Brussels: The Internship Experience

So, along with all of the traveling we are doing around Europe. All the participants are at an internship somewhere in Brussels. Unfortunately, as a result of the European Parliament elections, there wasn't much in the way of actual EU internships, but the majority of us were able to find something we were interested in. 

I am currently working for a consulting firm called Landmark Europe. You can check out the website here- it is undergoing a bit of work, but you're still able to get a pretty good idea of what we're doing. In my position, I'm focusing a lot on how decisions in the EU parliament, commission, and council (now that I know the difference between the three!) affect various aspects of our clients business. I am also charged with looking through some of the latest news reports on all kinds of things from Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), climate change, pet foods, and nanotechnology. One of our biggest clients, which I probably shouldn't mention here, is a huge producer of candy as well as dog food, so there are multiple things that can affect the business they do. 

Either way, I'm learning skills that I never would have otherwise, all while living in Europe. What more could a girl ask for?

Lessons from Norway

What I learned visiting Norway this weekend:

Norway is part of Schengen; calculating exchange rates between Swedish, Norwegian and Danish Kroners is complicated; 3 boxes of chocolate and an apple through airport security are ok--but 103 ml (instead of 100) of liquid in a bottle is not; the Eastern coast of Norway is stunning; Norwegians speak excellent English; and life is good.

Ok so this isn't so much about Brussels. But it was certainly inspiring for my internship. Norway is a Nordic country and an Arctic state, and will play a key role if ever an Arctic Treaty is drafted. So far Norway has resisted joining the EU; and therefore the Commission + Parliament suggestion for a Treaty may not be so well-received. But climate change is changing the "nature of the beast" when it comes to access to the Arctic and its natural resources. I'm working on a report that reviews these positions and any future potential for international cooperation for protection and sustainable development. To be continued...

Five Things I love about Brussels

I've been meaning to post a blog entry since I first got to Brussels last month, but things have been so hectic (in the best way possible!) that I haven't had a chance. Now that I can finally sit down and write about my experiences, I thought I’d kick things off by describing five things I absolutely love about this city:

The Streets Smell Like Waffles   For centuries, waffles (or gaufres, as they are called here) have been a part of local cuisine and today you can find waffle vendors in dozens of places around the city. The mouth-watering scent of batter baking in irons fills the air surrounding the stands, making the streets literally smell like sugar. What’s more is that some subway stations have waffle vendors as well, so even the gritty underground can smell sugary sweet.

A Mix of Old and New   It’s not uncommon for cities around the world to contain a mix of old and new. But nowhere does this hybrid seem more pronounced than here in Brussels, where the cobblestones of the city’s Grand Place, first set down in the 12^th century, lie just a few metro stops from the ultra-modern EU buildings, in which decisions are made that affect the future of the entire continent and beyond. With the elections on peoples’ minds (if for no other reason than voting is obligatory—most people seem fairly apathetic about them), on the news, and as the subject of posters plastered all over town, Brussels clearly has its eyes on what’s ahead. However, in the Grand Place area, surrounded by intricately carved, golden-tipped 15^th and 17^th century merchants guild buildings, it’s easy to lose yourself in Brussels’ past. 

Pop Music on the Metro   In DC, a long wait for the metro can be mind numbingly boring. But in the Brussels subway, cheesy pop music is played on the platform, which makes waiting for a train infinitely more fun. I’ve been hearing a lot of Katie Perry and Pink lately, but they’ve also played Mariah Carey, Prince, Cold Play, and Michael Jackson!

Environmentally Friendly Practices   In Brussels, people are more conscious of their energy consumption and they conserve power in some interesting ways. For example, escalators don’t move until you step on them. Metro doors will not open unless you press on a button. Many supermarkets charge money for plastic bags. I’ve also noticed that people rarely walk around with take-away coffee cups, like they do in the United States. And if people do have them, they’re way smaller than a tall sized Starbucks cup.

International Meeting Ground   As a bilingual city, Brussels inherently radiates a diverse vibe. Evidence of this duality pops up just about everywhere. Street signs are written in Dutch and French, subtitles for many foreign films are given in both languages (which means about half the movie screen is taken up by text!), and subway announcements are made in Dutch, French, and English. Furthermore, about a quarter of Brussels’ one million inhabitants are foreign-born. Add to that the number of people visiting the city for diplomatic and business reasons and your average tourists and you’ve got one very multicultural city.

