Kim - Event and Marketing assistant at TTPL

I’m very happy to share my experience. I live in Paris and I’m preparing a degree in Business Development in my University. I was in Bournemouth to improve my English skills then I took a coach to go to Torquay. From 1 July to 22 August 2014, I worked at TTPL as a marketing and event assistant in this town. My first week in Torquay was difficult. I arrived alone with my English level. I was lost and I had no idea how to get my bus. What’s happened during 2 months? I remember my first and long week: “I’m sick about this country, I want to go home”. But the other weeks are spent so quickly!!! Yes the first week is difficult, but also your last day with your friends and your colleagues. The events organized by our team (Boat party, Mambo club meeting and Mambo party, London trip, Cockington trip, Splashdown Quaywest … ), but also the people I had met. Contrary to what is said, the weather in England was good. Sunny for our events and raining sometimes. I was responsible to organize the events and creating guides for the trip that we had organized. But I also participate in the conduct of the event. I have also created a “Survival guide: first week in England” for the students who ask helps. For my first days I just had to prepare the welcome pack for the student who arrived the following week in order to help Sam in his work.

The staff in TTPL is fantastic, even if I had to bring some M&M’s for Lorenzo when I needed his help to correct my mistake in English when I had to send email for the student. You will find a very good atmosphere in the office. With very good peoples and a very good coffee! Just the music when you work in the office which should be updated.

Paola...an Italian in Torbay.

Hey, my name is Paola I’m 18 and I come from Italy.

When I arrived in England the first thing that I thought was: “ the weather is very terrible, I can’t survive here for a month”!

Fortunately the weather and the temperature became better and I started to get used to the English clime.

In the starting days I attended school and after I worked for 3 weeks.

My work placement was in The Training Partnership Ltd in Torquay; here people are very helpful, friendly and funny especially Nadine and Sam! I worked in marketing sector with Lorenzo, he was very kind and available to repeat and explain me when I didn’t understand. I liked this work placement and I knew the office job and clime!

In the free time me and my Italian group visited lots of cities like Bristol, Plymouth, Exeter and Cockington Village. We went to the sea and stayed there all day, it was very relaxing ;) I went to pub of Torquay like Mambo and others, but I went shopping because here there are many good shops.

Every Thursday the TTPL organize a meeting for all students, every time in a different place, we went to the water park or bowling for example,  it was very amusing and a way to know new people from different countries.

My host family was perfect and like me upon I arriving. My host parents were funny and spoke a lot with me and my friend, the house was beautiful and the food was very good because my host mother likes cooking!!                                        The English people think outside of the box and have an open mind, here there aren’t prejudices and everyone is free wear the clothes he likes without feeling ashamed… I love this!

I hope to come back here in the future and call in to see my host family!

Paola 

Isabel’s Story at Totnes Rare Breeds Farm

You definitely should love the work on the farm and the animals living there. The Rare Breeds Farm in Totnes does not only have rare breeds like some goats or geese they also have for example a snake, two tortoise and chipmunks. It was very interesting to learn so much about all of them. I was able to answer a lot of different questions after a while, questions like “What is the difference between a lama and an alpaca?” or “Why are the red squirrels a rare breed in England?” The farm manager was a very lovely, helpful and funny person. She explained everything very easily to me and even if I didn’t understand everything right away or I had to ask one or two more times she took time and explained it again or even showed me what she meant. I felt very welcomed on the farm. It was a great atmosphere because we all had the same interest…The animals. That made the last day a little sad. The work on the farm was so great that I also came in on Sundays.

A waterproofed coat, pans and shoes are definitely needed because you never know about the weather in England. If it rains you can’t just say, that you are going to stay inside because the animals still need food, water and cleaning. But if it rained and we didn’t have too much to do outside we all gathered in the ICU (Intensive care unit). There are the snake, the chinchillas, the hedgehog, the chicks and some harvest mice. Because some chicken or geese were rare breeds we tried to hatch the eggs in an incubator which is also in the ICU. I saw one egg hatch on my very first day. That was a great experience. Just one experience from a lot which were great. One other very good thing is that the farm is providing you with lunch. And it was great lunch, always a salad and a sandwich and chips if you wanted with cold and hot drinks.

I wouldn’t want to miss one day of my gained experience on the farm and I hope that the following students have the chance to get a very great stay as well. If you want to find out more about the farm then visit: http://www.totnesrarebreeds.co.uk/ 

It is worth a visit! Especially if you never touched an owl before ;-) 

15 weeks! Au Revoir Cyrille

15 weeks ago Cyrille joined us here at TTPL for his Work Placement. He announced his arrival with this blog - Hello World Well here we are 3 months later and its time for him to return to Belgium.
Good bye Cyrille, good luck and please stay in touch!


Hello world this is Cyrille again! My 15 weeks of internship here in TTPL are coming to an end and to be honest, I will miss a lot of things here in Torquay.

During all this time, the best thing was to meet a lot of European students and that way, to make a lot of friends! Chatting and having a laugh around a pint of beer with them during the weekend or after a day of work is the best way to unwind and relax. If I can give an advice to new students; don't be shy! Nobody bites, go speak to other students and get to know each other. This will make you happier, you will improve your English skills and in the weekends, you will go visit surrounding cities in UK (Plymouth, Exeter, Totnes or even London) and have fun on Friday and Saturday nights.

