At DreamAndArt I continued to create more contact through email. Afterwards my employer explained that she is working on a project and the theme was Cuba, she needed me to help her to search for stock images online that would provide her with ideas she could use for the project. When I collected enough pictures for her project I had to correct more English errors on the DreamAndArt website and had to report if any pictures on the website had the wrong price on them or had no English translation in their description box. I would then email all the bugs to Michael who is an employee at DreamAndArt who will later fix all the bugs I reported on the website.
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Today at DreamAndArt I had a meeting with my employer where we discussed the different kind of tasks and goals that have been achieved and what I hope to achieve after the four weeks were up. Afterwards I continued to create more contacts through email correcting english errors on the DreamAndArt website and then had to design a template leaflet about the company for customers. This involved using photoshop where I would enhance the images of the different kinds of art we provide and then add them to the word document. I emailed the leaflet template to my employer and finished up for the day.
I met everyone back at the apartment where we decided to get some food in an Asian restaurant not too far from us. We said goodbye to Sammar and Shane and headed out to the restaurant. While walking to the restaurant we met a small group of lost Americans who asked us to help them find their hotel. We were overjoyed that we found a group of English speakers that we could speak to confidently with and pointed them in the right direction. After eating we decided to experience Krakow’s nightlife and headed to the jazz bar again. There was live music at the bar and an overall relaxing atmosphere as everyone listened on the the band playing. We all usually don’t listen to jazz very much but we all agreed to go return to the bar for another live gig before we leave for Ireland. We woke at around 1pm or so today, the weather was cold, cloudy and slightly hazy. We made plans to visit Wawel again and to see St. Mary’s Basilica. After showering and catching up on a bit of c# we left the house and set out for Wawel since it’s closer. Even the second time had me in awe of the sheer size and beauty of the place.
We said goodbye to Wawel once again and walked towards the main square stopping off at a nice little coffee shop on the way. I’d like to say my Polish is improving but we still struggle at simple things like trying to order a coffee, but after one week here we were never going to be fluent. St. Mary’s Basilica is incredible, with beautiful Gothic architecture it had us completely dumbfounded. I had been in contact with a lad who was here last year and he suggested we try Moaburger, so after parting ways with Sammar we eventually found it on the far side of the square. The burgers are incredible and the portions are more than generous. In fact I don’t think I’ve ever had a burger that big before. After lining our stomach we had a few drinks in Stary Port, and then went to Ck Browar to try some craft beers. Spoiled for choice we tried a few and relaxed in the comfortable atmosphere of the place. We returned shortly after mid-night and called it a night since we had work early in the morning. Our first Saturday in Krakow wasn't an overly exciting one.We were all quite tired from the previous night so we figured we’d start the day a bit later on than normal. At around 4 or so Shane Liam Matthew and myself left the house and went into town. Shane and Liam continued on to the main square to check out the stands they have set up for Easter while myself and Matthew went to get some food in a Polish restaurant, Bar Smak. I enjoy the food there, but the others don’t seem to be as keen on it as I am.
After saying goodbye to Mark, Matthew and I decided to check out Wawel Castle and set about going there. The castle itself is absolutely breathtaking and had me speechless at parts. Sadly we got there a bit too late in the day as they were closing up. When we got home we met up with Michelle and Sammar who were watching tv on their laptops. Liam and Shane arrived shortly after. Sammar Michelle and Matthew caught the tram at about 8 up to the Galleria to do some shopping and to get out of the house for some fresh air while myself Shane and Liam got take out and did some resting. We watched a film when everyone returned and we had an early night. Today at Sharptec, Sammar, Morgan and I continued our work on learning how to use the Visual Studio IDE and C#. We also focused on Windows Presentation Foundation(WPF) and Model-view-viewmodel(MVVM), which we were to use for an application that we would begin work on for the next few days. The application was to be a database with a graphical user interface(GUI) that would allow the user to select a subject/title from a list and then it would provide information on it that we had provided and input into the program.
