"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.