Impressions: Working for DLH

Today was my first day of work at Lufthansa. Detlev, drove me this morning to his work where I easily hopped on the train and got to the Hauptbahnhof (Main Railway Station) within in 5 minutes. From there, all it takes is a connection onto the S8 or S9 to Wiesbaden. The travel time is only 11 minutes from the Hauptbahnhof to the Regional Bahnhof at the airport.

I wasn't scheduled to arrive at Tor 21 (Gate 21) until 10am, but I had gotten to the airport extra early, 9:15 just to make sure that I was punctual. It feels really good to be all dressed up, wearing a tie, shoes the click when you walk, and a fancy coat with scarf to make the look all come together. As I walked through the airport, I had the air of "very important person". For this reason alone, I suggest that anyone just dress up in order to feel more important and lift their confidence.

I decided to eat something at the airport before I began my first working day in who knows how long. I ate some Yogurt and bought a ham and cheese sandwich roll. After breakfast in the terminal, I proceeded back outside and towards Lufthansa's headquarters. The compound is quite large, and there are a lot of well dressed people. On the way to Tor 21, I passed the First-Class Dedicated Check-In area, which allows first class passengers to check in at a remote dedicated building, and wait in their own building until it's time to board their flight, at which point they are driven in black Porsche Panamera's directly to the plane. All the license plates of the cars are F : LH (for Lufthansa) XXXX. It's quite impressive and a level of service that not many airlines provide.

I got to gate 21 and enter the guard house, which is quite large and able to hold several people. I literally checked-in with a Lufthansa Customer Service Agent, who gave me my new Lufthansa ID and I was met by the current intern in my department.

The intern, J-, showed me around the compound but complained that I brought the snowy weather. I saw the cafeteria, at which point I uploaded 20€ onto my ID card so I could pay for lunch and snacks. (Since we're located at the airport, we have our own dedicated cafeteria which is quite good.)

Finally I was shown the Corporate HQ building, where I work. It's the tallest building on the airport grounds, with 7 floors. On the main floor, all flight attendants, pilots and pursors go through this building to get briefed and prepare before their flights.

Since there is another intern currently working in my department, I have not been set up with a computer account, but that luckily means I'll have my own personal account, and not the generic intern@dlh.de for instance. The people in my department are very friendly and were impressed with my german, saying that at first they didn't even realize I wasn't in German!

I work in an open room environment with cubicles (see picture) but it's not like in the US. We have natural light and plants, which are cared for even by a dedicated plant lady. Almost everyone has a plane on their desk as well, so I'll be bringing mine tomorrow. Hopefully tomorrow I will get my computer account.