First night home in a long time

After having spent the whole weekend at my boyfriend's place I returned to the apartment this morning to check out the status of the fly-invasion. There were plenty of dead ones, but no alive, so I took that as a good sign and decided to stay. Tomorrow I have an exam on Cross-cultural Management, and I actually just started studying today. Now I just hope for the best I guess.

I'm so extremely sick of studying already, but I can't relax until after the 8th of November when we have the final presentation of the project. Not that I have a holiday then or anything, but at least a new term starts and I can forget everything about snoring and marketing communications.

Invasion of wing-less flies

This morning I went back home to study. What I saw when I opened the door was simply revolting. There were dead flies everywhere in the apartment, and about 10 alive ones that kept flying around our heads. Me and my roomie panicked a bit, naturally, and started spraying them all. After about 5 minutes they were all dead and we swept them up and threw them out of the window, and then sat down on the sofa to calm down a bit. About 15 minutes later there were about 10 new flies (and I'm talking about the big, BIG kind) in the livingroom. We also noticed that there are maggots falling down from a crack in the wall whenever we open the door to the toilet. Oh, and a lot of the flies are deformed and lack wings or legs, so there is basically a freakshow going on in our home. Needless to say, we just can't stay there.

So, we called the landlord and he's going to call an exterminator on Monday, and in the meantime I'm staying at my boyfriend's place and my roomie at her boyfriend's. I just hate it that my home, which is supposed to be a safe place, has turned into a showroom for deformed gigantic flies.

Swedish cooking

Yesterday my roomie came home to a completely panicked Alice. We suddenly had flies everywhere in the apartment and, well, I lost it a bit. We sprayed them all but I was so disgusted by the apartment afterwards (and so was she) that I went home to my boyfriend's place instead. So today I've been here all day, studying, while he's at work.

The plan was that I would come over today anyway, to cook Swedish food for his family. I'm going to make something called kalops which is normally served with either red beets or lingonberry jam. Since I'm not a big fan of beets and it's not particularly Swedish, we're going to eat it with the latter. Therefore, last night we went to Ikea in Delft to buy it at the Swedish food market, and my boyfriend almost had to drag me out of there because I was getting so nostalgic about all the Swedish Christmas food they have now. I ended up getting only the lingonberry jam, and comforted myself with the fact that we're going to Sweden at the end of November. I can't wait.

Working 9 to 5

This week I've worked full days at GDCC, which is very exhausting and a bit stressful actually, because I have exams next week. Today I ran out of numbers so I had to cut flyers (recruiting material for the company) for two hours. That was a bit boring, to say the least.

After that, I started calling on a hospital project. I actually hadn't had an interview with that yet, but today I got two. The annoying thing is that they were just after each other so I sat for about 2 ½ hours straight, interviewing. I told the respondent that the interview would take about 30 minutes because that's what they'd told me on the briefing, but it actually took about 65 minutes to complete it. I felt pretty bad for the poor IT managers who had to listen to me going on and on about "how well implemented would you say your IT system is on a scale of one to 5 regarding...?". My voice was totally ruined after talking constantly like that, and now I'm really tired. 

Anyway, tomorrow I'm free so that means staying at home and study. I'm going to have coffee with one of the Swedish exchange students though, that'll be a nice break. 

Update: Brussels and work

Hi, my name is Alice and I am calling on behalf of the European Commission. Hi, my name is Alice and I am calling on behalf of the European Commission. Hi, my name is Alice and I am calling on behalf of the European Commission... I feel like they're the only words I know. Oh well...

I haven't actually been home since Thursday, which is one of the reasons why I haven't written in my blog since then. I think George is probably missing me, especially seeing as I still haven't rescued him from upstairs.

I had a great weekend which involved eating chocolate and waffles, the Belgian kind. I spontaneously went to Brussels with my boyfriend. The city is so beautiful and when I came back to my street in The Hague it was like a slap in the face. But since then I've been mostly at work in Rotterdam or at my boyfriend's place in Delft -a  lot nicer than my place. The hotel we stayed at in Brussels was really classy and only a couple of hundred meters from the European Commission. Although, I didn't need to be reminded of that.

Next week is exam week and I'm a little stressed about it but luckily I only have to work tomorrow and then I can concentrate on preparing for the exams. Tonight I could go home early from work but instead of studying as I probably should have, I cleaned the whole apartment and cooked dinner for my boyfriend who had to work until six. The only reason why I could go earlier was because I was out of numbers to call. 

The Greek

Today I worked the morning shift again. It was kind of hard, becase I was working on the hospital project again, and honestly, who wants to do a 50 minute interview about IT? Also it wasn't very nice because I was completely starving and trying to survive on coffee the whole morning. Thankfully I had some very good company sitting next to me.

So, I finished the draft version of my Expert Analysis report today, and in about 10 minutes I'm going to meet up with three friends at our favourite Greek restaurant here in the Hague, Rhodos. It's going to be so nice, and it's actually become a bit of a tradition among us, to have dinner about once a month to catch up about things. It's so easy to just get lost in the stress at school and not really talk a lot to each other, so I love when we have these nights together.

