In the fourth semester of my International Business degree, I spent three months at SYNAXON UK Ltd, the subsidiary of my permanent partner company SYNAXON AGfor three months. I was supported by Erasmus+ for the entire period. In order to receive this support, I submitted a letter of motivation and my CV to the FHDW as part of the selection process. After a short time, I received confirmation and was able to start planning further. The International Office of the FHDW was always available before, during and after my stay and provided support with any questions I had.

No visa was required for the stay and the insurance arrangements were also easy, as England is currently still part of the European Union. Fortunately for me, a colleague from my German team at SYNAXON AG moved permanently to England some time ago and so we were able to travel together.

During my stay, I lived in an Airbnb house in Manchester and my partner company paid for both my accommodation and my flight. Due to the often changing guests in my accommodation, I was able to meet people from Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, America, Spain and many other countries and make many temporary friends.

As I lived in Rusholme, a student town in Manchester, I was also able to get to know many Erasmus students who studied at the University of Manchester. We explored the city and its various districts together. The city offers something for everyone, whether it’s chic rooftop restaurants or a hidden garden with food trucks. I particularly liked the music scene, the street art, the market and all the crazy little stores, cafés and bars. In keeping with its industrial history, there are many factory buildings and halls in Manchester that are no longer in use. However, many of these buildings are being restored and converted into great restaurants, apartments or other uses.

I also really liked the open and friendly way in which people responded to me. It was really easy to make friends. I was integrated into groups as if I had been part of them for a long time.

The cost of living in Manchester was naturally quite high compared to life in Paderborn. Accommodation cost around 600 euros a month and commuting to work cost around 150 euros a month. At first glance, the prices for food, clothing, restaurants and bars don’t seem any different to those in Germany, but the conversion into euros should not be forgotten.

You can use your own German bank card or credit card without any problems. For me, it was often cheaper to use the credit card than to withdraw money. You can pay with your card pretty much everywhere without any problems. Accommodation can be found quite easily via Airbnb or Booking. Here too, the prices may look the same at first glance, but the exchange rate must be taken into account. There are plenty of shopping opportunities throughout the city. Within the city, you can easily get anywhere by Uber, bus, streetcar and on foot. Everything outside is easy to reach by train.

I also experienced the open and friendly manner in the office, as the 15 or so colleagues welcomed me warmly and quickly integrated me into the team. As I had already met most of my colleagues a few months earlier at the Christmas party in Germany, this certainly helped.

Together with my supervisor and another colleague, I worked in the EGIS team – a purchasing tool developed by SYNAXON. I was mainly involved in creating content and improving user-friendliness. I also completed a practical project for the FHDW and investigated whether it is advisable to introduce the IT-SERVICE.NETWORK marketing service in the UK.

The office was in Birchwood, so I had a daily commute of about 80 minutes from Manchester, i.e. a ½ hour walk to the train station in Manchester, a ½ hour train ride and a 20 minute walk to the office. However, I was quite happy about the walk as I was moving around every day.