Happy first birthday!

50 posts, 20,638 unique visits from over 24 different countries on 5 continents, 15 blogreactions and 367 days later, it’s time to celebrate my blog’s first birthday! I started this blog (my second) last year, basically out of curiosity. I was wondering if, and if so, what kind of reactions I would get on my blog, how many people would actually read it, what they would find interesting etc. Some funny findings:

• My most readpost is surprisingly about a German city, Düsseldorf (1,053 views).
• My least read post is ironically my first one (1 view). It’s a good thing I didn’t gave up immediately :-)
• The link that was clicked on the most is a picture of the Zollhof Gebaude in Düsseldorf, a great example of beautiful architecture: http://livo.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/zollhof-gebaude-dusseldorf.jpg 
• The least clicked on link is the one where people could check whether the World Press Photo exhibition would come to a place near them: http://www.worldpressphoto.org/ 
• After my post about interning at Hill & Knowlton in London, I received three different e-mails from students who wanted to do the same and asked me about tips on how to get in.

I want to thank all the people that have visited my blog the past year. Thank you for your time, interest and comments… You’re always welcome to come back :-)

Working abroad – just do it!

Headline in the Dutch news this week: ‘Two third of Dutch students want to do an internship abroad’. Of course this got my attention since I’m a strong advocate of going abroad, either studying, travelling or working. However, what surprised me was that only 2 percent (!) actually realise their dream.

For me personally, all the cliches about going abroad are true: expanding your horizon, learning about different cultures, developing yourself, learning new laguages and making friends all over the world. I’ve studied in Copenhagen – Denmark and Münster – Germany. However, after my initial internship in Amsterdam, I also wanted work abroad, so London it was :-) This internship was different fom my study exchanges, since I was not discussing and reading about e.g. ‘international management’ but was actually experiencing it myself. Even though I was in London for a short bit, it has opened my eyes about working abroad and that it involves more difficulties than one would think. Albeit, it is worth it on every level! I am also positive that it helped me getting me where I am today. I’m happy I’m part of those two percent. Thinking about doing an internship abroad?  Make sure you join the two percent…