This is similar to what we will be learning for our second year at GTI and so it's giving us a good introduction to the fundamentals of how you integrate code with GUI's. A work colleague also gave us extensive notes for introducing us to MVVM as well as helping us better understand WPF, which is proving beneficial. All in all our work day was very informative and the first week at Sharptec has given us a good understanding of what to expect from working in the IT industry as well as what it is like working abroad. Afterwards we all met up with Mark in the city to have a going-away dinner for him as he is heading home tomorrow to return to Ireland. It was sad since Mark was great help to us for everything related to the trip and was great fun to go out for a night with. After the meal most of us headed out to spend a few most hours in the city while Sammar and I headed to a party that the Sharptec employee's were having. They had set up about twenty computers in their office conference room and organized a LAN gaming session where everyone played against each other for a few hours. The party was great fun and it helped break the ice for us, letting us get to know a lot of the team. It made for a great end to the first week. We arrived at Sharptec at roughly 10.10am this morning. The weather was cold but beautiful. We started to work on learning some c#. After struggling through some tutorials Mateusz asked that we talk to him about the project in the conference room. The only problem was that our computers were in Polish but we sorted that pretty promptly. Before we left Mateusz invited us to a gaming party that they will be having tomorrow night, and we agreed eagerly.
The tram back was slow due to traffic but the weather made up for it. Upon arriving back home we caught up on some well needed sleep. Matthew, Liam and myself decided we’d stretch our legs and caught a tram bound for the Galeria Krakowska and we all picked up a few pieces. Sammar, Shane and Shelly staid behind. Shane caught up on a few episodes of what he’s watching online and both Sammar and Shelly have been slightly ill. Overall not the busiest day since they don’t celebrate Paddy's day here and we were all quite tired. Today I got up at 9am and went to work. I was asked to search for business contacts for Dream and Art, and then to transfer the contacts into a database where they would be split up into different categories based on what business contact they were. After doing this i would need to assign a business letter that would introduce us to these new contacts and asking them if they would like to do a collaboration to each contact.
Later on Mark, Morgan and I went out to get food in an Italian restaurant. Afterwards we decided to walk around the main square to where we saw the town getting prepared St, Patrick’s Day. Then we went for drinks in the local Irish bar and got a weird vibe by being the only Irish natives in the pub.We then went to “The House Of Beers” where we sampled some craft beers . -Liam,Matthew,Michelle,Morgan- Today Morgan, Shane and I went to see the tasks that they will be getting at Sharptec. We found out that they'll be working on a operating system that will show customers their gym ID and locker number when a thumb print is scanned. The work itself seemed very interesting and would make for a beneficial learning experience as it would be the first that we would get to see a practical application for the software that we have spent our year at GTI learning.
After work we headed down to the aviation museum which is a five minute walk down. We saw old war planes and got to mess with some of the gadgets they had on display. On the way home we got lost and ended up going in a circle around a block. It was Mark's and Shane's birthday so we decided to get them some cake and head out for a few drinks. In the evening we found a small lovely pastry store and a gaming pub just off the main square. We spent the rest of the day playing guitar hero while Mark sang his heart out. -Sammar, Morgan, Shane, Michelle & Mathew- Got up at 6:30 and met up with Lucas and Mark at the apartment. We left around 7 to go Sharptec. Upon arriving we were introduced to our employer Mateusz and he talked to us about their main goals and objectives, he also told us what we were going to be doing for the next couple of weeks. Most of the day was spent with us talking to each of the members of the programming team and learning what each of their duties were. They also introduced us to the software that we would be using for our work and suggested what we should brush up on to prepare.
After work, we went to the big shopping centre in Krakow to have a look around. They had a massive electronic store with distracting gizmos and flashy electronics. It made for a fun evening and we had lots to do when went around the market square and took in the sights and sounds for a few hours before heading back to the apartment. Later on in the night we decided to go out for food. We thought pizza would be a good idea so we found a couple on google maps and set out to find it. We ate at Grazi, 10 mins off the square. After the meal we met up with Mark and Liam who we only just finished their interview and went to a jazz bar for a few drinks. -Sammar, Morgan, Shane- So our journey to Krakow began at 1.45am Saturday night/Sunday morning. We left Galway bus station and arrived in Dublin at approximately 3.30am to catch our flight at 6.30am. Once we arrived in Krakow it looked like we never left Ireland with the rain and the cold. We met Lukas who brought us in a taxi to our apartment. First impressions of the apartment were warm and spacious. We talked with Lukas about our work placements and discussed the type of work in the companies.
Once we were settled in and dropped off our luggage we decided to head out for something ‘nice’ to eat. Mark directed us to this restaurant called Bar Smak which he said he had been in previous years and sells normal food. Still wasn’t that normal as the food here is very different to Ireland but it still wasn’t too bad. Most of us then headed into the main square but Sammar and Morgan headed back to the apartment to get some sleep. The castles and buildings are pretty amazing and look way better in real life than in the pictures. We went for a look in the shopping centre and got some zloty in a kantor. After this, we were all super tired and went back to the apartment to catch up on some sleep. Just your average Sunday… -Liam, Matthew, Michelle, Morgan, Sammar, Shane- |
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