Arnies Backpackers/Belfast/Northern Fakultät Anglistik-Grundschullehramt-7. Fachsemester 03.11.14-03.02.15
Arnies Backpackers Arnies Backpackers is a small hostel with 23 beds which can accomodate up to 27 persons due to four double beds. A kitchen and a living-room are up to the free use of any person staying. Although the original idea was to be primarily a hostel for backpackers, the place has also become increasingly popular among European and Asian tourists, who make up the major amount of the total percentage of people staying there. Arnies Backpackers Belfast, Northern 2
Belfast/Northern Belfast is a city located in the east of Northern. It is located directly at the coast, but is surrounded by some minor hills as well. As Belfast is the capital of Northern, it also is its largest city. In past decades, the city was often connected to religious confrontations between catholics and protestants as well as political disputes between loyalists and nationalists. Recently, any form of violence due to above-mentioned reasons was put to an end thanks to the Good- Friday-Agreement of 1998. Arnies Backpackers Belfast, Northern 3
Aufgaben während des Praktikums My tasks during the internship were numerous. In general, they can be divided up into three different categories: 1) Receptionist work: This included receiving new bookings and cancellations, answering the phone and writing emails, taking money, writing receipts and keeping record of money received and lost. 2) Logistics/organisation: This includes the practical parts of hostel work. Examples for this category would be tasks like washing laundry, cleaning rooms, changing beds, hoovering etc. 3) Communication: Answering questions of guests (restaurant, how to get to city centre etc.) There are three abilities I definitely improved during my stay. 1. Organisation: Putting things in order and planning my work day is something I improved. 2. Language skills: I became much more fluent and learnt a lot of new words. 3. Intercultural competence: How best to communicate with different cultures was something that was needed every day. 4
Eindrücke In my opinion, the internship definitely has changed me. Although I would not acknowledge that it changed my entire life from beginning to end, it has given me new perspectives and different ways of seeing things. I am a more patient, open-minded person. Apart from that, I am more aware of what is different in other countries and why that is. As mentioned on the previous page, my intercultural competence improved by quite a margin. Knowing about the different ways of behaviour and communication that exist within the respective cultures is something I would not want to miss, as it puts your own culture into another, broader context. 5
Kultur As Northern still is within Europe, there were no real major differences worth mentioning. Another thing that has to be taken into account is that I stayed in a hostel with guests from various countries, so the atmosphere was very international. Still, it was interesting to see the impact the religous and political troubles have had on Belfast, as traces of it still can be discovered throughout the town. For example, the fact that there is still a wall between catholic and protestant quarters is stunning. Also the outer appearance as well as the atmosphere of these quarters differentiate a lot. The photo on the right may be a bit exaggerated, but it captures the atmosphere along the wall that separated the two parties quite well. A shock of culture was something I definitely did not have. Of course, driving on the left was something one had to get used to, but apart from that everything was more or less the same as in Germany. There was only one major difference that was hard to get used to: people would not stop and wait at red lights when there was no car about to cross your way. At first, I still stopped and waited for the green lights, but after a couple of days, I assumed the same habit. 6
Tipps & Vorschläge für zukünftige Praktikant/-innen Look at the website Helpx.net. This is how I got in touch with the organisation I was working for. The website consists of offers of work from english-speaking countries all over the world. As employers get reviews from the persons that worked for them, it is less likely to suffer from a bad surprise. Furthermore, accomodation and food is almost always taken care of by the employer. It really is an awesome opportunity and facilitates your search for a place to stay in a foreign country. 7
Das Leben danach... One thing that I improved during my stay obviously were my language skills. Although I also improved my written English due to the correspondence with guests, it will mainly be the improvement of my oral skills that will help me in a future career. I can definitely see myself returning to Northern in order to work there one day. Despite the fact that the emphasis in the following months will be laid on finishing my bachelors degree in Dortmund, I very much like the Irish mentality, so working there for a limited period of time would be an option. Generally, being a primary school teacher, I would rather work in Germany, as the school systems are not interchangeable that easily. 8
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