6 weeks in Liverpool

Basically I have always liked the English language. An important factor for me is that in fact with English, you are able to trade with a lot of different nationalities. Trying to get my marketing degree was a factor that I had to keep in mind.
But I realised that staying 6 weeks in a foreign country was an opportunity. I had never been to the United Kingdom. So I concentrated my research on this country.

During my second year of study, I begin to search for a suitable work placement, for my third year. I picked up 4 different work placements. I thought that all was all right for this very important period of the third year. But when I received the convention, my different opportunities didn’t work any more! After 2 months of research, I received an email address from Mr Simon and a phone number of a company in Liverpool. There were 2 students who had the opportunity to work for him. The name of this company is Mando Group. Directly, I decided to send an email with my motivation letter and CV. After 2 weeks without an answer, I phoned the company! Actually, the person whose email address I had didn’t work there anymore.
After 2 emails, I received with pleasure the agreement for my work placement and the opportunity to rent a room in the boss’s house.

To be honest, I was SCA-RED! I have to tell you why. In fact, when I had stayed in different country, it was always in France or in Spain. So I didn’t have a language problem! But this time, I had to stay 6 weeks in a foreign country and live with some people whom I had never met.
One week before I left Belgium, I was excited to discover this new world for me. But on the day of my departure, it was very difficult to leave my mother and my girlfriend. But the worst was the waiting time during my second flight in London to Liverpool. During 5 hours, I thought about my English, this family, this new job, alone in an other country… It was horrible!

.... To be followed in the chapter 5.1 ....

Intituled When/Where happened

1. Honeymoon Departure’s week

2. Disorientation The departure day

3. Irritability/Hostility When I didn’t understand conversations

4. Adjustment/Integration In host’s house and at work

5. Biculturality At the end of the work placement

When I arrived in Liverpool John Lennon airport, Ian (Managing Director of Mando Group and my host) was waiting for me. From the start, he was very friendly and he spoke slowly. We arrived at John and Sally’s house. In fact, we lived the 6 weeks of my work placement in their house because Ian & Lou’s new house wasn’t finished. It was a beautiful and welcoming house. This house was never empty, you should know that John and Sally have 4 boys: Sam, Jo, Aaron and Josh. But Sam lives in his house with his wife; Aaron stays a lot of time in France for his architecture project and Josh stays the week in his university room. During the week, we were more or less 6 people in the house but on the weekend it was like a hostel. I am usually alone at home, it was nice to be surrounded by a lot of people. I had some unbelievable memories. In fact, they were so welcoming: we ate together every night, after that we watched TV or we went in the hot tub. I think that I’ll never forget the 19th April day. I told them: I was in such a bad mood because I felt British people are so cold. After 5 minutes, everybody in the family gave me a hug. It was intense. After this first hug, every morning I had a hug from this amazing family.

Have a look www.mandogroup.com

Mando Group Ltd was founded on 1st September 1997. It is a creativity company, which specialises in web development and design consultancy. 10 years later, it has in customer portfolio companies like Sony, Motorola and Capcom. Nowadays, it has completed more than 500 different projects. With this amazing growth, everybody can understand how it received awards like:

2006: Bravo Award for Brand-Marketing-Communication Partnership (Mando Group and FACT)

2004: Best design and advertising agency (for the Legal Sector)

2004: The digital Accessibility Award

2004: Achieving Investor in People
(The Investors in People is a business improvement tool designed to advance an organization’s performance through its personnel)

Mando Group is composed of 6 departments (9 women and 23 men).
Indeed, every one of them is vital for Mando’s success:

A. Managing deparment

B. Marketing department

C. Corporate department

D. IT department (so funny department! Rock&Roll guys)

E. Design department

F. Programming department

I can’t say a lot about the old office because I only worked there one day. But I am able to explain how the new offices are better!

Mando Group Ltd

32 Faraday Road

Wavertree Technology Park