Away from home for a whole month at age 17?
Leaving home at age 17 for an entire month to go to a foreign country where they don’t speak the language? For some, it’s unimaginable; for others, it’s an invaluable life experience. Jakob Frauscher, Tim Steininger, and Jonas Ziegler belong to the latter group: They took exactly this step and completed a four-week internship abroad at WINTERSTEIGER’s subsidiary TRIALS in southern England.
“Those were really cool weeks—time flew by. We had a lot to do, and the tasks were always exciting,” says Jakob Frauscher enthusiastically. The 17-year-old is a third-year student at HTL Ried, studying agricultural and environmental technology. For him, it was a perfect fit, because TRIALS Equipment UK Ltd. distributes and services WINTERSTEIGER equipment—such as plot combines and planting equipment—on the English market, but also manufactures its own machines and develops custom solutions.
His two internship colleagues are just as enthusiastic: “I especially liked that we were allowed to work very independently right from the first day,” reports WINTERSTEIGER apprentice Jonas Ziegler (19). And HTL student Tim Steininger (18) adds: “Not only were we allowed to tinker on our own, but we were even given the freedom to figure out mistakes on our own. That’s the only way to really understand how something works!”
TRIALS also values the three young people’s keen curiosity and practical skills. Unlike the dual training system in Austria, which combines on-the-job training with vocational school, new entrants to the workforce in the UK always come straight from school. In addition to helping out on the assembly line, the three interns were even allowed to tag along on customer service calls.
The students’ English skills definitely benefited from the four weeks as well. “We had no choice but to speak English!” laugh Jakob and Jonas. “That made us much more confident and fluent in the language.” Overall, communication was very easy and not complicated at all, Tim confirms. “Sure, some workshop-specific vocabulary didn’t always come to mind right away, but then we’d Google it, and it wasn’t a problem at all!”
But what the three of them appreciated most was simply getting to experience something different and getting to know the culture and people in England. “I went to London three times in those four weeks and saw everything!” Tim says with a twinkle in his eye. The British capital is only an hour away and very easy to reach by public transportation.
Would they recommend the trip to others?
“Definitely!” Jakob says immediately. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It’s definitely worth spending a month away from home and your everyday routine!” The next opportunity will be in July 2025, when WINTERSTEIGER offers up the coveted internship positions in the UK again.