Bon dia Aruba!

It's so far, today it's my last day at my internship work place. I will certainly miss it here. They will miss me here too, I think. But I would like to thank everyone from the UA for a warm welcome and the things they taught me. At 11 o' clock I have an appointment with the rector about the University's logo. I would like to thank Juliet and the rector for this appointment. I would also like to thank Luciano for the pleasant conversations. Of course I want to thank Cheryl for all the help she given me, mostly for the labels she made for me.

The mysterious man under the stairways!

Every day I saw "Professor x" in LSB, but never before I spoken with him. His real name is top secret, so we call him that. This Thursday I spoke to him almost all morning. He is a very intelligent person, currently working on his master's degree in law. Of course we could laugh well with him and his best friends, the three musketeers. Robero, Jojo and Professor X. I also had a conversation with Roberto, he was born in Venezuala and has Italian roots. We have talked about the current situation in Venezuala. According to him, at the moment there is 1000% inflation, which is just absurt. The borders have also been closed and Venezuela has imposed a trade embargo on the Dutch islands to punish the Netherlands. I hope that the current situation there will soon be resolved. Last but not least, I had a brief conversation with Jojo. At first he didn't want me to take a picture of him but after long insistence it succeeded me. He has seen a lot of the world and travels a lot with his father. I asked him if he liked that. He told me "It is my life destiny".

Beginning of the end!!

First of all, I would like to thank our school for our opportunity to go abroad for an internship. It has given me a whole new perspective on life.

Now that we have started our third and last week. I will certainly do my best to experience as much culture as possible this last week. So that I will certainly not forget Aruban culture any more. But of course, we still have to do all our best this week in our internships, so that our internship mentors with a good heart can say goodbye.

Last but not least, I would like to thank my internship mentor and teachers for the pleasant weeks.

Last Sunday!

My adventure is almost over, but no tears I will enjoy every single day!

Friday we had a tour to the Rancho with Mr Pareijn, that is an area what the inhabitants want to preserve, because they are very proud of the origins of it. We as well saw a lot of street art, little houses, friendly people and the only lime kiln in the world. But the most exciting was in San Nicholas there was a musea and they talked about the history of Aruba. So the thing what I found very interesting was that there is a lot of ‘GOLD’ into the grounds of Aruba, so if I were you, you should take your equipment and dig!

Saturday morning Mr Parijen and I climbed the ‘Hooiberg’. Then he left to the airport and Mrs Noyens arrived. When she was installed we went to ‘the Lightning parade’ in Oranjestad. 

Sunday we went with a pick-up to different places. First we went to an other ‘Rotsformatie’ then last time. Arthur, Stijn and I climbed it almost to the top, they told us that we held a new record. After our climbing we went for a quick swim. Then the best still need to happen, going offroad.

Chased by dogs!!!

Yesterday Benedict and I had the wonderful idea to eat at Red Fish, so we went. We had a great time there, but at the route back I immediately saw three dogs coming our way so Benedict and I ran as fast as the wind back to the restaurant. We were smart and took an other route, so far so good. Till we had to do two more Streets, everywhere was a dog, they where all barking so we ran again. When Benedict and I where safe, we had an argument about the route so we split up and see who will be first. I took the shortest route, but at almost the end of the street I saw a group very aggresive dogs. I thought about an expression “Blaffende honden bijten niet“, so I tried to calmy walk by, but the dogs ran to me so I went back and was scared. So I had a plan, I’ll try to hitchhike. So I waited and waited and waited... but no one, want to stop. Eventually a car stopped and gave me a lift to the hotel, and I have very gradeful. And I was later at the hotel then Benedict.

Second “raining” week

After an amazing weekend, we have to go back to the reality. Last week I have organized for the project ‘EL4C’. But as well I did make an online catagolus of the book collection, see picture above. 

Monday Mr Pareijn rode me to work. My day was very divers, I have done work from Hanging poster to making a list of University’s across the globe, that provide services to their students. As well I had attended a meeting at 3 pm. When we arrived at our stay, Blue Village it started to rain.

Today when we went to the Apex Building it began to rain very hard. Here in Aruba it is very unusual and spectacular for the locals. In the mean time I have finished making the list of the University’s and for a quick break I hanged some more posters to the wall. At noon I have made an appointement with Renée, he is the head of finance.

Invited by the UA

Yesterday we were invited to an beach event from the UA for abroad students, where we did a lot awesome activities. When our group arrived at Arashi beach we did not found the place straight away. So I took initiative to search it and Benedict and I found it. So we returned to our group to tell them. Then we were heart-warming welcomed and they offered us pizza and soda. The event started with some ‘icebreaking games’, after that we went for a quick swim. But the best still needed to happen, dance lessons. We enjoyed us very much and we learned some basic salsa steps and more.

Perfect week-end!

Betico Croes-dag!!

Happy Betico Croes-dag! Today is Betico Croes-dag it is a national holiday. The Arubans are very proud that they are independant, since 1986. That also means that we have a free day. But we still had a very good combined day. We went to the beach, I took the taxi and spoke with the driver and he was telling some of the history of Aruba. After the beach we went to ‘Zeerover’ it is a local fish restaurant where we ate fresh fish dish with a magnificent view. 

Worksphere

In the first week I have been very productive, what I like! My departement is Quality assurance at the UA. My mentor is Mrs Chieuw, she is a very friendly and organised person. She was very enthusiastic on my arrive and my contribution in her project, EL4C. We as well have a quick talk in the morning, it is called ‘ORID’ method (Observe, Reflect, Interpreted and decision). It will help me to make beter decisions in my life and future. 

First day @ work

Today I had my first day at the UA. It was a great experience!

Day one

Yesterday we arrived safely in Aruba! When we’ve left the airport we hired a van and a taxi to our stay in Blue Village, an amazing studio with a perfect view. Bene and I smoothly installed here. 

Today we had a very relaxed day. I woke up at 7 am local time and took a plunge in the pool. Then we had some breakfast, American style! At noon we bought some groceries and after that we went again to the pool. In the afternoon we discovered Oranjestad. After our tour we went to Moomba beach, where we enjoyed the happy Island Aruba. At the end of the day I’ve cooked pasta for us.

I hope my first day at work in the UA will be great.

About Aruba

This Saturday I’m leaving from the raining country Belgium to the beautiful and sunny island Aruba. I have the amazing opportunity to visit the island for an internship abroad at the University of Aruba. First of all I would like to thank the school and especially Mr. Geerts for our great journey and adventure!