Recycling Plymouth

The first week went by so quickly. The first non-travelling day was all about me getting to know the place a bit more. I had a taxi waiting for me outside the apartment and it took me to Almond Vocational, where we had a bit of a meeting talking about this work placement and the city and so forth. After that I got to take a little walking tour around the city. We also took a quick visit to my workplace, Recycling Plymouth, and that was the first time I actually got to know at least somewhat what I’m going to be doing for the next two months. As you can probably guess from the name Recycling Plymouth, they recycle things. Most of the “things” are different kinds of electronics, from TV’s and computers to fridges and washing machines. 

 I’ve now got couple workdays behind me and I’m working in the computer section of the establishment. We take in old or broken computers, fix them and sell them for a reasonable price. So far my work has consisted of installing/preparing computers to be ready for sale and taking apart scrap laptops and televisions. The work has been enjoyable (at least so far), but they still keep telling me if I don’t like it or I get bored they can find me something else to do. Though I have to say that I have one complaint about the place, it’s as cold inside as it is outside since the place is basically a small warehouse. So you have to wear a jacket inside too. Other than that the work environment is nice and the people I’m working with are nice and very helpful. And the fact that the workplace is a walking distance away from where I’m staying isn’t bad either.

The Beginning

So here I am, in the Great Britain. Starting to write my first blog post, little bit late I have to admit because I’ve been here a couple of days already and haven’t written anything. This blog is going to be me telling about my experiences during my work placement in England, in the city of Plymouth to be precise.

The first time I heard that this kind of work placement abroad was even possible was when my sister was talking about doing her work placement abroad, couple years before I even started my current education. Then and there I already knew that someday I wanted to do that too. It seemed like the perfect opportunity that I just couldn’t miss. And now it’s here. Before I left Finland and took my flight here I’m not sure if I really had realized what I’m about to do, I wasn’t nervous at all and was just treating this as I would every other work placement. But no, this one is way different and way bigger. I’ve always been interested in travelling and seeing other countries, but I haven’t had many opportunities to do so. And now I’m going to be spending a pretty long time (around 2 months) in a totally foreign country. I would say this trip isn’t really about the work. Work experience is important, but I could be getting that in Finland too. I don’t have to travel all this way just for that. This more about a complete experience, living in a different environment and adapting to that, and getting general experience in life that way. So, yes, I am very excited to be doing this.

The first day was just me travelling. I got up at 4:30 having slept like 3 hours last night, but I wasn’t even tired. How could I be? I’m going to be travelling to a completely different country and living there, and it is happening today. My flight left at 8:00 Finnish time and arrived at 9:00 UK time. Since we time travelled 2 hours backwards the flight was 3 hours. That was only the beginning of my journey. After I landed at the Heathrow airport I had to wait for a bus leaving at 13:50, that’s 4 hours that I have to kill somehow. So I wait the very long and boring 4 hours and go outside to look for the bus, and I can’t see it anywhere. I though it’s not quite 13:50 yet so nothing to worry it’s going to come soon. When 13:50 hit and the bus wasn’t there I just had to ask a worker there for info, just to get the idea that I had missed it out of my head. He told me that it’s being a bit late, just wait a couple more minutes and the bus is going to be here. Turns out the bus was over an hour late and that stretched my waiting time to 5 hours. And I had a 5 hour bus ride ahead of me. After the bus ride I arrive to Plymouth, it’s already dark outside and I have been 10 hours in the UK and all I have done is sit and wait. The rest of the night was more relaxing, I just unpacked my stuff and got to know the host family (Petra and Mark).