Maaike during her internship in London

Hey! Who are you and where are you from? Where do you study/live/work?

Hi, my name is Maaike and I study Hotel and Event management at the University of Applied Sciences Tio in Rotterdam. It’s almost time to finish my internship at a 5 star hotel in London.

What was the first thing you thought when you got off the plane? (bus/train/car)

Ohh, now it’s all gonna start…

What was the most shocking difference between your home country and your new country?

The differences between the Netherlands and London are not that big actually. Now I did know that the British could drink a lot, but I wasn’t aware that they would drink THAT much. Almost every evening after work they’re visiting the pub. Wherever you are in London, there’s always a pub nearby. The rental prices in London are insanely high. You just can’t compare it to Rotterdam and Amsterdam.

What does your usual working day look like?

My working day often starts at 3pm in the afternoon. The restaurant opens for dinner at 6pm. In the meantime we clean everything from lunch and prepare the restaurant for the evening. I’m often finished around 11pm/12am. During the weekends we also have a brunch in the hotel and then my working day starts at 11am already.

What's the working-atmosphere at your internship-company like?

The working-atmosphere is very good! Everyone is very nice and I’m sure I’ll stay in touch with a few people.

Did you ever feel homesick? How did you cope with this?

I expected to get a lot of homesickness. Whenever I went on a holiday, I always wanted to go home very badly. But this time it went surprisingly well actually. I also had visitors from back home and that makes it easier too :).

Did you feel at home in your new country? Why (not)?

I feel pretty much at home in London! It’s nice to be in a big city. There are always shops around and people in the streets. Some places that I visit I can really imagine myself living here haha. London also has beautiful parks where you can relax.

Please give us tips about who to befriend when living abroad. The Russians? The Irish? The Chileans? (Honestly, we want to know some gossip about other internationals you’ve met.)

I share my apartment with a few Italian people and I also have many Italian colleagues. I noticed that there are two groups of Italians. One group is really nice and the other is a bit weird haha.

Describe the inhabitants of the new country in three words.

Polite, rushed, like to go out. Those are not three words sorry haha.

What did you learn from your experience abroad? Was it the loving community you liked? The cheap cocktails? The overwhelming nature? Or was the experience less helpful than expected? Details, we want details!

I learned a lot here. Maybe the most important thing that I learned is how to live by myself. I think it’s a shame that my time in London is almost finished. The time was flying by, just like they say: time’s flying when you’re having fun ;)