2007 absolvierte Marcus Schreiter ein Praktikum bei Tyco Electronis in Lynchburg
2008 konnten wir Felix Gabathuler ein Praktikum bei Volkswagen Sachsen GmbH ermöglichen.
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10.07.2007 Marcus Schreiter

To everybody who might care. Enjoy the reading!

You are currently reading my first impressions of my travel to Lynchburg, VA.
I’m not sure yet whether this will be a one-time report or developing into a somewhat regular account of my experiences.
Maybe I should introduce myself first. My name is Marcus Schreiter. I’m one of the two initiators of the Lynchburg Sister City project. I am currently in Lynchburg, starting an internship at M/A COM Wireless Systems tomorrow, July 9th.

It all started a few months ago. At first there was an idea. Why not do an internship during the summer break? So far so good. But why not make that an even more interesting experience by doing an internship abroad? With the help of “Friends of Lynchburg e.V.” and our American partners, in particular Manfred Mibus, contact was established. Soon after I received a job training offer and everything seemed to be going well. Just a few more pages of paperwork for the company and the visa application and I was ready to go. Well, it didn’t go that easily.
I’ll spare the details to you. In the end, I had my visa in hand, after dozens of phone calls, book-filling pages of e-mails and a lot of help from Consul Sheeland and his employees at the Consulate General in Leipzig.

So I arrived in Lynchburg, VA yesterday around 8 p.m. Angela and Manfred Mibus who picked me up from the airport, offered to stay for the night. I was to move to my apartment the next day. I was very grateful of their hospitality.

Today Mr. Mibus showed me around in Lynchburg. We went to the Downtown area, which of course was empty. (Keep in mind, it’s Sunday) We then drove through the historic district with beautiful, privately owned houses, dating back to I guess the 19th century, maybe even older. The concept of preserving these houses is simply but ingenious. The houses that need restoration are sold cheaply. The new owners however are bound to restore these buildings within a fixed time frame on their own expenses. As a result most of these buildings are in great shape, despite of their age.
We then drove to the old city cemetery and visited the Pest House, which is a small museum displaying Lynchburg’s first “hospital” where people with contagious diseases were quarantined.
Of course we also stopped at Starbucks. A must-do when you’re in the U.S. and a Coffee-lover.
After lunch at a Chinese Restaurant, I took a walk around the development where Angela and Manfred Mibus live. Most homes are built in a colonial style looking like smaller versions of Southern Mansions of the 19th century: red brick walls, white roofs and white columns in front of the entrance. The huge gardens surrounding these houses are fenceless. Some houses lie deep in the woods almost undetectable. Some driveways are so long, you need a car to get to the mail box.
The city itself is very widespread. There is no way of getting somewhere without a car.

I’m looking forward to starting my internship tomorrow.
I hope you enjoyed the reading. If you have any comments, feel free to mail them to nacknu(at)web.de

Marcus Schreiter

12.07.2007 Marcus Schreiter

Welcome to the part 2 of my Journal

I’ve been working for M/A COM for a couple days now and I think it’s time to share my first impressions.

I started on Monday July 9th and spent most of the day with orientation, signing paperwork and generally getting to know my co-workers, the facilities and everything you need to know to get started.
Everybody is really nice and offered help whenever needed.
My supervisor is a great guy. He has studied in Munich for a year. He is very patient explaining SAP Software to me and also gives me a general idea about the different jobs in Supply Chain Management.
My job is to run various reports, using mainly SAP Software and Excel, to bring the Buyers up to date with the latest news on our suppliers. Besides that, different people are showing me what they do on a daily basis.

Today was a special day for Tycoelectronics (That’s the company of which M/A-Com Wireless is a part of).
On this Wednesday, July 11th we celebrated our seperation of Tyco Int.
At 9 a.m. we watched the live webcast of the bell ringing by our CEO Tom Lynch at the NY Stock Exchange.
At Lunch time the company went to a park and had a big party, which included a Southern BBQ and various sporting activities. Unfortunately, it started raining just as the celebration got started. Luckily a giant tent had been erected.

I’m really enjoying my time here. I’m fulfilling interesting tasks and I am surrounded by really nice and very helpful people. So far, this has been a great experience.

Comments? → nacknu(at)web.de

17.05.2008 Felix Gabathuler
Das Wochenende diente dazu, Felix Gabathuler Zeit zum Eingewöhnen zu verschaffen. Wir sahen den Festumzug der Feuerwehr, unterhielten uns mit Polizisten.
In Zwickau und Mosel besuchten wir VW, um erste Eindrücke für sein Praktikum zu sammeln. Das Studentenwohnheim gefällt ihm gut und den Zwickauer Dom fand Felix beeindruckend.

Lassen wir Felix selbst sprechen:

I was blown away by the hospitality that greeted me as we walked into the firestation. As I saw the Lynchburg Firefighter uniform, I had to be proud of the relationship between these two cities. I was given the task to send greetings from the Glauchauer firefighters to their Lynchburg counterparts and this I will certainly do. I also met two very nice ladies that were willing to have their pictures taken with me.