Wednesday

What a day. Went up way too early this morning because I had to work the morning shift. At work I got briefed on a project, called an hour or so on another project, and then translated questionnaires from English to Swedish the rest of the day. After work I went straight to uni to have a group meeting with the project group. We made a powerpoint and discussed some possible insights to base the marketing strategy on, and then we went to the Project Coaching Session.

That was by far the worst part of this day. It went on for 2 hours, discussing and presenting ideas related to the project. I also didn't eat anything else than a tiny cheese sandwich in the whole day, so I was almost fainting when we had to stand up and present. When the class finally was over, me and my roomie went straight home and sat like zombies on the tram.

So, tonight I'm going to write on my Expert Analysis report which is about corporate blogging, but first I'm going to take a break and relax a bit. My brain is simply not functioning anymore.

Monday

Today has been a really stressful day; I biked to the doctor this morning, and it took a bit longer than I thought so I barely had time to take the tram to the train station. At the station I almost missed my train but fortunately I made it in time for work.

It went pretty good today for being my second day, and I got in total 3 interviews I think. That probably doesn't say much, but I was above the average strike rate of the group. Now I'm finally home and have to do some studying that I should have done this weekend. Tomorrow I'm working a full day so I won't have any time to study then. But before I start studying I'm going to have a little skype session with mom.

The weekend

On Friday it was my first day working for GDCC. There were only three of us in the Swedish team. I had to have more than one briefing because they changed project half way through the morning shift. I ended up calling businesses on behalf of the European Commission. I completed four interviews so I'm really happy about that and a colleague said that it was a good job, especially for the first day.

After work I played pool with someone that I met at the training I had earlier in the week. It was fun, we played for a few hours and had a couple of drinks, it was weird, time went by really fast. We left work at 6PM and suddenly it was past midnight which led to finding out how ridiculously priced the taxis in the Hague are.

Saturday was a really lazy day but strangely the time also flew by. I stayed at home all day. Today was the same with the exception of going to Albert Heijn to get some food. I also made brownies, the person I met at training made bagels. It's nice to know that if you're in the right company, you can do almost nothing and still have a good time.

Studying with George

I'm not quite sure how he ended up in my bed, because he's actually not allowed in my room. But when he curled up to a ball next to me I just couldn't resist. Sometimes he's just so cute.

He likes playing with our hair

Integrated Marketing Communication lecture

Just came home from an IMC lecture. Hadn't been there in about 3 weeks, so whenever she mentioned examples of IMC strategies "that we talked about last week" I had no clue what she was saying. It was interesting though, but apparently we're going to have next week's lecture tomorrow morning instead, and I can't attend because I have to work.

Probably for the best, since I don't get her references anyway.

Wednesday

Apparently it's only Wednesday and it feels like this week has been extremely long. This was my day schedule:

07.00: waking up
08.00: biking to school
08.20: group meeting, going through a presentation
09.00 lecture in cross-cultural management, presenting
10.30: lunch break
11.00: skipping Expert Analysis lecture to work on a portfolio assignment
13.00: Guest lecture on Digital Communication (SUPER interesting!)
14.45: Project coaching session
16.45: Home, doing groceries
17.15: working on another portfolio assignment
18.00: correcting a friend's portfolio assignment
18.45: reading marketing book

And after that I've had dinner and talked with my roomie by the window. That was my day, basically.

Training day

The whole day today was spent in Rotterdam, doing my training for my new job. I'm going to work in an international call center as a telephone surveyor in Swedish. At the training today, we had to listen to a lot of do's and dont's and also about how the software works. Then, suddenly I had to do a Swedish language test, just to prove that I'm good enough to talk to people on the phone.

...Now here's the embarrassing part.

The test was basically just talking about myself to a Swedish girl who asked me some questions. When she asked me why I wanted to work here, I wanted to tell her that I thought it connects really well with my study programme, but I simply couldn't say it in Swedish. I lost all the words and I couldn't even talk around it! Imagine how strange it is to have someone evaluate your skills in your native language (hah, piece of cake!), and you end up doing something like that!

I felt really humiliated, to say the least. 

Monday

Today I've been in school since 10.30, working on two different projects. First I met with the Cross-cultural Management group to discuss our presentation on Wednesday and our report. Then at 12.00 I met with the project group to start finding people for our focus group. Then I spent a couple of hours walking around in school, asking middle-aged men if they snore and if they would like to participate in a short interview. In total we got about 5 or 6 interviews.

Oh, and this morning my iPod got emptied of music again. iTunes did something and now it can't "find" the music anymore; over 5000 songs, just gone. That really breaks my heart because my iPod is one of my most important gadgets and I have it with me everywhere. I still have the music but it's the playlists that makes it all so sad. I've built them up the past year since this happened the first time. I hate Apple. 

Tonight I have to study a lot because tomorrow I'm going to be on training for my new job in Rotterdam all day. 

Finally 21!

Last night I celebrated my birthday with a preparty at my place with all my girls. It was a lot of fun, and later on we went out downtown to Millers and Haagse Kluis. The bouncers were, as always, extremely rude but after waiting in line for what seemed like an eternity we finally got in and danced all night! I think I went to bed around 5.30-6 'clock. In other words a very good night out! I also got a lot of nice birthday presents, and here are some pictures...

