Starting a new chapter

“How doth the little crocodile improve his shining tail, and pour the waters of the Nile On every golden scale!” 

Monday evening at 10 pm I disembarked the bus, after having spent 14 hours on the road. The journey started in Copenhagen and ended in The Hague, my new home for the next 3 months. I managed to orient myself, and after a short walk I found the house where I was welcomed as the new flatmate. More to come about that!

The following morning I got dressed and went to the office where I will spend most of my time for these next few months. Since I am transferring universities this year (just finished the first year of my master in Copenhagen, the next one will start in Vienna in October), I ended up with a long summer holiday. Nice and all, but since I really want to find a satisfactory job when I'm done with my degree (next June, hopefully), I figured it would be great if I could get some experience from the field I want to work in. Therefore, I managed to find a place willing to have me for a while - kind of outside the system, most announced internships are 6 months with a minimum salary, but mine is categorised as volunteering, so no salary and no rules, basically. Anyways, I'm at a place called IWA, the international water association, which aims to create a platform for different stakeholders in the water sector to network and exchange knowledge. Honestly, I couldn't have found a better place. This impression was enhanced when I came into the office and met the people working in my department (communications and engagement) - everyone is so nice! Humble, witty and clever people who immediately made me feel very welcome.

The week in the office has been extremely intense. I managed to arrive in the beginning of their "international staff week", which means that people from all offices (London, Nairobi, Beijing, Bucharest, Singapore and Bangkok) have been here. It was actually a great introduction, I now know a lot about the work they are doing and had a great chance to get to know the staff better at the social activity, the dinner and karaoke night! Quite crazy, I must say. I've also had the time to get to know the army of interns there, about 10 in our office, who are really sweet and as it turns out, there is another Swedish girl that I have friends in common with from before! All of this has of course been great, but also quite overwhelming. Yet, it has exceeded my expectations and I'm looking forward to a very interesting summer.

As for my house and the flatmates, it seriously couldn't be better. I live with Joost, a local, Anik, originally from India, Kelvin from Sierra Leone/Canada and Charlotte from France/Germany. And they are all really great people! We have already spent a lot of time together, endless conversations over beers or tea, and gone out for adventures together, watching football games in bars, dancing both in clubs and concerts and laughed all the time. I am so happy and grateful to be in this house, with a great community spirit. Here I know I will never be alone or bored!

There is so much more to be said, but I think it is better to stop here and continue with the reflections (an pictures!) at a later point. This chapter of my life will indeed be quite different from the Bolivia one (the last episode I blogged about), but I think I've found a different (rainier) kind of Wonderland here.