The placement was organised by Mr Fiedler and Mr Brandt. I lived and worked in Paignton. Paignton is a small town in the south of England, with a population of nearly 70.000 people and is located in the bay of Torbay. Paignton, Torquay and Brixham are the three towns in this bay.

I was was very lucky with my host family and with the job. The family I stayed with was very kind and helped me with every­thing: which bus to take to go to Torquay or where to buy food and other things. I had my own bed­room and bathroom. Normally, two students stay to­gether with a host family but I decided not to. I wan­ted to speak as much English as possible. I worked in a café. Most of the other students also worked in cafés or restaurants. Others wor­ked in a zoo or at a farm. I was asked to do everything you can do in a café, except for actually ma­king coffee. They told me the machine was way too compli­cated to fully understand it in a couple of days. So I took orders, pre­pared and cleaned plates and delivered the coffee and cake.

 

I spoke to my colleagues and the customers. My colleagues helped me with my essay for school and were very kind in general. At first I wasn´t that confi­dent but I got more confident as time went on. That confi­dence in actually speaking in front of people was the biggest accomplishment of the work placement. My wor­king hours were supposed to be from 8.30 am to 3.30 pm but I went home early nearly every day. In the after­noons I got on the bus to Torquay to meet the other stu­dents. The first week, we walked around town and just got to know the place and people. We were very lucky with the weather and had the oppor­tunity to go to the beach and enjoy our time in Eng­land. On Tuesday and Thursday, the organisation planned meetings and trips where we met students from around the world. On both Tuesday evenings, we went to a pub.

 

On the first Thursday, we went to a zoo and on the second we watched a movie in a cinema. And on Friday, we booked a lane at a bow­ling centre and had fun as a group. At the week­end, we got on the train to Exeter and went shop­ping and sightseeing. In the second week, activities didn´t really change. I still went to Torquay every­day. We celebrated Sarah’s birth­day by going to a waffle store. On our last days, we said good­bye to our collegues and bought some souvenirs for friends and family.

I really enjoyed my time in Paignton and would love to go there again some day. I can recom­mend the work place­ment to every­one. You get to know a country and its people from another side and im­prove your Eng­lish and personal skills. Looking back on my time in England,  my confidence in actually speaking English has improved massively and I already miss my colleagues and host family.

Luc Bessel