Tamir Batnasan

My work placement was in Carlow. I worked four week at McDonald's. When I heard that I will work at McDonald's I was unhappy because my friends had better jobs like in a hotel, childcare or in a gym. The first week I didn't talk much to the others. At some point we started to talk and they were really friendly to me. Zahir was the funniest there and the managers Radek and Seba were strict but loveable and funny too - I really liked them! Radek and Seba were very tall and big. During my first week I was afraid to talk with them because they looked dangerous but in the end they were some of the friendliest people I've ever met. All in all they were all friendly.

For four weeks I made fries and cleaned the tables, chairs, toilets, windows and the floor. It's not the best job and now I know how long a portion of frozen fries needs to be fried and the weight for small, medium and large fries. But I learned one lection for my life, it doesn't matter what you're doing or how difficult something is you can't say that you won't do it before you tried it - try it, don't give up! When you always give up before you tried something maybe you will lose a great chance. It's like, if you drive fast you can't see the details. At first I thought "Oh no McDonald's, I will not work there, I don't want to do burgers or fries because it's boring." If I had changed my work placement maybe I would have never met people like Radek or Seba, maybe I wouldn't write this or think like this. 

Maybe I have less work experience than my friends but I'm sure that I learned more - less is more. 

I'm sure I will visit the McDonald's in Carlow when I'm in Ireland again but next time as a customer 😉

A big THANK YOU to my new friends from McDonald's in Carlow and my teacher! I will never forget those memories! 

Andreas Geisseler

My work at Teddy’s Cafe

Two of the three stores of Teddy’s Cafe are located in the Fairgreen Shoppingcenter - The other one is in Castlecomer. It is a family based business and is very successful. The Cafe/Restaurant on the first floor where I work has about 50 tables and serves cold food in the form of salads, sandwiches and cakes, as well as hot food in form of wraps, paninis and lunch. 

My typical working day starts at 8:45 in the morning, when we serve breakfast. There I prepare food, serve coffee, talk a lot with other people whether it is the staff or customers. Furthermore I do small jobs for the staff. At lunchtime it’s a lot busier than in the mornings but my tasks stay the same. My working day ends at about 4 p.m. depending on how busy it is.

I really enjoy the work at Teddy’s Cafe because the job offers a lot of variety. The staff is great and fun, the typical Irishmen and women I’d say ;D. I learned a lot in my job, especially talking with other people.

Sarah Helbock

My work placement in Ireland was the "Woodford Dolmen Hotel" in Carlow. Me and my best friend Aleyna had the luck that we worked in the same Company, but we rotated our time in the hotel between the Bistro and the office.  The first two weeks I worked in the Accounting Office.  I completed the following duties: Inputting Invoices/Credit Notes, Reconciliating receipts from Debtors and payments of Creditors issuing cheques. The other valuable things that I learned from the Woodford Dolmen Hotel was the following: Payroll, inputting hours for wages, rates of pay etc.  Working in the Bistro I had a good experience dealing with the customers. One of my best experience was when dealing with three elderly people. They started to clean up to make it easier for me.  I really appreciated it and we also had a good chat afterwards. This made me feel very good and I enjoyed my day afterwards.  Working in the Bistro is very hard work, we have to served coffee, tea and food. I appreciate the experience in the Woodford Dolmen Hotel.

Patricia Kessler

My work placement at the Watergate 

During our stay in Ireland I had the awesome opportunity to work at the Watergate Theatre. The employees there were very friendly and always tried to help me to improve my general knowledge and my English-Skills. Most of the time I worked at the box office selling tickets face to face or via phone. So, one of my main tasks was to answer the phone. I learned a lot about the history of the theatre and about famous composers. Moreover, I helped my co-workers in the Marketing department to improve the new logo and the design of the homepage. I really enjoyed my time at the Marketing departement. Last but not least, my favourite task to do was to hand out flyer to costumers about upcomeing shows. So two days I walked trough Kilkenny and talked to people and was quite successful. I got to know a lot of new people and could really improve my spoken and written English. It was really a great time at my work placement and I totally enjoyed working there.

 Aleyna Özkan

My work placement in Ireland was the "Woodford Dolmen Hotel" in Carlow.  My best friend Sarah worked in the same hotel. For the first two weeks, Sarah was in the office and I was in the bistro. After two weeks we switched, so I was in the office and she was in the bistro.  In the bistro, I had to serve food. What also belongs to typical bistro work is to polish glasses and cutlery. I was the first point of contact with the customers in the morning.  After two weeks in the bistro I was placed in the Accounts department of the Hotel.  My job was:  FILING, TYPING, DEBTOR LEDGER (inputting Invoices/Credit Notes/reconciliating receipts from Deports), CREDITOR LEDGER (inputting Invoices/Credit Notes/reconciliatingpaymants of Creditors/issuing Cheques), REPORTS (reconciliation of trading accounts), PAYROLL(inputting hours/rates of pay), GENERAL (Administration(Office duties). I found the experience very challenging and manageable. Last but not least a tip from me: For my experience I wanted to work in the office what I am training to do but because I made a mistake putting "General Hotel Work" and not Office work on the form I was doing duties of the "General Hotel Worker".  With experience I have learned that I can work on my own initiative and feel that I can work better with colleagues and management.            

