London's calling!!!!

I had been working for T-Systems Multimedia Solutions for six months in the strategy and excellence  department when I saw the job offer for London! Three months or more as an intern in the international business department!! Wohooo!! Of course I applied ;-) and a very spontaneous idea turned into reality again! So I moved to London a months ago and I'm so in love with this city!!!! After spending half year in Barcelona I thought that no city can top or even battle Barcelona, but I was wrong! London is so absolutely fantastic!! And in the upcoming posts I'll explain to you why! :-) I'll try to give go a short and quick overview of the city including my experiences and favourite places!! The journey through London's secrets of fashion, sightseeing, food and habits begins!!

The Experiment

Its been a really long time since I posted something here ;-) but now I have a new project called "the experiment". Lately I feel pretty exhausted and tired and a little bit frustrated because I do not have the energy to do the things the way I want. And I think I could change this by changing my lifestyle a little. That's why I want to start this 5 week experiment so see if something changes :-)
Now some details:

Start: next Monday (5 weeks)

Rules/things to do: 

• Drink 1,5 - 2l (at least 0,75 natural water)
• Drink one cup of green tea in the morning
• Practice yoga every morning for at least 10 min
• Two days a week eat completely vegetarian
• Stretch everyday 
• Workout everyday (no matter what or how, just a little exercise a day)
• No more fast food (just one day a week)
• Cook/prepare the meals not buy them already prepared

This would be the basic list which I want to fulfil and every week I will give you a feedback of the things that changed/didn't change. :-) stay tuned! :-D

The joy of cooking

Today I want to write something about cooking, because it is something that I really begin to love over the last months and which gives me so much satisfaction! I have to admit that I've never been a great cook ;-) I did not have the pacience or the confidence to prepare something more challenging then pasta. I was too nervous and scared around boiling water and hot oil and although I would say that I am multitasking, just monitoring two different pans was way beyond my skills! But staying some time abroad, you have to learn how to cook or at least to try to take care of yourself  ;-) thats when I lost the fear of doing something wrong in the kitchen and learned how to prepare a meal. But I also have to admit that preparing something just for yourself isnt that amusing! So when I got back from Switzerland I really started cooking for me and my family. I always wanted to try so many recipes which seemed delicious but too time-consuming to me. But when I began to watch what I eat, I tried some easy and quick recipes and was so surprised, how easy it is to prepare something healthy and delicious! And nothing gives you so much satisfaction as a meal which was prepared by yourself! I also started to buy the ingredients with my mom and to accompany her every time. So everytime I cook something, I know exactly which ingredient I bought where and how much it cost.

But now something about the emotional part of cooking. :-) Eating makes me happy...it satisfies me in a way how only food can! But preparing it satisfies me even more! For me it is a very ruminant and sensual process.... cooking allows us to combine all our senses in one activity! For example when I prepare my favorite olive-oregano bread, I begin to sweat the onions and the whole room is full of that aromatic onion smell mixed with fresh olives and oregano spices! Hmmmmm.....you can hear how the onions are fizzling in the pan and the rhythmic sound of cutting the olives calms you down and clears your head! No joking! Doing it with my hands, it is the best time for me to think and relax! Then you combine all the different ingredients in one big bowl and you start to knead the mass until you have a smooth dough....great feeling! And then you put everything in the stove and watch it grow! Uhmmm...the room is full of the ensnaring smell of warm, fresh bread, how great is that!!

In fact I think that it is great if you can enjoy food and the process of preparing it! I like to eat concious and healthy, but I think the right balance is the most important thing! Why should I only eat salad when there are so many delicious cakes out there? I want to enjoy the whole range of food there is, because it would be just a waste to chasten yourself all the time if you can not savor some little sins! Like this fabulous chocolate cake with cerry jam that I prepared the other day! :-)

And I think Harriet Van Horne totally right: "Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all."

Take 2: Doing an internship with KPMG

As I already gave some information about my internship with Bosch, I thought that now I can also give the first information about the internship with KPMG :-) First of all I was really surprised that they considered me at all...because the things I've heard about the Big Four is that they only take the best. Best grades, best curriculum, best whatsoever..and although I am satisfied with my grades, I must admit that I certainly do not count to the Best regarding the grades...but hey! I wanted to see some other areas to see what its like to do something completely different from what I've done before. And as I had to prolong my studies, I wanted to fill the year between bachelor and master with something good and interesting that would also look good on my CV. I also wanted to stay in my hometown and there is not really a great range of offers for internships here, that are paid. So I saw the vacancy on their website and I thought: Lets try! I filled in the online application, added my CV, cover letter, letters of recommendation etc and saved it. They responded very quickly, that they are very interested and that my application seems very promising! Wohoooo!! I was happy of course...so I waited for some more days and then I got a mail from the responsible HR department in Berlin, offering me a time and date for an interview, which I gladly accepted! They told me that I would have two male interviewers and that all travel expenses would be paid by the company! I was positively surprised because that was not the case with Bosch!

