After being 2 weeks in Szczecin it is about time to let you know how i'm doing up here in Poland.
"It all began on a nice Sunday morning 2 weeks ago. Getting luggage sorted, travelling to Airport and checking in. Flight went fine and i got my train in Berlin that was taking me to Angermuende, where i had to wait for 30 min for a 2nd train that was supposed to finally bring me to my destination Szczecin.
The weather was fine, i was enjoying the peace of the small charming village Angermuende.
Suddenly i could hear a german female voice sounding from the speakers at the station telling with passion: "Der Anschlusszug nach Stettin ist ersatzlos gestrichen. Ein Schienenersatzfahrzeug wird sich in der Bushaltestelle am Bahnhofsgelände einfinden."
Well, being still in a good mood, as the sun was up and softly kissing with it's beams the train station. As we were only 3 people waiting for any trains, no crowd and chatter was there to interrupt the peacefull scenery.
After like 30 minutes i started getting nervous, but as due to strikes of the DB in Germany, no employees to ask for the bus were to be found. Finally after like 70 minutes it arrived and after 11 hours of travel i finally got to see Szczecin."
work in Szczecin:
I'm working for arvato services (Bertelsmann media) which has Microsoft as a customer. In Szczecin is the call central for authetification of Microsoft products for the German, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Russian and some other hotlines.
My task is to listen to the call agents answering requests on the phone, take notes how it can be improved from the German point of view. Sometimes i t feels like being a German teacher, as no native speakers can be found in the German hotline. A working day looks like 4-5 hours listening to phone calls, then preparing 2 coachings and holding 2 coachings. Can be quite tiring but also is fun now and then, listening to angry MS customers and hearing questions like: where can i find the / button on my keyboard. But i'm working on a best of list already :p
Internet in Szczecin:
Sucks!
We are having chello.pl over here. 4 days it was just working for 1 person in the flat and 2 of us couldn't get it working. Took 4 days to get this sorted. A flatmate called me during the day, that it would be working again. Once coming home from workt, the electric power went out in our part in the city and guess what - that screwed our modem again ... another 3 days of no internet. But finally since yesterday i'm able to communicate with peopel again :)
Szczecin itself:
Szczecin is a nice and charming city (roughly 400.000 inhabitants), with a lot of green areas.
Here a small view from my balcony ...
... some monuments and a lake in the park (it's a freakin huge park ... u can walk for 2 hours without even noticing, that you are in a city)
Behind the pope you can see the city government building.
But it isn't the richest of cities. As it is situated at the borders of Poland, the national government isn't investing many funds in Szczecin but trying to improve the cities of Warsaw, Danzig and Krakau.
So the looks is more old fashioned and a bit grey, but with not too high buildings and loads of green areas, it gives you a cosy and warm feeling.
People in Szczecin:
The people i met so far are really nice and open towards foreigners. At the beginning most are a bit afraid of talking English, as it isn't so commonly used in Poland due to it's history but in the cause of time you can communicate with almost everybody.
On Friday was the first time seriously going out to a local club with some Aiesecers from Szczecin and friends of them. During summer not so many people are going out, as most of the students are gone but still you can find enough people. We stayed at a club til 2 and ended up til 4 in a flat drinking zubrowka (bison vodka with apple juice - it's more than delicious), that we got from a 24 hours shop for around 6 euro if i calculate it right :p
Yesterday was a private party in a house of a Aiesec members (Hauseinweihungsfeier - don't ask me for the English term ... not that easy to type with a headache)
Here some pictures of some people (only nice pictures before drinking too much Vodka)
Well this is just in the smoking room, that's why it's looking a bit clean and empty.
The room with the couches and drinks was next door. But what happend in there, stays in there ...
The party was great fun and i was able to try a couple of different types of vodka (which names i can't remember that good anymore - Zubrowka still is the best!), being challenged to a Vodka drinking competition with polish people (my head is really happy bout this today ...), having a lot of talks with many people mixing up english, german and polish words and meeting loads of new people. To put it in 3 words: Having a blast!
That's a small insight to Szczecin. I will try to make more pictures and keep you all up to date now and then.
At the moment i just feel the urgency of finding myself some Aspirin and getting my head some rest, i guess ...