My work placement in The Training Partnership Ltd was really fruitful for me. Now I know what office work consists of and I learned to be more independent and open-minded. The staff members are very competent and always available when you need them. What is the most amazing with them is that they are like a family, they all get along with each other and everyone is ready to lighten the atmosphere at any time, which makes them a fantastic team!

The host family that welcomed me was the nicest one I could have wanted. They were always happy to have a talk with me and I quite like the food my host mother was cooking, which is not the case for all of the students coming here.

What more could I say? Working abroad for some months is an experience every student should live. I would have stayed longer if I didn't have exams to pass… anyway, every day here was enjoyable and Torbay is a wonderful place to live in even if few people might be very weird sometimes.

I am already looking forward to come back here in the future!

Thanks a lot TTPL for all you have done for me, you guys are the best!

Secret Squirrel

Sarah - a German students view of the Torbay experience

Hey, my name is Sarah. I’m 18 years old and I live in Germany.

At my school, every student has to do a work placement in twelfth Grade to get some insights in economic processes. As our school offered to do this work placement in the UK and English is my favorite language, I decided to take the plunge and have the courage.

On my first day here at The Training Partnership I knew I wouldn't regret it!

I love working here, the atmosphere is relaxed, but also very productive and someone’s always quick with a quip – mostly Ian or Sam. ;-)

Sam is also the one I’m mostly working with or better said for. I support him with searching for different activities around Torbay, so that the Students get some ideas of what they could do while they’re here in the UK. Besides the fun tasks there was of course a lot of paperwork – probably like in every other office.

After work there’s still enough time to explore Torquay. Whether you want to go shopping or enjoy the sunset at the beautiful harbour. There are also a lot of pretty places around Torquay, like Brixham with all its beautiful Coves or Dartmouth with its many Castles.

My host family is very nice and helpful. On my first day of work, I didn't catch my bus, because unfortunately it doesn't stop at my stop…

It was pouring and as I got back home, my host mother already called a taxi for me.

The best way to improve your English is to just talk! 

If you’re in the same accommodation as one of your friends, don’t just talk in mother tongue, but instead talk with your host family. You could definitely learn some interesting things about the UK, you may not knew before.

Also you should definitely go out, have fun and make new friends. There are some nice pubs in Torquay, like Appleby’s or the Green Ginger. 

Another good way to meet new people is the weekly student meeting from TTPL – which, by the way, I helped to organise J  – where you can talk to all of the other students from many different countries.

Unfortunately I’m just staying for two weeks and that is definitely too short to explore the whole beauty of Torbay. But nevertheless I made some of the best experiences, I will never forget.

Thank you TTPL! J

My Life in Torquay - Yasmin, a Swiss Student in Torbay

Before I went to England I was quite excited because I really didn’t know what to expect. Now as I have been here for quite a long time I know that British people really are as friendly and polite as they are said to be. The word 'cheers' is quite a universal one and is not only used as in Swiss German we say 'proscht' whilst clinking wine glasses together as I have learned back home but also covering any meaning ranging from 'thank you' to 'goodbye'. And yes, the English really do drink a lot of tea. But now enough talk about the stereotypes (and I haven’t even started to talk about the weather ;-)) but more insight into my everyday life here in Torquay: I have been doing an internship since the beginning of January at the Riviera International Conference Centre in the Marketing and Sales Department. Here I do various creative tasks such as creating flyers, posters and vouchers and also helping to keep the website up to date, writing press releases or doing paperwork. I especially like that the work is very rich in variety. This week, for example, I will represent the Centre at a Tourism Exhibition.

I stay in a very nice and friendly host family and I think that it is the best way to experience another culture. I am convinced that my language skills have also improved because of the interesting conversations at the dinner table. I think it’s especially useful to learn another language as it is actually spoken – that’s what you can’t really learn at home.

I always look forward to the weekly students meetings; it’s a good way to get to know people from different countries – always a lot of fun! On the weekends we often go out together in Torquay’s various pubs and every now and then we end up in the night clubs as well. In the daytime we explore the towns nearby or go shopping. Sometimes we meet for a cup of tea. Yes. It’s nice to adapt to another culture...

Yasmin

Germans in the UK

Hi, we are Emma (16) and Lou (17) from Hamburg, Germany. A couple of months ago our teacher Birte Oggesen started talking to us about a work placement in the UK. We would go to Torquay for 2 weeks, work in different companies and stay with host families. We were very excited after we filled out the not too short application. We left on Sunday, February 23^rd and flew from Hamburg to London. After a couple hours of us hanging out at the airport, grabbing some food we got on the coach that would bring us to Torquay. After the long ride on a smelly bus we finally reached the Torquay coach station where our host families picked us up. On Monday morning we went to the Torbay Innovation Centre for the Welcome Meeting, where the TTPL staff gave us some information about our stay. On Tuesday we stated our work placement. Lou got placed at the Training Partnership in Torquay and Emma started working at Churston Farm Shop. From the first minute at TTPL Lou loved working there. The colleagues were all very nice and made her feel welcome the second she entered the office. But Emma wasn’t too sure if the cashier job was the right thing for her even though she really liked the staff there. She got replaced after one week at the Churston Farm Shop and joined Lou for the second week at the Training Partnership. We had many different jobs to do which were all very interesting. After one week Lou was even asked to answer phone calls which she really enjoyed. Emma was very happy with her placement and really liked the work. It was just like she expected – working in an office with friendly staff and interesting work to do. 

Lou

Emma