Leaving Home at 17 for a Whole Month?

Leaving home for a whole month at the age of 17, travelling abroad in a foreign language? Unimaginable for some, but an invaluable life experience for others. Jakob Frauscher, Tim Steininger and Jonas Ziegler belong to the second group: they took exactly this step and completed a four-week internship abroad at the WINTERSTEIGER subsidiary TRIALS in southern England.

"It was a very cool couple of weeks, the time passed extremely quickly. We had a lot to do and the tasks were always exciting," says Jakob Frauscher enthusiastically. The 17-year-old is in his third year at HTL Ried, specialising in agricultural and environmental technology. A perfect match for him: TRIALS Equipment UK Ltd. sells and services, for example, plot combines and seed drills for WINTERSTEIGER on the English market, but also manufactures its own machines and realises customer-specific solutions.

His two fellow trainees are just as enthusiastic: "I particularly liked the fact that we were allowed to work very independently from the very first day," reports WINTERSTEIGER apprentice Jonas Ziegler (19). And HTL student Tim Steininger (18) adds: "Not only were we allowed to work on our own, we were also given the freedom to make mistakes. That's the only way to really understand how something works!

TRIALS also appreciates the great curiosity and practical skills of the three young people. In contrast to Austria's dual training system in companies and vocational schools, trainees in the UK always come straight from school. As well as working on the assembly line, the three apprentices were even given the opportunity to work in customer service.

The students' English skills also benefited from the four weeks. We couldn't help but speak English,' laugh Jakob and Jonas. As a result, we became much more confident and fluent in the language. Overall, communication was very pleasant and not at all complicated, confirms Tim: 'Sure, some of the vocabulary for the workshop didn't always come straight to mind, but then you googled it and it wasn't a problem at all!

But what the three of them really appreciated was simply being able to experience something different and get to know the culture and people of England. I went to London three times in the four weeks and saw everything,' says Tim with a twinkle in his eye. The British capital is only an hour away and easily accessible by public transport.

Definitely!' says Jakob immediately. It's an experience you only get once in a lifetime. It's definitely worth spending a month away from home and everyday life! The next chance will come in July 2025, when WINTERSTEIGER will award the next of its coveted internships in the UK.