First day on the job

Whenever I have something important to do, there’s this ball that seem to find a way into my stomach. Exams, meetings, you name it, the ball is there. 8th of January 2001 was no exception.

After a cold shower (I’ll have to get back to that later) and quick breakfast in the lonely company of the dog (still can’t remember its name), I set out toward the bus stop. I had scouted the way the day before. It was freezing cold. Bus ride to the city centre took about 20mn. Once there, I walked to the main entrance of the plant where I was supposed to check in at 8am. Of course I was early, half an hour early to be exact. 30 more minutes for the ball to grow bigger. I don’t really remember what I did to kill time. I think I walked to the train station nearby and read some newspapers. When I got back, the entrance desk was open. I introduced myself in my shaky German and the lady told me to go some place I didn’t understand. Luckily, somebody else was going to the same building so I followed him. It was actually some kind of welcome meeting. All the interns that were starting on that day were there. There was about 30 of us. We were given a quick presentation of the plant, told that a “Stammtisch” was organized every Thursday at Salü (whatever that meant) and then each of us received our personalized documents. A map showing you the way to the building where you work. A contract (including confidentiality clause) to sign. The lunch card and a temporary pass to get into the plant (later replaced with a card that had my pic on it and a symbol that showed which part of the factory I could access).

It took me about 15mn to get to my building. I had to walk through a park, which I thought would probably be nicer in the spring… The plant was like a little city, with streets, red/green lights. Once I got to my office, I was welcomed by my boss (JM). He introduced me to the colleagues that weren’t there when I had visited in November. He then gave me a tour of the translation department. It occupied the whole second floor of the building. Each country (Italy, England, France, Spain and Sweden) had at least one big office or many smaller ones all set on the main corridor. JM introduced me to everyone. 2 people stood out: Debs, the English intern and Albert, a young Spanish translator. They both invited me to join them for lunch later in the week. Then I met the big boss of the department, a small, large and friendly man who turned out to be my neighbour in Vorsfelde and in fact a good friend of the family where I was living. It was quite a painful experience to have to greet all these people as I was really struggling with my German, the stress not helping at all. I felt stupid and intimidated and going back to the French office was a relief.

I was given my first assignment, a list of tools used in VW workshops that needed to be translated into French. Don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before, but I know close to nothing about mechanics. Thank God, the dictionary closet was right next to my desk…
At lunch time, I followed my new colleagues to the restaurant located on the same floor but at the other side of the building. Took actually 10mn to walk there. Learned how to charge my card. The restaurant was huge. I think there was room for close to 300 hundred people to eat there. Reading the menu was yet another challenge, so I went for the easy solution: steak and fries (or “Pommes” as they call it there). I then spent the afternoon working on my tool list and left at 15h30. I walked all the way back to the city center and then took the bus home.

Overall, the first impression wasn’t too bad. The colleagues were friendly, I had met some people my age, office was nice. But speaking German fluently, that was going to be a problem. The ball in my stomach was all too happy about it…

Meet the family

January 4th 2001, 7pm, after 1000km on the road, we park the car in the yard of n°53 Bruchgartenweg in Vorsfelde. To say that I was dreading to meet the family is an understatement. I had only spoken to them about 3 times on the phone and the only thing about them was they had housed the previous intern.

First thing I heard when I stepped out of the car is a dog barking. I hate dogs. They scare me. So of course, they had one. The father opened the door. Old guy, about 60-ish, white hair, white goatee. The mother looked 60-ish too. They welcomed me with open arms. Showed my room, quite big, with 2 beds, a desk and nice view on their garden and and countryside. The couple had a daughter who was about my age and spoke English. It helped a lot. The house was very nice. On the ground floor, there was the living room, the kitchen and the bedrooms of the family and both bathrooms. Upstairs was my bedroom and another one where they had their computer.
That first evening they had invited the previous intern (can't remember his name!). My father was so stressed that he didn't eat anything. But I guess the family made a good impression cause my mum seemed to trust them quickly. They told me directly that they would consider me as their son as long as I was staying with them. The dog turned out to be a nice one. It was old and quiet (can't remember its name either!).

On the second day, we went to the city council to get some admistrative papers, then opened a bank account, got a bus pass. In the afternoon, we went to Hannover airport and picked up Caroline. We took her to Braunschweig where she was renting a room in the flat of a single woman. My mum was glad to know I had a friend so close.
In the evening we went back to Vorsfelde, had dinner with the family. This time my father was more at ease and DID eat.
Saturday morning, my parents were leaving. I had decided I'd spend the weekend in Braunschweig with Caroline so my parents dropped me there. Of course when it was time for them to go, my mom cried cause she thought she wouldn't see me for the coming 7 months.

The weekend was ok but a bit depressing. We tried to find a pub or a bar but where we went was rather crappy. Caroline's landlady was quite cool though. Talked a lot with us. Sunday afternoon I went back to Vorsfelde. They showed me where the bus stop was to get to the city centre. I was starting to panic a bit about my first at work. I had never worked before. Would I be up to it? Would I be able to understand everybody? Needless to say, I didn't sleep that much that night...