The thing about living in such an area is that you never know who you’ll meet. As you saw from Rebecca’s recent post, some members of our group met Bruce Springsteen last week while hanging out in the Grand Place. At her internship, a student in the undergrad group met the Belgian astronaut that just went up into space. And two weeks ago on the subway, I got to talking with another passenger who turned out to be a friend of President Obama’s from his days at Harvard.

And this is only the beginning of why this city so great!

 

My internship in Brussels...

I am having the time of my life in Belgium!!! I've only been here for a few weeks, but I already have a year's worth of spectacular anecdotes to tell. Let me use this first blog post to talk about my internship (that is, of course, why I came to Brussels).

I am interning at the State of Illinois - West European Office. And I love it. This office's goals are to help Illinois businesses that want to expand into the European market and also to encourage European businesses to move to and invest in the state of Illinois. I'm working on two different projects right now, but I'll just tell ya about the more exciting one.

The city of Rockford, Illinois, wants to promote itself as a center for aerospace engineering and manufacuring on the world stage, so representatives from the city of Rockford are going to the Paris Air Show in the middle of June to meet and network with the largest aerospace firms in the world. My job is to call all of these aerospace corporations and try to make appointments with their CEOs and sales reps one behalf of the city of Rockford.

And I love it! On my first day I was cold-calling companies in France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, Sweden, etc. It was scary and intimidating at first, but then I really got into the rhythm of it. My supervisor said my goal was to book 5 appointments for the Rockford reps. So far I've confirmed 8 appointments ;-)

I've never worked in an office before. I've never had a job where I had to wear "grown-up" clothes before. I've never worked in sales, trade, or investment. But I'm loving it! I'm hooked. Every time I confirm another appointment, I punch the sky.

And the best part is --> my supervisor is sending me to Paris for a day so that I can see the fruits of my labor firsthand at the Paris Air Show. She gave me my train tickets today. I'm going to Paris, for the first time in my life, on Wednesday, June 15th. And someone else is paying for it. I'm a lucky, lucky girl.

Here's a link to a local TV station in Rockford, Illinois, that did a story on the Paris Air Show. Click on the little camera next to the title "Paris Air Show" to watch the story. Then you'll get an idea of what I'm doing in Brussels. http://www.wrex.com/Global/story.asp?s=10441452

I love Belgium. I don't ever want to leave.

Election Chirps

So just to add another quick note on elections. The EP has taken their elections "awareness-raising" campaign to Twitter. Here's the English language version of their 22-official-language Twitter feed. 315 followers since they got started at the end of April. I guess that's not bad, but they have a ways to go before reaching the masses. Also will be interesting to see if they are able to innovate and use the "micro-blog" for something compelling after elections are over.

EU Elections?

Belgium's EU Parliament elections are this Sunday, and I'm not much closer to knowing how much it weighs on the minds of voters--who are required by law to show up to the polls. My colleague at work seems to think it's a violation of human rights that citizens should be required by law to vote. Though she also couldn't fathom not voting. And true, in the U.S. we have the luxury to decide for ourselves whether or not to be apathetic, seems we take even that for granted...

Check out 100 Voters -- a photo essay by the EP surveying people around the city of Brussels on whether they've decided who to vote for. The EP certainly wants to rally the troops and word on the street is few EU folks care as much about EP elections as they do about local.



In other news, our first weekend we spent on a whirlwind tour of Flanders, for which I find this picture to be incredibly stereotypical. The weather was what I call schizophrenic, mostly raining, with random spots of sunshine and sudden bursts of cold wind. But our fearless leader Jerry (Dr. Sheridan) gave us phenomenal walking tours through Antwerp, Ghent and Brugge--well worth braving the rain. Here he is in the church in Antwerp keeping us informed while we tried not to disturb the serenity for worshippers.



So much about Flanders was wonderful. And just to prove that being a vegetarian in Belgium is nowhere near as difficult as you might think, feast your eyes on this delightful mushroom plate I ordered at a charming restaurant in Ghent--by far my favorite of the three towns. Savory and satisfying...

Brussels, the experience so far...

We'll start from the most recent developments. Some of my fellow Brussel-ers and I went down to the Grand Place to check out the Brussels Jazz Festival. While having this experience, we ran into none other than THE Bruce Springsteen. Talk about an international city!
From the left, Feri Koszorus, myself, THE BOSS, Angie Das, and Zeke Spears.
Being the rock star he is, he wasn't completely thrilled to take the picture, but he was cool enough to chat with all of us for a little bit. The best part was, we were pretty much the only people who knew who he was.

We've visited lots of places so far, but I'll leave that for the other students to discuss a little bit.