Case Studies

Are you interested in applying for an ectarc Leonardo placement? Here are some case studies written by our Leonardo participants to inspire you!

Bordeaux
Berlin
Florence

Bordeaux, 'Port de la lune'
 

Luckily, one day I saw a poster for ectarc's Leonardo da Vinci programme on a notice board at university. After making my appplication and waiting for the outcome (following a friendly interview) I was ready to go to Bordeaux for three months of working, studying and exploring. It wasn't a disappointment.

But at first, it was a bit daunting to speak completely in French and live with a French host - I wasn't exactly an expert linguist on my arrival. The three-week language course improved this, and the work placement was a real chance to put my knowledge to use. This forms the bulk of the programme and helped me immensely: having to speak French with French people in a professional environment is the perfect experience for any language learner. My 'stage' (work placement) took place at 'le Musée des Beaux Arts' (the Fine Art Museum) which is an art gallery and museum right in the centre of town. It was an artistic and social environment and provided me with a great chance to experience work within a cultural institution - something which has broadened my perspectives and prospects of possible career routes.

However, my summer wasn't all work, work work! Being free in the evenings and at weekends, I could go out to all the bars and cafés of Bordeaux and sample the local wine and different foods. The nearby beaches proved alluring. There was also a thriving artistic scene, although sometimes it had to be sought out amongst all the cobbled streets and stone buildings.

Having the Leonardo programme under my belt has definitely proved an advantage, socially, culturally and professionally.

Harry McCarthy, Bordeaux, June-September 2009

Allez (à) Bordeaux! 

On occasions when I have to explain to people how I came to work in France for three months as part of the ectarc “Leonardo” programme, the reactions range from envy to bewilderment that such a life-changing experience can be accessed with apparent ease. I worked out that I arrived in Bordeaux approximately six weeks after completing my initial application form!

Upon arrival and meeting my host family, it became clear that these three months were going to be an enormous challenge, but an exciting one nonetheless. Three weeks of intensive language training were ideal preparation for my work placement in an accountancy practice; any notions that it would be boring were quickly dispelled by the challenge of performing even the simplest tasks in another language. This experience has given another dimension to both my CV, and my thoughts on future employment opportunities.

The support offered by the programme gave us every chance to explore our new surroundings outside of work placement commitments. The opportunity to live and work in another culture and environment was very enriching and is the most rewarding way of acquiring foreign language skills. To have done so in a city as spectacular and vibrant as Bordeaux was a privilege.

Hywel Williams, Bordeaux, February-May 2009

Berlin never fails to thrill!

Earlier this year, I decided to apply for a place on ectarc's Leonardo programme in Berlin. I had finished University two years previously and didn’t feel quite ready to settle down to a 9-5 just yet. ectarc offered the perfect solution – I would spend three months living in Berlin but at the same time I would be gaining work experience and learning another language.  

There were nine of us heading off to Berlin all together once we had arrived and made ourselves at home in 3 self-catering apartments, close to each other in the south-east of the city, we had a weekend to explore the city and the nightlife, before we enrolled on a four-week German language course. This gave us the perfect opportunity to get to grips with the pronunciation, basic grammar and vocabulary and we soon found ourselves practising our German with anyone who was willing to listen!

My work placement was at the Institute of Cultural Diplomacy (ICD), an international, not-for-profit, non-governmental organisation, as a member of the News Team. Having worked as a journalist before applying for the Leonardo programme, I had skills I could build on and soon found myself interviewing a well-known journalist and an up-and-coming photographer. I was also lucky enough to be invited on a ‘behind the scenes’ tour of the Bundestag and Reichstag with a member of the European Parliament.  Another perk of working at the ICD was that it gave me the opportunity to make new friends as there were interns from all over the world working within the office.

Fast forward eight weeks and, before we knew it, the three months were over. None of us felt ready to go home but, three of the nine ectarc participants have since made plans to move back to the city – and I can’t wait to visit them.

Gwenno Gwilym, Berlin, February-May 2009

A museum, but not as we know it.....

Carla Pettinicchio-Johnson was a member of ECTARC's June-September 2009 group in Berlin.

'My placement was at MachMit! Museum  (www.machmitmuseum.de) in Prenzlauer Berg. While I was there we had two different exhibitions. The first was 'Was kann Kunst?' and was about art; more specifically, art installations. It included a 'snow room' with fake snow and a ventilator that children could go inside, and a dark room in which they could press the walls to make a variety of sounds. Along with my colleagues, I ran work shops for the children which related to the exhibitions. We created snow glasses, snow domes (a jar containing a figure - shake the jar and the 'snow' falls) made 3D pictures of an ideal city and so on...

The second exhibition was called 'Sleeping and Dreaming' and contained examples of different traditional sleeping places from around the world: an igloo from the Arctic, hammocks from South America and alcoves from a farm in Europe. To enhance children's experience of this exhibition, the workshop activities included creating dream catchers and worry dolls and making a dream book.

It was all amazing! I took school, kindergarten and holiday groups around the museum on a tour which consisted of an introduction, looking at the exhibitions, letting off steam in a climbing maze and doing workshops. I did a translation of the museum's website and showed tourists around too, so I used my German constantly and occasionally had to call on my Spanish language skills and use English. I really enjoyed my placement and would recommend it - I really felt one of a team.'

La dolce vita in Florence

The Leonardo Da Vinci programme with ectarc to Florence, Italy, was overall a life changing experience. Having previously worked and travelled in Australasia, the chance to experience a funded program in which the social aspect of being a European Citizen would be tested seemed an opportunity not to be missed.

From the outset, the intensive language training courses in Llangollen then in Florence helped prepare the participants for everyday life situations and the chosen work placement. Preparing myself to embrace different customs and traditions before being introduced to the host country, was an important aspect in enhancing the my experience, taking the initiative to first read up on the topics of local interest and explore the sights and even sounds of my new home for the next three months, helped to make me feel a part of this Florentine metropolis.

In the first week we were given bus passes for the purpose of getting back and forth to the language school and work placement, however seeing as Florence was now my home from home meant I often travelled the bus routes into suburbia away from the tourist sights to explore the suburban way of life, I made many Italian friends this way and that helped improve and test my language capabilities. I joined a local tennis team and was invited on numerous occasions to Italian family homes for evening meals.

Having previously studied a BA  in Adventure Tourism Management I found myself observing and  studying the  travel patterns around the continent throughout the centuries, my location and experience reminiscent of the 17^th Century Grand Tour Travels in a 21^st Century  world where, the wealthiest citizens of Europe freely moved around the continent for enlightenment and self discovery purposes, much of what was true then, is the case today with one key and distinctive difference: the Leonardo programme recognises the need for this opportunity to be open to all young EU citizens in order that they can harness the wealth of  their differences  and understand their vast similarities to continue carving a worthy place in the world for the EU. 

Thomas James Simpson, Florence January-April 2009