Day 16

The day finally came!!! This was the first day of my internship. J

I was so nervous and excited!! I was up and out the door by 6:45 am and at Herr Küpper’s house about 45 minutes early.  (I needed to be there at 7:45) lol

I brought the flowers with me and Herr Küpper was very pleased. J

I drove with Herr Küpper to Weilerswist, which is about 30 minutes outside of Bonn to VR Bank. (hopefully you can get the website translated :/ )

 http://www.vr-bank-rhein-erft.de/wir_ueber_uns/filialen_und_geschaeftsstellen/30.html

Herr Küpper took the time to tell me a little about the history of the town and what it was we were driving to Weilerswist, where the bank is. The town was originally two towns, Weilers and Wist and they came together centuries ago. We passed an old castle that is now used for one of the political parties (CDU) as a sort of school for young politicians.

The area was so beautiful, we drove through forests, tons of farmland and there were rolling hills all around. Doesn’t leave much room for complaints. J

Now down to business. For my first day I met with the regional manager Herr Leur and Herr Küpper to talk about what I would be doing, my interests and basic information about the bank. I was amazed that the regional manager would take the time to come and meet me!

After the meeting I needed to sign some paperwork saying that I wouldn’t discuss the personal matters of the clients or display private information of the bank. I made sure to get a copy of the paperwork just incase. I then was allowed to sit in on several appointments between Herr Küpper and his clients. I was a little overwhelmed by how quickly the German was spoken and all of the economic terms that I’m not familiar with yet but luckily after every appointment Herr Küpper took the time to go over things with me and explain certain words. What was really cool for me was how much I did in fact understand.

It was really interesting to see differences between duties of a banker in Germany and in the US. For instance, bankers in Germany perform a lot of the tasks US bankers outsource, like appraising homes. When clients take out loans the bank uses houses or other assets as a security that the loan will be repaid. The value of the security is equal or of more value than the loan. I was actually allowed to go with Herr Küpper to evaluate a home in Weilerswist.

There is so much to learn!! I can’t wait for tomorrow!!

Tschüß!