Erasmus Mobility student placement, Belfast, Northern Ireland

TERM: 28.11.-11.12. 2021

From 28.11.-11.12. 2021, within the Erasmus Mobility+ programme, our 15 students took part in a work placement with employers in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Our third and fourth year students had a unique opportunity to put their existing knowledge and skills into practice in an English-speaking environment.

Before departure, students completed an online job interview with a representative from Interneurope, Ireland's partner placement agency, who helped them choose an employer based on their preferences. The great benefit for the students is not only the work experience itself, but also - thanks to the homestay accommodation - the opportunity to improve their English and experience the everyday life of an Irish family.

The working week was devoted to practice and the free days were marked by trips. For example, at the weekend we visited one of the most beautiful natural monuments in Ireland, Giant's Causeway, which is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Here we also visited the Titanic Museum, which was built in the Belfast shipyards over a hundred years ago.

This whole work experience has another advantage. The work placement will be confirmed in the Europass of each student, who can then add it to their professional CV. Thanks to the fact that the management of the school was able to obtain funding for this internship through the Erasmus Mobility+ programme, the students have their entire stay paid for, including their pocket money.

And how do the students themselves see our work adventure?

28.11. 2021, 1st day described by Honza:

Today we spent our first day together in the Erasmus+ programme. Our day started with a complicated traffic situation, as snow fell overnight and the roads were covered with snow. After a difficult journey to the school, we had to take a minibus to the airport in Vienna and then check in. There were some minor complications during check-in as 2 of our participants were not paying full attention and left a pair of scissors and a knife in their hand luggage. However, everything was sorted out shortly afterwards. Although the classmates lost the items in question, we were able to continue on our way. Then followed passport control and the search for the correct gat. Before boarding the plane, we browsed a few more shops.

We finally got on the plane! After we got off the ground, the air played with us a bit and tested the resistance of our stomachs with turbulence and wind. The rest of the flight went smoothly. On arrival we wandered around slightly looking for the bus driver, but after about 20 minutes we were off towards Belfast. At our final destination we were shown to our families, properly fed and debriefed. I personally can't complain about anything. And now all that was left was to get a good night's sleep for the next day.

29.11. 2021, 2nd day described by Adam:

Today we spent the second day of our trip together. The day started with breakfast, which was a little different in each family. Then we went in groups to Interneurope for a welcome meeting where Jayne was waiting for us. After watching the introductory presentation, we had to test ourselves. Unfortunately, one of us had to have a PCR test as well, as he had two positive antigen tests. Meanwhile, the others, accompanied by the Interneurope representative, went to buy tickets on the local public transport.

After that we returned to the front of Interneurope, got dismissed and were able to explore the centre of Belfast. So, in smaller groups, we set off to explore the city. Our group visited a delicious pizza place and then we "snuck" inside the beautiful local university, which we toured a bit. We also visited the university park, which was full of diesel generators that were used to power the Christmas lights. But generators were not at all appropriate for such a place, in our opinion. After that, our group split up and everyone went their own way home to their host family.

30.11. 2021, 3rd day described by Honza S.:

I took a covid test this morning, which came back negative, but I forgot to take a picture of it, so when I was almost to work I had to go home. My bus didn't leave for two hours, so my hostess ended up driving me to work.

I replaced a few parts in the switchboard and then swept the work areas. I got off work 45 minutes early because we all had to get PCR tests. Not to be outdone by the inconvenience,

I got off by mistake about 5 or 6 miles from the testing site. I wanted to open Google maps and take the bus and walk to my destination, but my cell phone was against it - it died. I continuously asked about 20-30 people for directions and ran. Honestly... I don't think I've run as much in my life as I did today. Thanks to the friendliness of the locals, I ended up joining our group safely. Afterwards, we tested ourselves and headed home.

I have to admit that the feeling I experienced when I was alone in a strange city, without a mobile phone and in the dark, I wouldn't wish on anyone. I felt like Kevin from Home Alone 2.

1.12. 2021, 4th day described by Vasek:

It's morning, and luckily I got a negative PCR test. I'm not even in pain, so other than the constant rain, everything's great. Although even this problem can be solved, as I - unlike the other guys - at least have an umbrella. I stood up and prepared some bread and jam.

In the morning I had to go around the whole factory with covid spray and spray all the doors. Meanwhile, the other guys were checking the alarms on the water, air and chemical supply. Later I joined them too. Then we swept the yard, which was fun since we had a blower to do it. In the morning we repaired the silicon wafer grinder that ICEMOS makes. The measuring probe had to be cleaned of dirt to make it work well, so the grinder ground the wafers correctly. We worked in spacesuits, the so-called "atomic suit".

