Arrival
We started our trip to Rennes on the 27th of August. We flew from Munich to Paris and continued to Rennes, where we were welcomed by Patrick Vrinat and Jean-Albert Delonglee.
After having registered we went on a major shopping tour. In the evening we met the people from the Foyer des jeunes travailleurs (FJT). On the next day we explored the old town of Rennes, but the city seemed to be extinct. Later we learned that 10,000 students live in Rennes, and so we knew the reason why we had not seen anybody on Sunday morning.
Our first day of work began on Monday, the 29th of August.
Rametsteiner Florian – Palamatic France
On Monday we were taken to work by car and the teachers managed everything with the secretary. He also introduced me to the workers because there were some communication problems in the beginning. But I soon liked the work there and I also had a lot of fun with the people working there. Most of the time we talked in English but I also tried some sentences in French.
Anzenberger Philipp – APIA
My job was to optimize individual parts of a feeding machine. This was done partly by using AutoCAD as well as SolidWorks. Sometimes I also worked in the factory, where I was able to disassemble parts of feeding machines.
Schoberleitner Michael – DMI Architecture
In my internship company, the architecture office DMI, my local advisor Frederic Michel introduced me to the basics of architecture. After a short introduction in the program AutoCAD I began to work on my own project. In the first instance I planned the concept of a house and made numerous sketches, which I discussed with Frederic again and again. Then I began to draw floor plans in AutoCAD and position them in a given plot of land where even the best garden design played a significant role. In the next step I made a cut through the house to get a view into it and correct some small mistakes. The most complex were the outside views, which cost me a lot of time and patience. I designed the whole facade and thought about the materials I want to make it out of. I decided for an environment friendly composition of wood and stone slaps, which lower the costs of heating with their dark color. A big part of my job was designing a sun protector which brings itself into the best position in relation to the sun. On the last day of my internship I was able to complete my project on time.
And then there was the first Thursday….. Our colleagues advised us that we should go to the “Rue de la soif”, because there we would be able to explore the nightlife of Rennes. (Also there was beer for just € 3.50) We were thrilled by this road, because we had not seen such a large number of students from all over the world than ever before. This was the first of four Thursdays in the “Rue de la soif”, the student party of Rennes.
On the first Saturday we visited Paris. We started our sight-seeing tour at the Eiffel Tower, went on to the Arc de Triumphe, continued through the Champs Elysees to the Louvre and then to Notre Dame. Our tour finally ended at the Galeries Lafayette and we went back to Rennes by train.
Sunday afternoon we played soccer with some people from the FJT.
In the middle of the following week, the laundry was due, but we mastered this without problems.
On Sunday we took the train to St. Malo where we could admire the Atlantic Ocean and the old town. We were fascinated by the little castle, because it was only accessible at low tide. Afterwards we went in the center of St. Malo for eating clams.
Next we visited the Lycee St. Etienne, where we were shown the entire school building by Patrick Vrinat and Jean-Albert Delonglee. We liked the type of study because it is very practical. But what made us wonder the most was the buffet lunch for teachers, because there was a huge variety of food.
A day later we went to the grocery market of Rennes, which is comparable with the “Naschmarkt” of Vienna. There we bought some vegetables for our “standard dinner,” tuna salad. On Sunday afternoon it was pouring rain, so we decided to go to the Musée de Bretagne in Rennes. In this museum we tried to learn something about the history of Brittany, even if we did not understand very much.
Then the last week began. On Monday, our supervisors came into our companies to see what our responsibilities were. After work we went to the Galeries Lafayette in Rennes. Thursday night was party time as usual in the “Rue de la soif”. We did the same on Friday with our new friends from the FJT, when we suddenly heard a group of German interns singing: „ Und diese Biene, die ich meine nennt sich Maja …“. These people told us that they were also here for making an internship abroad.
On Saturday we went to the old town and into the market for the last time. Then we started our journey home.
…. And already the four weeks were over. We really had a wonderful time there.
Special thanks to our supervisors in France, Monsieur Delonglée, Monsieur Vrinat and Monsieur Feuerle for taking the time to help us to survive! Last but not least we want to thank our teachers in Austria, Mrs. Huber and Mr. Weissensteiner for organizing the whole internship.
Anzenberger, Rametsteiner, Schoberleitner