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VIACOR Student in the Malaysian plant

Report of Julius Brecht

For my placement semester VIACOR organised a work placement abroad at its manufacturing facility in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.

My name is Julius Brecht,

I am 21 years old and I am studying Business Studies at the Dual College of Baden-Wuerttemburg in Stuttgart.

For my placement semester VIACOR organised a work placement abroad at its manufacturing facility in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.

After all the planning of the departments and tasks I would be involved with at VIACOR ASIA and the flights were booked, everything happened a lot quicker than I imagined.

I finally arrived in Kuala Lumpur after an 18 hour journey and a few stopovers. My excitement and uncertainty were soon allayed as I was picked up by a colleague at the airport and then taken to my accommodation, which was found and organised by VIACOR ASIA.

The following morning, after a very short first night, my colleague invited me to a traditional Chinese breakfast, which was delicious although it did take some getting used to. Thanks to a very multicultural population made up mainly of Malaysian, Chinese and Indian people, the food in Malaysia is very diverse with many culinary delicacies.

The many different recipes and specialities brought me closer to my colleagues every day during the lunch break and also in the evenings over dinner and I tried all manner of dishes in Malaysia. They nearly always tasted good and I quickly had my favourite meals and restaurants that I often went to after work.

I also managed to overcome the language barrier with my colleagues within production who didn’t speak English and we were able to communicate in a way where we understood each other. The lads from Production invited me to play football with them after I told them I was mad about football and had played for many years back in Germany.

 

And there’s more – they picked me up in the evening, brought me a football kit, shorts and even three different pairs of shoes so that I was fully equipped. The whole team welcomed me with open arms and included and supported me in the game even though not everyone knew me. I had rarely experienced this before and it really impressed me.

The working atmosphere and relationships with my colleagues really improved after the shared enjoyment of our football match and this was of course a further positive effect of my experience.

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