In the afternoon it finally cleared up after two rainy days. For lunch I had a sandwich from a nearby bakery. I'm still getting used to the local cuisine. After lunch, we scraped the number markings off the slices to make the surface even.

2.12. 2021, 5th day described by Honza P.:

The alarm rang at 6:30, I had breakfast and went to work. All was going well until they put a jackhammer in my hands and told me to drill 3 small holes. But it turned out that one hole was huge and I drilled the wall through and through in the other two.

After work, I took the train home. I went to the station where I was supposed to change trains, but unfortunately the board said Bangor - CANCELLED. I started to panic slightly, but luckily the conductor was very helpful and told me which way to get on the bus. I made my way to the bus but couldn't find it. However, I met a lady just as confused as I was and we searched together. After many minutes we finally found the bus stop and the bus heading to Bangor. We got on the bus and headed home. After arriving home, I had dinner and went to rest.

3.12. 2021, 6th day described by Martin:

When I got up in the morning, I was quite cold, as always, because our house is not well insulated. I had toast with jam and tea for breakfast. I got to the bus stop and went to work. On the way, I stopped at three different shops in an attempt to get sauerkraut, as I want to cook dumplings stuffed with smoked meat and cabbage for dinner. But none of the stores had it.

At work I worked on a system to automatically send emails to customers when they sign up. I took a few photos - so my assignment from the teacher was complete. During my lunch break I went to Tesco, where I finally got some sauerkraut. I bought lunch at Subway and went back to work. The head teacher brought chocolates and sweets for us to take. Then I learned how to use R Shiny, which is a graphing program.

I finished work at five o'clock and then went to the swimming pool as usual. There was hardly anyone there. When I got home, I started cooking dumplings stuffed with smoked meat and cabbage. I burned the onions first and then boiled the dumplings, but otherwise the meal was pretty good.

4.12. 2021, 7th day described by Kamil:

I used to get up with my roommate in the morning. We both drove to Belfast, got to the travel agent just in time and then got on the bus with the others. A long journey ensued - mainly because the bus took us along the coast instead of the inland motorway. But the reward was the beautiful views of the sea and countryside. We stopped at a rest area that was quite high, overlooking the sea, and there was a very strong wind. We took a few photos and after about 10 minutes we retreated back to the warmth of the bus.

The next stop was a restaurant near Giant's Causeway, where we spent about half an hour, and then we went to Giant's Causeway itself. It was windy there too. We were greeted by

nice view of the bay and the rocky cliff on the way down. Then I walked further along the trail and saw the second and third (smaller) bays. The trail ended there due to a landslide.

When we got back to the bus, we stopped at another place where a scene from Game of Thrones was being filmed. We took the inland motorway back to Belfast, where I headed home to Bangor.

5.12. 2021, 8th day described by Lukas:

Today Alexey (our landlord) and I went into town and he dropped us off in front of the Titanic museum. Here we waited for the teacher and the other students. The teacher at the ticket office negotiated a discount from £20 to £15.50 and for himself to £17.50. We went through the museum in about 2 hours. We read articles about the Titanic, saw models of the rooms in each classroom and watched videos of how the Titanic was built, how the wreck was found and how it was subsequently explored. Afterwards, we took another look at the original Nomadic.

With the teacher, we walked around the museum. Finally, we bought presents for the family and Adam and I returned to the secluded spot by the forest. That's what I call our place because it's in the fields by the woods outside Belfast. We had meat pie for dinner at the secluded forest. After dinner, Adam and I fixed the lights on the lawn tractor and glued the door shut.

6.12. 2021, 9th day described by Marek:

This morning we went to work again after the weekend - at 7:00 am. Unfortunately, the bus that was supposed to leave at 7:15 didn't come. So we took a different bus, then walked 4 kilometers and then took another bus again. We got to work 45 minutes later. We spent the day at work cleaning up, as the inspection was coming tomorrow. After work we took the train to the city centre where we met the other students and the teacher at a pizza place. They were having a 1+1 free pizza promotion. From there we went home and went to bed right afterwards, because tomorrow we have another busy day ahead of us.

