Photo of Krzysztof Lewandowski
Hi, My name is Krzysztof Lewandowski, I’m from Poland and I completed a four-week traineeship in Belfast, Northern Ireland. I started the traineeship on the 30th of September at trainingmatchmaker.com which was created by Watson and Co. Chartered Marketing founder: Trainer Christine Watson. In this blog, you can see what training I undertook, what I learned and which goals I reached following research and learning commitments that I made for my first blog: My Learning Plan.

The English Language

Improving my English is one of the most important achievements. During my stay, I learned to understand the local accent and decipher the quick-talking nature – because the locals in Northern Ireland speak very fast which is hard to understand for someone who has english as a second language. My written English is also better than before and I developed my written English through writing blogs and communicating with my colleagues in email and whatsapp.

YouTube

I am a Minecraft YouTuber – my YouTube channel has over 60,000 subscribers and more than 3 million total views. Thanks to the YouTube Playbook for Creative Advertising course – a free online course that I completed during my traineeship in just a few hours I now know the YouTube ecosystem and some of the strategies behind its creative content, some tools that will take my creativity to the next level and optimize my campaigns and I found out also how I can reach my audience, hold their attention and earn their love. I enjoyed this course and would recommend it.

Canva

During the traineeship, I learned how to use Canva for business – it is a free platform (you can pay for premium) on which you can easily create a design that will be very useful for various websites, blogs and social media. I found it very simple and  there is a free canva course by canva listed on trainingmatchmaker.com that I completed. I created a number of canva graphics for my training provider and here is one below which I have embedded into this blog from instagram:
View this post on Instagram

Tonight is the night – we look forward to welcoming you to Derry Central Library for Blogging Inspiration Session from 6pm. “Libraries NI is pleased to offer this free Blogging Inspiration event to introduce people to the art of blogging,” said Julie Reid, Libraries NI Service Development Manager. “Storytelling is forever evolving and blogging, vlogging and podcasting is quickly becoming the new platform for telling stories through text, images and video. Whether you’re blogging for business, documenting your family history or keeping a record of travelling expeditions, you’re using the power of words to tell a story. “We’re delighted to once again team up with @trainingmatchmaker to present this event at Derry Central Library on Thursday 17 October and look forward to welcoming speakers Patience Bradley and Dr Ava Eagle Brown as well as host Tina Calder to the Library.” Christine Watson, Chartered Marketer and founder of TrainingMatchmaker.com said blogging is no longer the preserve of the few. “In recent years there has been a surge in interest in blogging, vlogging and podcasting across Northern Ireland. “It’s a fantastic way to connect with like-minded people, immerse yourself in your passions, keep your mind healthy and active and an excellent excuse to get out and about and use your local library. “Both Patience Bradley and Dr Ava Eagle Brown aren’t just bloggers, they are women who have taken their passions and turned them into a way to keep connected with their peers and communities. “Our speakers challenge the stereotype of what a blogger is and show the real mental, physical and emotional benefits of expressing ourselves online in a responsible, measured and healthy way. “Attendees at the Blogging Inspiration event in Derry Central Library will be sure to leave with the motivation, encouragement and practical knowhow they need to begin or amplify their blogging journey.”

A post shared by TrainingMatchmaker (@trainingmatchmaker) on

Today At Apple

At Victoria Square, Belfast I completed several Today at Apple courses that helped me improve my photography and video skills. Now with newly learned knowledge, I feel I can take more beautiful photos and create more lovely videos which will be very useful in future projects. There are lots of free course choices but the courses that I completed were: Photo Skills – photography on iphone, Video Skills – getting started with iMovie,  Video Skills – recording techniques with iphone and a Video Walk across Victoria Square shopping centre. These courses were only up to one hour long each I enjoyed them and I learnt a lot – photo and video skills taught the basics including some handy settings in iphone to improve your photo and video capture and the video walk was a bit more advanced.

WordPress

I had never used WordPress before my traineeship. With WordPress, you can easily create a website, blog and even an online store. Currently, I’m creating my Learning Log without any problems using WordPress after I created my first blog – My Learning Plan in the first week following a quick tutorial over a coffee by my Trainer: Christine. I have found wordpress very easy to use – the template for this website makes adding a blog nearly as easy as using Microsoft word!

Instagram

I use Instagram every day to contact my YouTube fans and show them photos of the wonderful places that I visit. Now I have learned many interesting things through the free online instagram course by Facebook Blueprint. As part of my traineeship, I drafted lots of Instagram for business content and I also had amplification of my instagram story posts by clients of TrainingMatchmaker including Libraries NI – my photos for the #BookWeekNI campaign with BBC NI and I am proud of this achievement.

Google Local Guide

I use google maps several times a month. However, I didn’t know how Google Local Guides works. During my traineeship I reached level 5 having 97 photos from 15 locations and 5 reviews. A great achievement in my opinion. Whilst reviewing this blog before hitting publish I was challenged to take 3 additional photos to achieve my target of 100 photo submissions and my final 3 photos were of our meeting venue: The Mac Theatre in Cathedral Quarter, Belfast. My contributions over a 4 week period have gained 21,000 views and I will keep contributing as a Local Guide to Google Maps when I return home to Poland and on my future travels.

Hashtag Marketing

Following my traineeship I now know more about hashtags and hashtag marketing – I learned the maximum number I can use on instagram and the ideal number to use on instagram and twitter and whilst I now know that I can use them on facebook I also know that facebook users don’t really like them. I used Hashtagify.me to find popularity and new hashtags for social media posts – this was a tool I had not used before. I plan to use hashtags in my future social media posts.

Quik By Go Pro

Photo of Krzysztof Lewandowski
My Trainer Christine Watson showed me a free app – Quik by Go Pro – it is for both android and iphone and you can use it on a desktop too. During my traineeship I practiced using my travel pictures. I found it a quick and easy way to create video content from photos and videos.

Google Digital Garage

My Learning plan included a commitment to undertake the free online course Google Digital Garage, by Google. I started this course but I didn’t have time to finish it. However I do plan to complete it when I return home and look forward to being awarded my achievement certificate.

Sharing my learning

During my traineeship I also had the opportunity to share some of my learnings and knowledge with my colleagues. I showed many things including the tools that I use for my videos for my youtube channel and adobe photoshop graphic design. I also shared some of the hardware – the equipment that I find useful when creating video content.

About me

My name is Krzysztof and I am 18 years old. I live in Poland and currently I am a third-year student of the Marketing and Advertising class in Ludow Polski school. In the future I would like to be a graphic designer. In my free time I enjoy playing video games, taking photos and making YouTube videos.

About Erasmus

Erasmus stands for European Community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students. It’s a Higher Education exchange programme for students, teachers, and institutions, run in Poland. Intern Europe facilitated my Erasmus in Northern Ireland. It’s a chance for universities and students across 33 countries to mingle, learn new skills and expand their horizons. Erasmus gives students the chance to study, do a work placement or work as a language assistant in another European country during their time at school. You don’t have to be a language student to get involved either; as long as your university or school offers Erasmus for your subject, you can do it. I think that Erasmus is an amazing experience that everybody should have to try!
0

You may also like

Learning log of Erasmus Trainee Anna-Lena from Austria after an awesome time working and living in Northern Ireland
Learning Log of Erasmus Trainee Johanna from Austria after an awesome time living and working in Northern Ireland
Learning Plan of Erasmus Trainee Johanna Zettel from Austria

Erasmus Trainee