I came back from Switzerland and the following week I had the interview. I was pretty excited and tried to prepare myself with reading some publications of KPMG. The interview itself was pretty tough! I expected them to ask me also personal stuff, but actually they did not ask me a thing about me or my life! Instead, they asked me many, many things about auditing, balance sheets, what would I expect to be the tasks of an accountant, why did I choose KPMG etc...wow....was not easy! But I answered the question as good as I could and then they told me, how the work will look like. I thought I would work in the office a lot but it seems that after a short week of introduction (including one day in Berlin), we will directly start to visit the clients in Saxony! Sounds really different! But in a good way! They told me, that I will need a car, but that they pay me 0,50€ for every kilometer for gasoline and also will pay the costs for renting a car!!! WOOOOW!! How great is that! Of course they also told me, that the work would be tough and overtime gets another meaning here. But I already knew that, so it did not surprise me! At the end of my interview, they said in a day or two they will contact me and in case that they choose me, send me the contract within two weeks.
Two days later I got the call from one of my interview partners, who will also be my mentor during this internship, and he told me that they would be very happy to have me as their new intern! YEAH!!! I was really happy and also more surprised as he asked me about the exam that I have to retake (I had to tell them in the interview) and asked which topic it is and if they could help in some way! Really nice! He told me that I will start in november and end in april. One week later I received the contract, which I had to sign, add some other documents (certificate of matriculation...) and return it. I will receive 1000 € (gross) a month and travel expenses (hotels, km, car rental) will be paid by the company. :-)

Now I have to month to do university stuff, visit friends and so on! And I am looking forward to november!

Doing an internship with Bosch

Well I think that now it is the time to give some hard and useful facts about my internship in Switzerland
:-)

If you are interested in doing an Bosch internship, you should just search a free vacancy either on the Bosch website itself or on another like for example http://www.unicum.de/ which I personally like best. I found my internship on the Bosch website for Switzerland. The process is really easy: select the vacancy you like (Marketing, controlling, logistic etc) and send your application to the responsible person. The internships usually start around august and february for six months. After you sent your application, you usually will be contacted by the responsible product manager for the area you want to work in. Then its time to prepare for an interview either in the company itself or through telephone. In my case I had to do two interviews per phone, because I was in Spain at this time. The first interview included all the standard questions about "what are your strengths and weaknesses?", "why powertools?", "what do you think about powertools", "name some problems you had in your professional and study life and how did you deal with them?" etc. Quiet easy if you thought about it before. The second interview was really easy for me too. I had to do a short marketing plan based on the four "Ps" and had half an hour time. Then she called me again and I had to present what I've prepared. Right at the end of the interview she told me that I have the internship. Of course I said yes :-)

Next step was to plan the trip there and all the little burocratic things: Bosch sends you a list with some adresses where you can life from shared appartments to rooms for rent in houses owned by a couple or a single lady. Those rooms are often cheaper then the ones you can normally find in Switzerland (around 450 until 600 CHF). Some are directly paid by the company and therefore debt your salary, others you have to pay to the owner. If you are doing an internship here you get around 2500 to 2700 CHF without taxes, inssurance etc. The money you earn seems to be related whether or not you are 24 at the beginning of your internship. I got 2700 CHF and with taxes included I still got 2350 CHF which is really good for an intern. Although Switzerland is an expensive country. When you get there you have to order the "foreigner identity card" at the office for habitants, foreigners etc. Normally you do it your first day at work as well as opening a new account. I personally can recommend Postfinance, where you can easily open a new account and get the necessary information right away. Because you need your account number etc for the human ressource department as soon as possible because if you have it the second day at work before 9:00 am they can transfer you your money even for the first half month! And this is better than waiting until the end of the next month to get your next salary!

Work hours are normally 8 hours a day and when you start depends strongly on your product manager and the work load. But it is normal to do overtime which is not that bad because they pay you the overtime with 25% more at the end of your internship. But I have to say that they only pay you until 60 hours! The rest you have to compensate with free days or something ;-) You also get 10 days vacation which you can take whenever you want if you spoke with your PM before. I've learned a lot during my internship and it is really interesting to see what is marketing and product management all about! You also dont have to wear business clothes because most of the employees are dressed normal.