I made a birthday cake. Of course.

I got these beautiful roses in my favourite color!

Due to some budget limitations on my part, I got gift cards so I can go shopping!

And these beautiful cups

And a box to store my makeup in!

Last night I was writing on a report...

...about corporate blogging. It's really interesting actually, and I've borrowed a few books for the library on the topic. A dream would be to manage a company's corporate blog in my internship next year. If there are any companies in need of a social media strategy reading this, you know who to ask!

Oh, I almost forgot to say that I was offered a job last night! I still haven't confirmed it, so I'm going to be a bit secret about this for now, if you don't mind.

Although I have to say, it's perfect timing since it's my birthday today! 

I do have a desk, but somehow I ended up here...

Student food tip

My roomie was cooking something the other day that smelled really delicious, and then she told me about this pasta-thing that I've totally missed at Albert Heijn. Anyway, it's so good you have to try it! Perfect for students or when you don't really have time or energy to cook. I think it's about €1,40 or something at Albert Heijn.

Today came a package...

...full of birthday presents!

Since it is my 21st birthday tomorrow, my sweet, sweet, family sent me a package full of goodies! I got a kimono, a set of underwear, a magazine, gloves from Filippa K and Swedish chocolate! 

How nice is that!?

I also got a lovely card from my grandmother, wishing me a happy birthday even though I'm not home. 

Thank you thank you thank you! This really made my day.

A visit to Europol

What an interesting day it's been! Me and my two friends met up outside the Europol building around 13.40 to make sure we had time to pass the security. We had to scan our bags, and then we got body-searched. After showing our ID's and waiting for people to call and confirm our appointment, we got a visitor's pass each and went inside the main building. It was so cool! It's really a huge building which is newly built (it was finished about a year ago I think).

The man we did the interview with was extremely nice, and his trainee assistant as well. I actually got such a good impression that I'm considering applying there for my internship in year 3. It's just so interesting to meet someone who is working in a position that you would want to achieve. I really can't wait to start working now!

The Europol building (from Europol.com)

Today was a really fun day!

Europol interview

Again, I skipped a class today. However, this time I have a valid reason: I have an interview scheduled with a manager at Europol. Me and two friends are going to interview him about cross-cultural management, i.e. his experiences with managing people from different cultures. It's so interesting, and I'm really excited!

We have the interview at 14.00 but we have to go there much earlier to have time to pass through security.

Just another day in the life of a The Hague student!

Busy busy Wednesday

I've reached this point of the term when I'm skipping classes to be able to read at home. It's crazy, really. Today I skipped the first two classes, Cross-cultural management and Expert analysis. Around noon I went to school to have a meeting with the project group and prepare for the coaching session (that we were going to organize). In the class, we discussed segmentation techniques and what we've chosen within our group etc.

One group had a segment called "the Drama Queen" which was basically a hypochondriac who got a thrill or a kick out of getting examined and tested. It was also a person that thinks he/she has a serious condition whenever there is something abnormal going on with his/her body. I have to admit, I felt like they were talking about me.

Anyway, after the class we had to rush home to have an interview for the project with the pharmacy on our street. It was very rewarding and she gave us a lot of useful information! Now I'm going to write the transcript I think.

How to survive when living with an evil cat

Today my roomie got attacked by our cat George. I've written about George before; he's what you would call a very grumpy, angry old cat. Our theory is that he's been nice for too many days in a row and needed to let out some evil on us.

Anyway, when he attacked her leg/foot this morning, she was yelling out "Alice, get something! Something big - like the vacuum cleaner!". I should probably add here that it's a known fact that George's only fear in life is the vacuum cleaner and other stuff that blows air. So, panicked, I ran into her room and got the first thing I saw: an unplugged blow-dryer. Needless to say I felt pretty stupid when I came running with it in my hand like a gun, and my roomie just looked questioning at me: "What the hell, he's not even scared of that when it's not plugged in!". George continued to attack her until he got bored with it.

This little story might help to explain what happened next...

Later when we had dinner together, my roomie confessed that when she was vacuum cleaning her room earlier, she suddenly felt that it was time to get revenge. You might say the opportunity appeared to her. Yes, she was going to get revenge on George. Our cat.

She continued, with a nervous laughter, that she "unintentionally" closed the door to her room when George was in it. She then apparently chased him around with the vacuum cleaner "to get revenge". Again, he's a cat.

First I was quite shocked at my roomie's very "mature" act, but then realized that I would probably have done the same. You see, when living with George you have to abandon all your principles and morals to be on equal terms. It's pure survival technique.

Monday = no classes

Although I haven't been to school, today has been a quite long day. This morning I biked to the International Health Clinic where I had an appointment. Igot the tip from a friend here, it's really good for internationals living in The Hague! They were really nice there, so I can strongly recommend it. So, no huisarts for me.

After I came home I started working on the project, creating a customer journey map together with a girl in my group. It took quite some time, and we actually just finished it. Now I'm going to enjoy a nice pasta dinner!