Blog 3: My First Real Day at Work

Because I did not know what I would be doing about my job at Airbus, I did not want to blog about my experiences there. I also did not want to say anything too bad while I was working there. However, I did write some blogs ahead of time, which I will post now.

I had my first real day of work today, May 16. The work they had me doing was an industrial engineer's work, and I do not know anything about industrial engineering! I told them I am studying mechanical engineering. I don't know what to do because this is not what I have studied or what I expected, but I do not want to seem ungrateful. My supervisor will not be back until May 28, so I can’t even ask him about my job. They have assigned a substitute supervisor to me but she in frequently in meetings, away from her desk, and she has no authority to ask for a change in work assignments for me.

I have no idea what they are asking me to do. I truly do not know if I can continue this. The meetings they have me attend are in German and not everyone speaks English in Bremen. I was told English would be the language spoken at Airbus since it is an international airline manufacturing company. I feel I am wasting Airbus’s time and resources as well as mine. I do not have the background, education, or experience to be able to contribute to this position. I frequently sit trying to find something productive to do and do my best at approaching the task they have presented me. I also have no idea how to record my work time, when I should have break-time and lunchtime, nor proper procedure for leaving at the end of the day. Also, at the end of the day, I am not able to find my supervisor when it was time to leave so I remained at my desk until 30 minutes after the shift ended just to make sure I was ok to leave. I did not find her, so I email that I would be leaving and I would return after I made a mandatory visit to the University of Bremen, in order to finish required residency paperwork the next day.  I really do not know if I can hold on until the 28th.