I can only recommend you to do an internship here because you learn so many things, work in an international team and you have really good chances if you are interested in doing other internships/trainees etc afterwards, because you know the right people and many of the interns stay here and work as a junior product manager or something similar!

The big difference!

I know its been a long time since I posted something, but actually I was so busy and exhausted that I wasn't able to keep writing my blog. But now I have so many things to tell that I should start, before there are too many of them! Well, my internship in Switzerland turns out to be the hardest lesson for me to learn until today...First I was excited about the company, the reputation, new country etc. I mean, I just got back from Barcelona and was so sad that those five month were over....actually I hoped to find the same thing in Switzerland again. Of course I know that working in a foreign country is a whole different thing than studying, but however, I had my expectations. And know I am somehow fighting like hell to not give up before the finish line. But lets start from the beginning...I arrived in Switzerland and was totally happy with my new home town. I still like it by the way...I was happy about where I live and also this has not changed. But during the weeks and months I've worked at Bosch, nearly everything has changed. Especially about my self confidence and satisfaction. First I see the persons from my university in Germany, who I never wanted to see again, all together here in Solothurn. Shit!! It actually kills me to see them nearly every day because I hate false people and I am always glad when I never have to see them again! But hey...what can I do about it? Second....first I also thought that the other interns would be great and I liked them all at first sight. But it turns out that all the false, arrogant, 08/15 chicks are gathering in my department!! WTF????? Can I really have so bad luck? Well...normally all of this would not bother me so much, but I am in a foreign country, I miss my family and friends in Germany and I miss Barcelona like hell...that with an 8 to 9 hour shift, two papers to write, an exam to prepare and learning french isn't an easy package to handle...I started to feel like the freak in school, who is always depressed because she gets dissed every day...and then you start to question yourself and trying to find a solution for this huge problem. In my case the solution is often that I start to do sports like hell, which wasn't really a solution because one day my body just told me through a cold that all this is enough...way to much for him and me to handle...my head was swimming and the world around me literally started moving and fell apart. Although I spent one week at home and regained a lot of my energy, when I got back to work on monday, it hit me again so bad that I went to the doctor. That wasn't really the deepest point this day, because when I started to cry in front of the doctor and later in front of my bosses (this was quite a fun) and couldn't stop, I actually realized in what condition I am. The only thing I could think about was to just give all my responsibilities to another person, going straight back home and to sleep until I can't sleep anymore. Of course I did not do it, but I was acutally really close...

To cut to the chase....what I wanted to say with this blog: It doesn't matter how much money you get or what a great company you are working in or all the fancy things you could buy from that money...no...when I got back to Dresden and Barcelona for some days, I realized that all of this isn't important when you are alone...the most important thing in life are the people around you, who support you and love you. I've learned again, what friendship means, because in Switzerland I've almost forgot, how great it feels to be around special people, who like you and accept you as you are! So whenever you feel bullyed by some idiotic people, just get back to your friends and think, that all those people are just average and stupid for not wanting you as a best friend! It may sound stupid, but I discovered that it is nothing but the truth! I big hug to all of my friends!! I love you sooooo much!! And for all the rest of you: A TOMAR POR CULO!!

My new sweet little home town Solothurn!

Three weeks have passed and I like my new hometown soooo much! Ok, it is the complete opposite of Barcelona, but thats also what I like about it! It is small, mediveal, quiet and soooo pretty!! I just love it! I just love the small streets with these beautiful houses and the churches....I think it is the right place for me now...I have so many things to do: writing the bachelor-thesis as well as the project study paper, learning french, finishing my book...and all this with a full time job now! So I think Solothurn is perfect for me and my plans....I just can relax after work, make some trips to other beautiful cities.....and once again I had so much luck with the place I live now!!! It is absolutely fantastic! I live only 7 minutes away from the center up on a hill with a beautiful view of the mountains  in a really pretty house! And the woman I life with is sooo nice! We really fit together! I have a big room with a huuuuuge window looking right to the mountains :-)) I mean, I have to walk 30 minutes to reach the company but I really like the way to work now....I can enjoy the sunrise and clearing my head..especially when I am on my way back home..

But the weekends are what I like most! Beginning the day with a great breakfast, talking with the woman I life with and knowing that there is no need for stress....just the way I love to begin weekends! Then after breakfast going to the nice market, buying fresh ingredients for the weekend and enjoying the sun! It is really great!!! It is like a french movie about a little french village! Love it!! Then drinking a coffee in a cute little café before going home to prepare lunch! :-))) I really feel soooo good here! Another biiig advantage is that Solothurn is near to every bigger city in Switzerland!! That is so great! You just need one hour to Basel, Zurich, Geneve....!!!! Just thinking about my travel plans make me happy :-))))