12. January 2016
ROBERTO RIBES - LEICESTERSHIRE, UK
Upon finishing my Master’s degree in Spain I got the opportunity to start an internship at TGW Limited in the UK. After this time I have to say I do not regret making this decision.
UNIQUE SCENERIES
When I was not in the office during my exchange program, I tried to travel all over the country: from London to Scotland I have tried to visit as many places as possible. London might be one of the most visited cities in the world but of course, there were more beautiful places for me to visit. I love nature, and the sceneries in this country are unique to me. I dedicated a lot of my time to visiting the countryside, camping and making sure I tick against every single national park off my list.
Much more than fish & chips
Against my usual eating habits, I had to adapt my diet completely to only three meals and it was really hard in the beginning. After a few bad experiences with food here in the UK, I discovered that there is more than just burgers or fish and chips. Fortunately, English gastronomy also includes Indian, Thai, Italian food and so on. The second amazing thing about the UK is the weather and how English people deal with it. No matter whether it is the most perfect and hottest day in the summer (29 degrees which is average in Spain in summer) or the coldest day with snow, they will complain. They won’t like it anyway and the weather does not like them either. There are only a few chances when the sun turns up but I tried to make the best out of it. Sometimes the sun only lasted for a few minutes but then I was able do most of my hobbies like cycling, running, exploring around, hiking, etc.
Experiences:
DIFFERENT?
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BRITISH ENGLISH IS DIFFERENT
Despite I had studied English at school for a long time, I have to admit that I had no idea: I could hardly understand half of what people used to say to me. However, all people at the office were very supportive with me and kept repeating things. -
BRITISH HUMOUR
It was difficult to keep and follow a conversation with my English colleagues, but they have always been willing to help me and we managed to overcome all the language barriers and all the misunderstandings my accent kept generating. Honestly, the opinion and reputation of English people in Spain is far from reality and once you get to know them it is difficult to replace them. Their humour is something I still struggle to understand and quite often I need to make sure they are kidding me with questions like “really?”, “seriously?”. -
TEAMWORK
I am part of an extraordinary team where we help each other anytime. Since the very first day they have always been supporting me and making sure I know what to do and how to do it. Besides the complexity of the projects we have undertaken in our work area the Warehouse Control Systems and all the pressure of deadlines we always try to enjoy and work hard as well.
second home
Upon completing my internship, TGW offered me a permanent role in the UK as a member of the new WCS-team for the next projects. That was a big decision for me, as initially I never had the intention of staying there longer after my six month internship. However, not only the company itself but also the people working with me were key to turn the UK into my second home.
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