Interview with Nikola Gottlieberová
Nikola, you started offering guided tours of Haus Schminke when you were 20. How did you get into it?
I'm generally very interested in history and had a part-time job at the Rumburk City Museum while I was still at school. While I was studying "Economics and Languages" in Görlitz, I came across a job advertisement for Haus Schminke in Löbau via the e-mail distribution list. They were looking for tour guides specifically for Czech groups, and because I am a native Czech speaker, I was naturally particularly interested. What's more, Haus Schminke is simply a great place in terms of history and architecture!
How did you train as a tour guide at Haus Schminke?
There is no completely standardized training at Haus Schminke. For me, I went along with the other tour guides and got some initial ideas for my own tours. There are also training documents and sample tours that I used as a guide. In the end, I was never completely on my own because, firstly, I had the training materials and could always ask other tour guides for advice.
What do you find special about being a tour guide?
Working with so many other and, above all, different people is the best thing! As a tour guide, you have the chance to get so many different impressions and perspectives. Every tour is really different: I had the funniest experience once when instead of a group of adults (as I had expected) there were suddenly 20 small children standing in front of me. Of course, you have to organize the tour completely differently.
All in all, I have never been bored for a second on any of my guided tours. And the best thing is the honest and direct appreciation you receive from the guests after the tour. You always really notice how much the guests appreciate the fact that a real person has taken so much time for them!
What tips would you have for future tour guides?
Especially for the first guided tours, you sometimes have to keep yourself in mind: The guests on my tour are just people too. They are also on vacation or have free time and are happy that I am taking time for them. They don't hold mistakes against you. The only thing you should concentrate on is speaking slowly and clearly - the rest will come naturally. I've also been in a situation where I couldn't answer a question. I solved this by giving the guest his e-mail address and I was able to research the answer for him in peace after the tour.
Thank you very much for the interview!
