After no Russian interns were able to come to Germany in 2020 due to the Coronavirus travel restrictions, on Saturday April 10th, 2021 AgrarKontakte International (AKI) e.V. welcomed the 40 students from 8 different agricultural colleges in Russia to start their eight-month internship in southern Germany.

The future interns arrived at the airport in Frankfurt am Main together with the AKI staff member Anastasia Kashina from Moscow, who had already supervised them during the preparation phase and now accompanied the interns on their way from Russia to Germany. The AKI team from Stuttgart was already waiting for the students at the airport to bring the interns to the different regions of their host families by bus. During the entire eight-month internship, the interns will be living and working with their host families.

Due to the current coronavirus regulations regarding public events, the students were picked up by their host families at the arranged meeting point in the evening. Thus, they could head directly to their host families for the mandatory quarantine.

The presence introductory event was therefore replaced by a two-part online seminar, so that the interns and, in the second part, their host families could participate easily from home.

In the first part of the introductory seminar, which already took place while the interns were still at home in Russia, they were informed about agriculture in Germany and its particularities in Baden-Württemberg as well as about some traditions of German culture and cuisine. Thus, the interns learned a lot about everyday life in Germany before their arrival.

In the second part of the introductory seminar, which took place after the arrival in Germany together with the host families, the most important document for the internship were discussed. Both the interns and their host families had the opportunity to clarify any open questions.

Afterwards, there was a digital safety briefing for the interns, which was conducted by the AKI Vice Chairman Mr. Siegfried Schwab. By video streaming, Mr. Siegfried Schwab presented the interns through visual demonstrations important information concerning workplace safety and the handling of work equipment.

The AKI Internship Program with Russia is in its 31st year in 2021 and continues to offer students from Russia the opportunity to gain important practical experience in agriculture.