Learning Plan of Erasmus Trainee Michelle Bichler from Austria

Welcome to my first blog.

My name is Michelle, I’m from Austria and I’m doing a four-week internship abroad as an industrial clerk in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

On the 4th of June I arrived in Belfast and on the 6th of June I started my traineeship at Watson & Co. Chartered Marketing which was founded by my Trainer Christine Watson.

On my first day, after viewing my workspace in ‘Creative Space’ – the 6th floor of Belfast Central Library, Christine, over an informal coffee at the nearby MAC Belfast told me all about the tasks that I can choose to do during my traineeship and about the courses and learning opportunities available online and in person in Belfast.

But I don’t have to complete my traineeship on my own, because I have a very friendly colleague named Romana. Romana is undertaking an apprenticeship as an office clerk; she comes from Tirol in Austria and lives in the same apartment that I am living in during my time in Belfast.

Check out my colleague Romana’s blog!

LEARNING GOALS:

First of all, I want to improve my language skills, by talking to the people who live here. At home I watch English movies, read English books and listen to English music to continually improve my skills. But in my opinion the best way to reach a better English level is to speak the language with English speaking people.

Secondly, I want to improve my photo and videography skills. Christine told me to have a look at the Today At Apple courses in the Apple store at Victoria Square shopping centre in Belfast City Centre.

I signed up for the following courses, which are free for me to attend as I am an iPhone owner:

• Recording techniques with iPhone
• Photo tour: framing architecture
• Photo skills: editing on iPhone
• Photo tour: taking portraits on location

I´m really excited about the courses and hope to be a better photographer and videographer as a result.

Thirdly, whilst I use Instagram as a private user I don’t have any experience with Instagram for Business but because of my Erasmus traineeship I have now created a new public account called michi.belfast. On this account I´m going to upload posts of my blogs and of my work at Watson & Co. Chartered Marketing and TrainingMatchmaker and all the places I´ll visit in Belfast and across Northern Ireland.

My fourth objective is learning how to use Canva for business and for blogging. As I love to do social media posts and Instagram stories, I want to learn how to use Canva so I can make my social media accounts more visually attractive. My Trainer Christine has signposted me to free training resources on Canva and my fellow Erasmus trainee has used Canva before so she has kindly agreed to share her knowledge and experience with me.

ABOUT ME:

My name is Michelle and I´m from Bad Ischl in Austria.

Currently, I´m 20 years old and completing my second year of an apprenticeship as an industrial clerk at KTM AG.

In my free time I go to the gym and love to spend time with my boyfriend and my best friends.

My first impressions of Belfast are very positive – the buildings are beautiful, and the people are really nice – I´m very excited about the following weeks and really want to get to know the culture and landscapes of Belfast, Northern Ireland better. Indeed, my Trainer Christine advised me that from Belfast I can also easily explore the rest of Ireland – there are frequent day return buses and trains from Belfast to Dublin.

You can even follow me on Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.

ABOUT WATSON & CO. CHARTERED MARKETING:

  Watson & Co. Chartered Marketing is a marketing consultancy and training company established in April 2005 by the multi award winning and industry experienced Chartered Marketer Christine Watson – my Trainer during my Erasmus work placement in Belfast.

Christine and her team of talented Chartered Marketers, SOSTAC Certified Planners and Licensed Trainers work with businesses to deliver creative and effective marketing and customer service solutions to achieve optimal results for them.

ABOUT TRAINING MATCHMAKER:

At Trainingmatchmaker.com you can find all different types of learning opportunities. Free or paid, online and Face-to-Face Courses, categorised by topics so that you easily and quickly find what you are interested in or a brand-new topic to inspire your next learning journey. Trainingmatchmaker.com exists to inspire learning.

Training Matchmaker was founded by my Trainer: Chartered Marketer Christine Watson. She has been a Licensed Trainer for over 10 years. Delivering training to over 1,000 individual clients herself personally, Christine understands first-hand the desire to have all seats on a training course filled as well as the juggling and time pressures of trying to develop a training business whilst at the same time delivering energetic training to delegates.

ABOUT WORLDHOST:

WorldHost is a world-class training programme that helps organisations deliver excellence in customer experience. Trusted globally, the programme is delivered through an innovative, human and transformative approach. Over one million customer-facing staff have been trained on WorldHost customer service programmes.

ABOUT ERASMUS+:

Erasmus+ is the EU’s programme to support education, training, youth and sport in Europe.

The 2021 – 2027 programme places a strong focus on social inclusion, the green and digital transitions, and promoting young people’s participation in democratic life.

It supports priorities and activities set out in the European Education Area, Digital Education Action Plan and the European Skills Agenda. The programme also supports the European Pillar of Social Rights, implements the EU Youth Strategy from 2019 till 2027 and develops the European dimension in sport.

ABOUT INTERN EUROPE:

Intern Europe is a Belfast organisation working closely with European partners in delivering mobility projects in the framework of and Erasmus+ Lifelong Learning Programmes.

Intern Europe manages all aspects of participants’ mobility and work placements.  As part of their mobility programmes, Intern Europe offers quality accommodation in self-catering apartments shared by participants from different countries, as well as homestay accommodation in local families.