Internships in Castres, France (2006)

Christoph Schragl, Florian Pixner, Lukas Spiesberger, Elisabeth Prehofer, Manuel Hausjell (5AHWIM)

Our trip to Castres was accompanied by Mrs. Gabriela Huber, Mr. Fritz Waser and his wife Mrs. Eva Waser. We flew from Munich to Toulouse. Michel, a teacher at the Lycéé Sidobre picked us up from the airport.

The French Connection (left to right): Gabriela Huber (our teacher), Christoph Schragl, Florian Pixner, Lukas Spiesberger, Elisabeth Prehofer, Michel Soucasse, Manuel Hausjell, Eva Waser, Sylvette Longhi, Elisabeth Van Driel

In Castres, we could hardly wait to get to our rooms at the Lycéé. Michel invited us for dinner to his home and served us specialities of the region. After a tasty dinner, we fixed the plans for the following day and went back to the Lycée.

Sunday before noon, Michel picked us up once again to show us the picturesque landscape of the region. At the beginning of the trip we stopped near a monastery, where the high mass was celebrated. There was a small shop as well, where the monks sold their self fabricated products - at rather high prices compared to Austria. We continued our tour to the town of Saurez and to a little lake, which was surrounded by little restaurants and cafés.

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Our last destination for this day was a village which is quite famous for its leather goods. Unfortunately most shops were closed because it was Sunday. Our tour was over and we returned to our rooms, excited about what would expect us at the companies.

Monday morning the big day had come and we were driven to the companies, where the teachers of the HTL and the Lycéé Sidobre received a small introduction in each company.

Christoph Schragl, Florian Pixner (Benne S.A.)

We worked for the company "Benne S.A." which is specialized on automatic fabrication. Our workplaces were situated in the technical office where it was we constructed new tools for the company, like a height-adjustable rolltable, which guarantees an easier handling of tools at the rounding machine.

Elisabeth Prehofer, Manuel Hausjell (Seppic)

We spent our four-week internship at a company named Seppic, which develops and produces chemical products i.e. body lotions for famous brands like Vichy or Nivea. Our workplaces were in the Sales management office, where we had to pick offers, that assured a good price and quality for the individual components of a chemical reactor.

Lukas Spiesberger (Comeca Industries)

I worked at Comeca Industries. This company specializes on Steel construction and waste disposal machines. I was shown all departments (assembly, milling, turning shop, gas cutting and office) of the company and joined the staff of each. It was a very special topic for me to translate a circuit diagram of a German company into French.

During the weekends we went downtown. We visited a medieval party, where the history of France was re-enacted and crępes, a typical and widely loved dish, were served. We as well visited the vast and beautiful parks of Castres and went back to the old part of town via boat.

In front of our school on our return (l to r): Mag. Gabriela Huber, DI Fritz Waser, Elisabeth Prehofer, Florian Pixner, Christoph Schragl, Manuel Hausjell, Lukas Spiesberger

We'd like to thank the people who made all this possible for us and of course the Verein der Freunde der HTL Vöcklabruck. We hope that in the future many other students of the HTL Vöcklabruck will get this chance.