Chiara Schwerzler

My name is Chiara Schwerzler and I work in an irish creche, which is called „cherish childcare“. I have chosen this work placement because I like children very much and it is a lot of fun to spend time with them. I look after 4-6 year old children and I am with them all day long.

Our daily routine is as follows:

At 9 o‘ clock in the morning some kids have their breakfast. Afterwards there are some free- or outdoor play activities and one hour later the first snack is served. At a later time, the children spend time in the garden. Their favourite thing to do is playing hide and seek. At 12 o‘ clock they have lunch. By the way: Their favourite meal is pasta with cheese :-). After lunch, the children have to sleep for an hour. This is very important for gathering new energy for the day. 

Eventually, the children play some games, watch a movie or are out in the garden again. At 5 o‘ clock my working day is over.

All in all, my tasks are doing smaller things, support teachers in taking care of the children and of course playing with them. 

I really love working in the creche, because every child and every day is different, it never gets boring and the staff is very kind and helpful. 

In fact, I am grateful to make this experience. 

Petra Trifunovic

During our stay in Ireland, I had the chance to work as a childcare assistant at the Creative Kids in Carlow. 

A typical workday started at 9 a.m. and ended at 5 p.m. Furthermore, i had every day a break from 2-3.

The Creative Kids has 5 rooms, but during the summer-holidays were not so many children there, so they only use 3 rooms, one room for the babies (1-2), one room for the toddlers (2-4) and one room for the older ones (4-9). 

During the 4 weeks I was only working in the room with the older ones. 

My main tasks were to play with the children, to draw something with them or just to help the teachers to keep an eye on them. Sometimes I also had to hoover the room after lunch. Every day the children were also playing for half an hour after breakfast and lunch in the garden. There they were playing catch, sliding down the slide or were just playing with the ball. 

I really liked my work here and I am so  grateful for this incredible experience.

The children and the whole team were extremely friendly and i wish them all the best. 

Lea Waldhart

My work place was located in the “Carlow Shopping Centre“. Sam McCauleys Pharmacy provides everything you wish for when you’re ill. Furthermore, you can find makeup and beauty accessories in general.

My workday usually started at 9:30 in the morning. My outfit consisted of “all black” clothes. At first I had a look at the shelves and checked which products were missing. Then I went to the stockroom and got the items. My other main tasks were editing new goods, tagging products (mostly perfumes) so nobody can steal them and giving advice to the costumers.

I really liked to work at Sam McCauleys Pharmacy. Especially because of my very nice colleagues and the friendly customers. Since I talked a lot to them, I’m sure I have improved my English skills.

Noel Baldauf

My Workplace is in Carlow. Neighbourhood Espresso is a very small but lovely café. It offers cold food in form of salads, sandwiches and cakes, as well as hot food in form of wraps and pasta.

My workday usually starts at 8:45 in the morning. At work I could wear normal jeans and a T-shirt. My main tasks were serving food and washing dishes some other tasks were taking orders and clearing tables. Lunchtime on Friday is the busiest time in the café. My workday ends about 4 p.m. depending on how busy the café is.

The first two weeks went over very fast but in the last two weeks I realised that the work in a café is not what I want to do my whole life. The staff was very friendly and funny, so the time went over fast.

Luca Bentele

My work placement in Ireland was the "Teach Dolmain" Restaurant, where I worked along the side of Flo, a guy from the class next to mine and we got to know each other there.  

Our work-day started at 9:30 and ended at 16:30 . Our lunch break was in dependence to the amount of customers at the restaurant.  In the morning we served breakfast, after that the kitchen switched to lunch until 3 p.m. and after that we served dinner until we left. When the restaurant wasn´t that busy, we helped our caretaker to stock up the fridges or wherever he needed us.  

We worked with an average of 10 people. All of them were very friendly so we had a lot of chats and had  a good and funny time at our work place.

I really enjoyed the time there and hope that I get the opportunity to meet these people once again.

Florian Burgstaller

My work placement in Ireland was the "Teach Dolmain" Restaurant, where I worked with Luca, a guy from the class next to mine and we got to know each other there.  

Our work-day started at 9:30 and ended at 16:30 . Our lunch break depended on the amount of customers at the restaurant.  In the morning we were serving breakfast, after that the menu switched to lunch until 3 p.m. and after that we were serving dinner until we left. When the restaurant wasn´t that busy, we helped  wherever help was needed.  For example stocking up the Fridges, cleaning the counter etc.

We worked with an average of 10 people. All of them were very friendly so we had a lot of chats and a blast at our work place.

I really enjoyed the time there and hope that I will return there in the near future.