Can young students really start a business? Can they really offer products and services to customers? We started the business project with lots of questions.

This course was not short of excitement. In the beginning there were two companies. However, at the start of day 2, leading her team, Weronika from Poland led a take over bid and became Managing Director of both companies. That meant double the money in the bank, double the skills and double the staff, which was useful because we had lots of work to do.

We worked as a team. Lorenzo and Giacomo from Italy led by Maria from Mexico did a lot of work on our new website. Marta and Mar from Spain with help from the company director, Weronika from Poland, created a brand identity, amazing logo and the all essential business cards. Maria from the UK  and Giselle from Mexico were confident about becoming our sales representatives.

Our new company is called iVision. Our company offers translation services to local businesses in Ludlow. In particular we focus on helping companies develop a multilingual home page strategy to boost their search engine optimisation and attract more international customers. If you think that sounds complicated, imagine how much of a challenge we had explaining that in sales pitches to local companies! Luckily, we practised first, and with each pitch we got more confident, more fluent and more persuasive.

The sales pitches were tough. Sometimes people said “no” straightaway.  What we learnt was the importance of resilience. We  also learnt how important it is to speak with the decision maker. We learnt to take different approaches for different customers. Sometimes face to face cold calling worked best. Sometimes, using polite formal phrases, we wrote emails introducing our services and then followed these up with calls.

In 9 hours we had started a company and got our first order. We celebrated by going for a pizza at a restaurant in Ludlow. Not only that, but with our website established and with contacts and staff in 14 countries, we are going to continue the business after our course at More Than English finishes. Were we happy with what we had achieved? Well wouldn’t you be? We know we’ve achieved a lot in a short space of time. We’ve gained practical skills and we have gained confidence. Whether or not our business continues to succeed, we’ve learnt skills that could be very useful in the future!

I've got butterflies in my stomach  = (I feel nervous)

It’s normal to feel nervous before you arrive on summer school. In this blog, Carolina (14) from Mexico, tells us about how she met the challenge of travelling to a new country and overcame her butterflies.

When I arrived at More Than English coming from a long way from Mexico, I really tired, but it was amazing the paradise I saw here and all the good things about England. It was great to meet for the first time a lot of people from other countries and to know things about them.

What we did everyday was have breakfast, then Core English, lunch, Get Ahead, Club Time and then Evening Activities. At first I felt nervous, thinking “what am I doing here?” but I started to have a great time from the 2nd day onward.

For me this was a great experience that I wouldn’t change and it was  an amazing opportunity for me. All the things I did here were unique and amazing. I loved the trips, all the people, the activities and all.

Our day out in London by Giselle (14, Mexico) 

Today I want to talk about one of the best places I have ever seen and experienced: London.

We woke up really early. We had breakfast on the bus and on the road there was a lot of traffic so we got a bit delayed. When we arrived we walked to London Bridge we took a tourist boat down the River Thames  (I have to say that one of my biggest dreams was to visit London). I know a lot of places, but when I saw the London Eye, I was shocked. It was so big and beautiful, and Big Ben: I have never seen anything like that in my whole life.

And what happened next? Well, we walked a lot, but we didn’t buy a lot. I loved the walk to Covent Garden down Whitehall, through Trafalgar Square because I saw a lot. You have to go there to take photos of everything.

When we were in Covenant Garden the staff just gave us an hour and a half for shopping and I was thinking, OMG, that’s not enough time. I need more time, please give me more time! I started running everywhere and with my friends came back to the meeting point just on time. Guess what? They gave us more time, so we ran again and I went to ZARA!

Then, we got back on the bus and had a very nice sleep return trip to the campus.

It all started with 3 girls: an Italian, a Latvian and me (Imogen), the plain English one. Alina, Francesca and I get on exceedingly well. We share musical tastes, food interests and are all open minded. Also, we’re a bit mad! I started singing “I Write Sins Not Tragedies” by Panic at the disco, and that’s when Francesca started joining in and then Alina. It was great and we formed a connection. That was week 1 and now we are the Sheep squad. Three nationalities, one common language and connections that will last a lifetime.

The Birmingham excursion led us to buy 3 MATCHING SHEEP ONESIES! A trip to Blue Banana meant band merchandise, ear stretchers and hair dye, which made us the punk squad of the More Than English summer. The onesies, together with Josh’s new speaker meant the ultimate party at dinner that night! “I Write Sins” playing again and the onesies led to the formation of the Head Banging Sheep (a band like no other). That night, dinner consisted of delicious food and something extra: Head Banging Sheep featuring Laura (the girls’ Senior House Parent).

Thanks for the memories HBS (Head Banging Sheep). One thing’s for sure: we definitely were insanely good!

Imogen (16) – UK

Let’s get creative! Veronika  (12) from the Czech Republic went for a walk around the campus and wrote this amazing poem using all of her senses:

I can see the beautiful forest

I can smell the lovely flowers

I can hear singing birds

I can taste delicious blueberries

I can feel the soft grass

Very effective Veronika! It’s easy to imagine this place after reading your poem. Thank you!