7.12.2021, 10th day described by Jakub T.:

Like every working day, we got up at 6 o'clock. We didn't have to think much for breakfast, because yesterday we didn't fully assess the situation (i.e. our hunger) and we had two whole pizzas left. It was one of the coldest mornings and it was raining heavily. We took public transportation to work, where we were assigned brooms. The inspection was due today. After four hours of sweeping and cleaning, the inspection finally arrived. Mr. Inspector didn't stay half an hour and was gone. Lunch followed, after which we met an employee our age. He showed us the laser and explained how it worked. We then assisted him and taught him Czech words as he worked. After work hours we went to the train, which this time took us to a stop not far from our accommodation. After dinner together, I said goodbye and passed the torch on.

8.12.2021, day 11 described by David:

I didn't feel like going anywhere this morning. I set the alarm for 7:00 and I snoozed it four times. I finally forced myself to get up, and it wasn't until the shower that I woke up. The shower here is really refreshing because the first 5 minutes or so the hot water doesn't run and I always forget about it. I had toast with Nutella for breakfast. After that I took something warm to wear (2 t-shirts, 2 sweatshirts and a jacket are often not enough here) and I was ready to go. It was pouring again outside. I put on my shoes and finally decided to step outside. Just then Michele, our surrogate mom, stopped me and offered to drive me to work. Of course, you don't turn down an offer like that.

There was grinding waiting for me at work. Again. But this time I even got a grinder, so my hands got a rest. I was sanding the roof of some "great big car" from a scaffolding. It wasn't just any scaffolding. It was constructed of two racks (surprisingly, only one of which was swinging) and a plank. I was also a bit startled when the boss started welding right next to me. When we finished the task, the manager took me home because he wanted to see the garden tractor that Stephen and I were working on.

9.12.2021, 12th day described by Jakub K.:

Today's day started really "flawlessly". I overslept, so the boys and I said we would take the next bus. It didn't seem like a problem because the bus runs every 10 minutes. It was only a problem when we got to the other side of town, where we changed to another bus. We found out that the next connection doesn't leave for another 30 minutes. This was not an option as we would be late for work. At that moment we saw a bus at the intersection going in our direction. Since we didn't want to walk 1.5 kilometers, we started running to the next stop and successfully caught the bus. We got to work on time!

As every day, we checked the values of our water purifier and then took a tea break. We then went to the lab with our leader to replace a broken water heating relay. We stayed in the lab until lunchtime (until about 1pm). After the lunch break we went back to the lab where we were able to try joining wafers, measuring, labeling and discarding them.

10.12. 2021, 13. day described by Erik S.:

Today we got up (we were up at 6am) to get to work at 8am. I skipped breakfast as usual. The drive to work usually takes about 1.5 hours, but today it took us longer because the bus drivers here don't run on any kind of schedule, so I ended up waiting 20 minutes for the next bus when I changed buses.

As usual, we checked the condition of the vacuum pumps, the water quality and the amount of recycled and produced ultrapure DI water. After that, my colleagues and I unloaded the canisters of acids (e.g. sulphuric or hydrochloric acid) from the truck and then we cleaned them from the pallets to their respective places in the warehouse. We then transported some of the acid canisters from the warehouse directly to the production complex.

Our next task was to clean up the area with electrical waste (burnt out fluorescent lamps, broken "squeegees", etc.). In the meantime, letters of recommendation were displayed in the office and the manager gave us as a souvenir some surplus processed silicon sheets, which could be worth up to 50,000 CZK each if handled properly. We measured the surface of the wafers ourselves at the factory - which we were already quite familiar with - on a laser scanner that maps the surface in detail to fractions of a micrometer.

It was our last day. The boss took a picture with us at the company logo and let us go home about 2 hours early. So we said goodbye to our colleagues, took our last photos and started our journey home. On the way home from work I immersed myself in reading the national Czech literature - Švejk.

After work, my classmates and I went out to dinner to celebrate our successful internship in Ireland. We talked about our experiences and reminisced about this unforgettable experience.

11.12. 2021, 14th day described by Štěpán K.:

Today started very early for me as I had to pack everything and fill out the arrival forms. This was followed by the last breakfast at our surrogate homestay. As a parting gift, we were given a carved snowman, as our host is a great carver. Around 1:30pm the bus arrived and we started our return journey. We picked up a few more guys on the way and headed up towards Dublin. After about 2 hours of driving we arrived at the airport. After all the checks we arrived at gate 107. We boarded the A320 and headed back to mainland Europe. The flight was uneventful, our aviation expert, Honza Hlaváček, gave the landing a 7 out of 10. The only part of the journey that was left was from Vienna to České Budějovice. We boarded a minibus heading home. On the way we dropped off 2 guys and around 0:15 we arrived in České Budějovice. We said goodbye and that was the end of this incredible mission.

I'm ending our logbook

Stepan