Sarah arrived from Berlin, Germany at the beginning of March and moved to Brighton for her placement at Stay Up Late. Here she talks about her first two weeks of her induction before we went into lockdown because of the Coronavirus outbreak.
Sarah says “I am originally from Berlin and have to do an internship for my studies. I found out about Gig Buddies on the internet and was completely fascinated by such a simple idea that works out so well.”
“I was pretty excited about how the gig buddy project was going to run since I couldn’t imagine how everything works. The first week was an orientation for me. I got to know my co-workers and their work. Everyone told me about what they did and I had a chance to get a taste of everything.”
“I helped Katie conduct volunteer and participant interviews, gig buddy match meetings and attended socials. My first working trip was to a venue called Tao in Bognor with Kate and Victoria for a Buzz Buddies party. This inclusive party was themed ‘Superheroes’. This was the first time I went to a venue and I met gig buddies Victoria, Andrew and Jade. Everybody was dancing and chatting to their friends and Kate and I stood back and let the Buzz buddies hangout together. We got home very late – it was an exhausting day but a great overall experience!”
Another special occasion I participated in was the Wise Owls Meeting. We collected ideas about socials and exchanged our experiences of the past, our hopes for the future and possible inclusions of recycling and our views on going green.
The highlight of the first two weeks was the mystery shopping with Jason where we visited a gig and had to find out how disability friendly the venue is. I had lots of fun going around and checking everything out besides that we had the chance to see the gig as well.
The first impressions I got after joining the team are better than I even imagined. The team is very supportive and dedicated when it comes to questions and tasks I have to do.
Now our whole way of working has to change as we work through lockdown, but I am still am very excited to get the chance to be a part of these encounters, even virtually for now!