Paul's Internship with Aventis Pharma, Frankfurt Germany (Summer '02)
I was lucky enough to be one of the few students chosen
from the University of Illinois to work abroad through the International
Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience (IAESTE).
I was chosen to work at Aventis Pharma in Frankfurt, Germany. Frankfurt
was my first choice among six of locations I could have gone. I had
previously studied abroad in Darmstadt, Germany during the Academic Year
2000-2001 through the International Programs in Engineering office. Since
Darmstadt was only a half-hour train ride from Frankfurt, I was already familiar
with the area and could visit friends made during my year studying abroad.
The first two pictures are of me at work. In the middle picture I am standing in front of an experimental setup that I had to put together while working at the lab. The picture on the far right is of the entrance to the industry park where I worked.
I got involved in the local chapter of IAESTE at the U of I campus during the 2001-2002 school year. I was able to raise a job for a foreign student to come to Champaign-Urbana, and in return I got the chance to work abroad in the summer of 2002. The application process started in January 2002 and I didn't get a confirmation until around May. (the other students had heard back much sooner, I was the exception. For some reason the company was slow to give me an answer.)
When I got to Germany there were people there to pick me up from
the airport. They had also arranged for a place for me to stay while
I was in Frankfurt. This is a picture of one of their meetings. The
group not only helped me get acquainted with Frankfurt, but they also became
friends and we were able to do activities together. If I ever had
a question on where I could find something (swimming pool, sporting activities,
cool discos to go to, etc.), they were always willing to answer my questions.
As I said earlier, I worked at Aventis Pharma which is located in the Industriepark Hoechst in Frankfurt, Germany. The Industriepark Hoechst is just a collection of different factories all grouped together. There were some hundred factories located in this Industriepark. The factory that I worked at was called the Novacain factory numbered D721 as you may be able to make out from the picture above on the far right. The industry park has existed here for over a hundred years (it had to be rebuilt after World War II like everything else in Frankfurt) and up till a few years ago all of the factories were owned by one big company named Hoechst, which is also the name of the section of the city in Frankfurt in which the park is located.
The normal workday at Aventis was from 7 in the morning to 4 in the afternoon. Unfortunately for me I had about an hour commute each way. This meant that most of my day was spent either working or going to and from work. German society, however, is clearly built around the employee and not the employer. First, a worker at Aventis had 30 days of vacation per year! I myself had 5 days of vacation at Aventis even though I only worked there for two and a half months. (I didn't use them. Instead I had my vacation paid out in cash.) Second, the workers were only required to work 37.5 hours a week instead of the normal 40 in the US. They actually did work about 8 hours a day after an hour lunch break, but a half hour that they worked "over" was saved up and could be used as vacation time. The average worker at Aventis had quite a bit of vacation time!
The far left picture is of Fruehstueck (breakfast) which is another perk of working in Germany. In this particular factory this half hour was in addition to the lunch hour, which I was told is not normal in Germany. Another weird cultural norm that I had never heard of but was normal at this factory, every worker got a 1/2 liter of milk everyday provided for them. Apparently it was thought earlier that milk helped the body fight off toxic substances, since it was a chemical factory the workers were provided with milk and they still get milk to this day.
The factory that I worked at had around 100 people working at it. (You may be able to see this from the picture of the sign in/out boards above on the far right.) The factory produced many different pharmaceuticals and its total output per year was probably a few tons.
Next->
The first two pictures are of me at work. In the middle picture I am standing in front of an experimental setup that I had to put together while working at the lab. The picture on the far right is of the entrance to the industry park where I worked.
I got involved in the local chapter of IAESTE at the U of I campus during the 2001-2002 school year. I was able to raise a job for a foreign student to come to Champaign-Urbana, and in return I got the chance to work abroad in the summer of 2002. The application process started in January 2002 and I didn't get a confirmation until around May. (the other students had heard back much sooner, I was the exception. For some reason the company was slow to give me an answer.)
When I got to Germany there were people there to pick me up from
the airport. They had also arranged for a place for me to stay while
I was in Frankfurt. This is a picture of one of their meetings. The
group not only helped me get acquainted with Frankfurt, but they also became
friends and we were able to do activities together. If I ever had
a question on where I could find something (swimming pool, sporting activities,
cool discos to go to, etc.), they were always willing to answer my questions.
As I said earlier, I worked at Aventis Pharma which is located in the Industriepark Hoechst in Frankfurt, Germany. The Industriepark Hoechst is just a collection of different factories all grouped together. There were some hundred factories located in this Industriepark. The factory that I worked at was called the Novacain factory numbered D721 as you may be able to make out from the picture above on the far right. The industry park has existed here for over a hundred years (it had to be rebuilt after World War II like everything else in Frankfurt) and up till a few years ago all of the factories were owned by one big company named Hoechst, which is also the name of the section of the city in Frankfurt in which the park is located.
The normal workday at Aventis was from 7 in the morning to 4 in the afternoon. Unfortunately for me I had about an hour commute each way. This meant that most of my day was spent either working or going to and from work. German society, however, is clearly built around the employee and not the employer. First, a worker at Aventis had 30 days of vacation per year! I myself had 5 days of vacation at Aventis even though I only worked there for two and a half months. (I didn't use them. Instead I had my vacation paid out in cash.) Second, the workers were only required to work 37.5 hours a week instead of the normal 40 in the US. They actually did work about 8 hours a day after an hour lunch break, but a half hour that they worked "over" was saved up and could be used as vacation time. The average worker at Aventis had quite a bit of vacation time!
The far left picture is of Fruehstueck (breakfast) which is another perk of working in Germany. In this particular factory this half hour was in addition to the lunch hour, which I was told is not normal in Germany. Another weird cultural norm that I had never heard of but was normal at this factory, every worker got a 1/2 liter of milk everyday provided for them. Apparently it was thought earlier that milk helped the body fight off toxic substances, since it was a chemical factory the workers were provided with milk and they still get milk to this day.
The factory that I worked at had around 100 people working at it. (You may be able to see this from the picture of the sign in/out boards above on the far right.) The factory produced many different pharmaceuticals and its total output per year was probably a few tons.
Next->