Housing problem solved

The last two months in France really flew by. I got a reply for the student house of WOB. Told me they had a room available for me but couldn't guarantee it would be furnished so I turned it down. Cause at the same time I was contacted by a German family. They lived in Vorsfelde, the posh "suburbs" of WOB (or so they like to think), the previous translation intern had stayed at their place and they were ready to rent me the spare bedroom. I would have my own bathroom, would be able to use their kitchen and they would even do my laundry. When I called them, they seemed nice enough (and they spoke slowly!) so deal!

It's also at that time that I realized my friend Caro would be in the same area as me. In Braunschweig, about 20 km from WOB.

All that put together I had cheered up a bit. And already it was time for the last parties in Lyon. Alcohol was flooding all over. Then emptying my appartment. Christmas and New Year's Eve at home with my family. I started packing. Took a whole day. The luggage were kept to a manageable size.
And at 5am, on Thursday the 5th of January, we left again for WOB. No turning back now.

First contact

The only time I had heard of Wolfsburg before was in the sport pages of the newspaper, checking the results of the German football league (I'm a football freak). I didn't know where it was and what it was like.

Wolfsburg is in NiederSachsen, south of Hamburg and about 200km east of Berlin. Exactly 1000km from my home. I'd have to find a place to stay there. VW had sent me a list of people and offices to contact to rent a room. But I was very uncomfortable calling those people cause I had never really praticed my German outside of university. On top of that I was back in Lyon and dealing with my last semester in France. So I didn't put a lot of effort into sorting things out. But November was already here and it was getting rather urgent. My parents and I decided that the best thing was to go there. I called the guy from the translation dpt (the one that had sent me the test) and asked if it would possible to meet him. We set up a meeting during my holiday break.

So one November morning we left and drove all the way to North Germany with our car. I had booked an hotel room in Braunschweig, a city right next to Wolfsburg. We arrived late in the evening and the next day, we went to Wolfsburg. That was quite a shock. Wob is not a nice city when you first see it. Half of it is actually the VW factory.



One big pedestrian street with shops and a small mall. And then row of appartments building that all look the same. I don't even remember what we did in town that day but I recall feeling like crap. I really hated it. I tried to contact the people on the list to find a room, but that was a disaster. I was in that phone booth calling numbers after numbers and nothing was available and I really had trouble speaking German. On the morning of the second day, I had the appointment with my soon-to-be boss. It went well, he is a very quiet man. Showed me where my desk would be, introduced to the people I would work with. Said he'd help me find a room. The plant was very impressive, huge. At 10am, I was done. My father asked "What do we do now?". "We drive back home as fast as we can".
Overall, the trip had been rather useless. Ugly town, problems with the language, still no room. I was really demoralized about the whole thing. And to top it all, my parents noticed it and started worrying about me going there for a long time.

"You'll need a 7-month internship in Germany to graduate"

After high school, I studied foreign languages at university. English and German. Translation, business relations. It was a 4 year cursus which included 2 stays abroad. First trimester in Lyon and the rest of the year in England (as a student in Birmingham as far as I was concerned) then 2.5 years in Lyon and the final semester in Germany. An internship. No studies but working in a company instead.

I started sending applications in June 2000. I wrote down the names of all the German companies I could think of, looked for their adress on the web and sent them my resume. I sent 50 of them. They all replied during the summer. 48 replies were negative. It was kinda a hard time. Anytime an answer arrived in the mail, I was eagerly opening it only to find the "thanks for your interest in our company but unfortunately..." letter. In the middle of all this, a media company from Dusseldorf sent me a contract. But the pay was shit and it wasn't specified what I'd be doing. I turned it down. I was losing hope when the unexpected happened.

I got a letter from Volkswagen, the n°1 car manufacturer in Europe. My application had been forwarded to their translation department and I would hear from them shortly. A week later, the man in charge of the French translation sent me a text to translate. A test. And I passed it. He was satisfied with my work and told me he'd give a positive answer to the internship department. Late August I received a contract. I'd start working on the 7th of January and end on the 30th of July. 1000 Marks a month (roughly $500). So the first part of the process was done. I had an internship in a worlwide known company. In the translation department. I had no idea where I was going but I was damn relieved.

Introducing

I did not want to go. Germany. Wolfsburg. 1000km from home. Leaving university and my friends behind. No more nights at l'Abreuvoir. No more skipping classes to go to the Otarie Bar. Giving up the appartment in the city center. Speaking German all the time. No, no matter how I looked at it, I did NOT want to go.

And 7 months later, I did not want to leave. WOB. Leaving Salü and my friends behind. No more nights at Novum. No more BBQs. Giving up on a carefree life. Going home to look for a job. No, no matter how I looked at it, I did NOT want to leave.

So what happened during those 7 months that had me completely change my mind? That's what I'm going to tell you here. I'll tell you about the people I met there, about the things I did, about the places I visited. I don't know how long it'll take or if I'll finish it. But I'll never know if I don't start.

Welcome aboard!