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!