My internship in GesundLand Vulkaneifel

I'm Tim and I live in Daun-Neunkirchen. Normally, I attend the vocational school in Gerolstein with a focus on accounting and controlling. But during this summer vacation, I swapped the school desk for an office workstation: During the second part of my eight-week school internship, I supported the GesundLand Vulkaneifel team for four weeks.

When the internship started on July 1, my thoughts were initially somewhere else: summer vacations, great weather, eating ice cream and just doing nothing...but that would take a back seat during these vacations. Gathering interesting professional experience was on the agenda instead. Actually, it was supposed to start at 9 a.m., but I was already overpunctual at the Tourist Information in Daun. Although I was too early, I was already warmly welcomed there by Christa Schüller, who then took me to Nadja Warken. Nadja looked after me during my weeks in the internship.

First, I got my own workstation with PC, e-mail address and telephone. The free summer vacation is quickly forgotten, because there was plenty to do and new things to learn. Next, it was straight on with a short tour of all the offices and a round of introductions. I got to know my many colleagues better and better through various group meetings. I mainly worked in the guest and booking service, but I also took on various tasks from all departments to relieve my colleagues. The familiar working atmosphere impressed me more and more. From the very beginning, I immediately felt part of the team.

I very quickly learned the basic requirement for working in the guest and booking service: friendly customer contact. Especially for me, who already gets palpitations when I'm told to call someone, it took some effort to make the first phone calls. But after the first few days and some good tips from Nadja Warken, I even started to enjoy making phone calls. In the future, I probably won't be so nervous when I'm supposed to call someone.

It was a particularly interesting experience for me to travel to a guesthouse for a consultation. On site I experienced how much the hosts stand behind their houses and how lovingly the guests are received.

In the third week of the internship, the Eifel Rally Festival was just around the corner, and preparations for it in the form of selling programs and tickets were now in full swing. For the time of the Eifel Rally Festival, my workplace moved to the Tourist Information, where I spent a lot of time at my own sales booth and gave many guests information about the rally.

In the last week of my internship, I got an insight into the marketing department. At that time, they were busy with the completion of the new homepage. It was exciting to see what goes on behind the scenes and how a new website is created.

After the four weeks have flown by, I can say that this internship was a complete success for me. I can take away a few things for my professional future and my tasks gave me a lot of pleasure.

Author: Tim Hendges/Valerie Schneider