June 27th – Mizu’s Birthday & Looking ahead

Yesterday was Mizu’s birthday. Unfortunately, due to our cooking rotation, she had to cook last night regardless. However, I made her day better by buying her flowers and a cake. At the Pub later on, AIESEC also had gifts and cake for her as well. Happy Birthday Miz =)

Now for a few things other things I haven’t found a spot for:

My tickets home are booked now. I’m coming home (Calgary) on the 27^th of Sept. My work term is done at the end of July. Connie is coming Aug 2^nd and we’re going to be travelling around a bit. I found a cheap package through Eurolines (bus ticket). For 90 Euros, I can go from Amsterdam-London-Paris-Brussels-Amsterdam. You basically pay once, and book at the start of each leg of the route. I am able to stay as long as I like in each point as long as I get back within 6months from the date the ticket is bought. I have my friend Pia that I can stay with, AIESEC in Paris and Brussels. I also manage to find a cheap flight to Zurich to see my bro for a little bit. Afterwards, we are thinking of taking the overnight train to Prague to see a friend of mine, before returning to Switzerland and Paris and continu2ing through Brussels and back to Amsterdam. So far, this is all preliminary planning and depends on how much money Connie and I have managed to save up. If possible, I want to go somewhere in Germany as well. After she goes home in Sept, I’m meeting up with my family for a vacation in Turkey and Greece. I’ll be back on the 19^th of Sept in Enschede, and the first flight to Calgary is on the 27^th. Fun times ahead.

This week at work, I took part in a big workshop for prospective clients and upper management people. I produced a poster and a power point of my project and set up a table. I felt a little bit like I was in sales as I had to introduce my project to everyone that came by. Another really cool thing is that on Friday (July 1^st), I’ll be having a meeting with the head boss of the organisation. Apparently she knew that I was here on traineeship and invited me to attend this meeting she was going to have with a Canadian delegate. She figured it would be useful for me to be there to listen to her introduction to Dutch Health care. When I first got the note from my boss’s secretary, I didn’t know who she was. It was until I showed a co-worker that they told me that it was the head of the organisation. To be personally invited, I’m feeling quite honoured. So on Friday I will be once again donning my suit and tie =)

OK, that’s it for now. I can’t seem to promise when the next time I update is but I’ll try to maybe write again soon

LEs