to thank everyone at the conference for treating me so well and for enjoying my company.

Thursday 15th May

My third day in Budapest and the day the first conference took place, what a day it turned out to be.   Here I am ready and waiting for the delegates to arrive.

 

There were 42 people attending this conference, from an incredible 18 different countries, I would get lost trying to recite all of their names.

 

My day involved me running up, down and all over and I loved it! It gave me a sudden rush of adrenaline, knowing that I had something to do and that it had to be done at that exact time, it was amazing. Firstly, I was showed where all the rooms are so that I could direct the speakers to there different destinations, that wasn’t too hard. Then came the calls of, “James (name) needs that, James (name) needs help with this.” It was hard to keep up with, but I think I did an adequate job.

There were six talks in the morning (two sessions, in three different rooms) and the same scenario applied in the afternoon.  My mum was one of the speakers in the morning and I had to check her presentation and film her speaking for her website.

 

I listened to a very interesting talk in the afternoon, about internships being introduced to pupils aged 17 in the Manchester area. The basis of the talk was that even if the children weren’t likely to be going to University, they could be offered jobs (of their choice) and do their learning while working getting qualifications another way, this then gave all pupils an equal chance; we all agreed that this was a revolutionary and very good idea. 

After all of the talks were over, there was an AGM meeting for all of the ECLO (the organisation I am working for) Members. This went down smoothly as they discussed past, present and future thoughts. 

The last event for the day was to meet at the Gala Dinner, which was open to anyone who wanted to attend. The meal was very extravagant and delicious. It was a great way to end the day.  By now I was just one of the conference and everyone was so nice to me (dinner was good too).  Here I am with Brigitte and Jim (from ECLO Head Office, Belgium), Saliem D. Al-Saliem (from Saudi Arabia) and Ole and Ellie (from Denmark).

  

Wednesday 14th May

This is my second day in Budapest. Not much happened today, just waiting for the conference the next day. However, today I came across an amazing saying from an opening presentation from the President of ECLO which I found very amusing:

Heaven is where:

Policemen are British,

Chefs are French

Engineers are German

Lovers are Italian

and everything is run by the Swiss.

Hell is where: 

Policemen are French

Chefs are British

Engineers are Swiss

Lovers are German

and everything is run by the Italians!

I also experienced my first teleconference when I joined my mum on one as part of a London Regional Council meeting for the Institute of Healthcare Management, she is the Vice-Chair and we used Skype to connect to another participant who had his laptop with Skype in London.  The sound was good and it worked very well.  It is just like MSN voice and can also allow you to see each other if you have the webcam set up.  Mum says she uses it for loads of things and it helps her keep in touch with her network which are based all around the world.

                                                                                                                    

Tuesday 13th May

Tuesday 13th May-Today was my first day in Budapest and what a first day it was, I did so much today it is unbelievable. As we got off the plane, we were both dead tired and were in dire need of some sleep, however we had far too much to do and we couldn’t waste such an amazing day.

Firstly we unpacked our bags and admired our room. It was one of the best hotel room I had ever seen, it had: lovely soft beds; a perfect view of the river Danube; and a television to keep me company during my free time. However, we couldn’t stay long, because we needed to get out into the city.

The first thing we did was get some lunch (I hadn’t had a decent meal since the night before I left for Hungary). Conveniently, there was a small ‘Brasserie’ outside the lobby, so we crashed and had a wonderful meal there.

We then accidently ran into a colleague of ours, Jim Jack. We had a small talk and after he recommended a boat trip for us to go on. There were so many amazing monuments that we passed as we travelled along the ”Danube” river, such as the Parliament building, Matthias Church and the Royal Castle.

We ended the day with another fantastic meal, this time from a Greek restaurant, and then we retired back to the hotel for a large, hearty sleep as the next day approached quickly.

My 1st Day

It has been my first day of Work Experience and this starts working in my mother’s business, The POL Experience.  She is a sole trader but is also a Director of other divisions and business ventures and so it is quite confusing to know which bit is which.  I have been working in our home office preparing for our trips to Budapest and Berlin.

My duties so far have been been answering the phone and making calls non-stop. I have acted as my mother’s (boss’s) personal assistant and it has been really exhilarating and a first class experience!

I have also been checking our travel arrangements for our flight from Heathrow, because we got our tickets a different way from how we usually do, we weren’t really sure how to ‘check in’ at the airport, however that has all been handled now, so there is nothing to worry about.

It has been a great day and there will be many more to come.

Getting closer

The time has passed so quickly and I am now only a few days away from the most memorable experience of my life. Monday will be my organisation day, where I will get my bags packed with clothes and everything else I need for the trip and Tuesday is when we depart from Terminal 5 at Heathrow for the Conference in Budapest and when my quest begins. I am really getting excited for this trip and I know it will teach me so much.

Quick update: Just heard that I will be starting work on Monday for my mum, seems there is a lot to do to help her prepare for her presentation and a trip to the printers for the leaflets and quite a few e-mails and telephone calls as well – I think she is going to give me lots to do right from the start.

2 weeks to go!

I am getting excited as there are only two weeks before we go off to Budapest – woo hoo!

Thank You

I’d just like to thank all of my mother’s collegues for posting comments on my blog it really means a lot to me and I will definately use all of the advice that has been given to me

Write again soon,

James

Hello world!

My name is James Daniel Fawcett and this is my first blog which I will be using to post stories and information about my days during my work experience. This starts on Monday 12th May and ends two weeks later on the 23rd May 2008.

The first part of this time will be spent in the UK working with my mum in her business OFQT (Organisation for Quality in Training) and will be finding out a bit about how adults do their learning at their work and something about International quality training standards.

Then we are both travelling to Budapest, Hungary for the first week where I will be working with Jim Jack at ECLO (European Consortium for the Learning Organisation) helping out with the organisation and running of an International learning conference – my mum will be one of the conference speakers.

The second week I am spending in Berlin, Germany at the REGUS BUSINESS CENTRE. I expect that I will be doing a varied range of administrative and reception work – I hope my German is up to the challenge.

My plan is to write something new each day about this great experience that I am about to embark upon.

More soon,

James.