I just can’t believe that my internship in Holland is over now and this will be my last post to the blog. Unbelievable. You have no idea how much I’m going to miss that all, but I’ll try my best to tell you properly about my last week experiences.
Enjoy.
When my last week started, I was very sad. I started to realize how my time was running out in there. I got my last week schedule and to be honest, I actually was disappointed. All my shifts were in Sky Lounge. The reason why I felt that way wasn’t the place, it wasn’t Sky Lounge workmates either because I really liked them, but it was just the fact that it was my last week and I didn’t had a chance to work with people I had spent the most of my time in main kitchen. But Sky Lounge was nice, I really liked it. They showed me how to make dishes, most of them were deep-fry foods but also sushi and sandwiches with different fillings. I also saw my main kitchen workmates always in the morning, because we had to brought all the groceries from downstairs to Sky Lounge. And I secretly volunteered every time when something was missing and someone had to go to get it from main kitchen 😀 Clever, huh?
My friend Roosa came to Amsterdam on Wednesday the 7th. I had a day off on that day so I went to Schiphol Airport to meet her. Then we had to hurry up and catch our train to Alkmaar. In Alkmaar I showed my accommodation to her and she left her luggage to there. And then we had to hurry up again to the train to Amsterdam. Chef was so nice and arranged tickets for us to Anne Frank House. The tour in the House was a nice experience but on the other hand (if you know the story) we were able to feel the unhappy atmosphere in there… Definitely worth visiting.
After Anne Frank House we took a lot of pictures and then I showed my favorite shopping street to her, the Kalverstraat of course. In the evening we went to my workplace’s restaurant because Chef had made a reservation for us. I ate halibut and Roosa ordered Zita pasta. We also ordered two Creme caramel vanillas for dessert. Yum!
Okay, then my last workday. It was Friday the 9th of December and I started at 10:00 in Sky Lounge. Chef Marcel came to see me in Sky Lounge, he did an evaluation and we filled couple forms. Then we discussed about my internship and how did I perform. I won’t tell details here, but he said that I did a very good job and I easily became a part of the team. He also said that I have to let him know if I’m ever planning to go back to Amsterdam because there will be a job for me. And that’s not all! He gave me a goodbye present, which was a completely new Wüsthof kitchen knife. I was so surprised because I didn’t expect anything! Apparently I did something in a right way 🙂
When the clock was something like 12:30 people told us that they needed help in main kitchen so Daria and I went there. I was super happy. Main kitchen and all my friends, yay! I don’t even remember what tasks I did there, just some ordinary things I think, but I enjoyed every minute of it. I really did. And even though my last day was the saddest one, it was also the best one. I worked with my best friends, Jerry, Ippe, Ernest and Adrian and we had so much fun, we made jokes and laughed like I would stay there forever. And I really loved that.
When the clock came 18:00 it was my time to go. I took a tour in the kitchen, hugged everyone and said the last goodbyes. We added each others on Facebook and changed phone numbers too. I didn’t even notice that it was almost 19:00 when I finally got to my locker. And I started to cry. People had come so close to me during these two months and I couldn’t believe all that was really over. Those were the tears of happiness and sadness at the same time. I’ll miss those guys so much. But I’m trying to comfort myself saying that you never know what happens. Maybe we will see some day, at least I hope we do.
So Friday was my last workday and that meant I had 4 full day offs and then our flight would leave on Wednesday morning. Roosa and I traveled to Amsterdam every day, we shopped a lot and went sightseeing. We also decided to buy another (the third) traveling bag which we shared, because our new clothes and presents didn’t fit to our own traveling bags anymore. We even named our new bag! We chose the name ”Kasa” which means a pile or a mound in English (best friend humor haha). Nothing personal, the inspiration for the name was just the appearance of the bag. It looked just like a big black mound :’D Jeroen also visited in my accommodation for the last time on Monday. He asked about my experiences and I told him how I fell in love with Holland. I also returned his knives and the bike he gave me two months ago.
Wednesday, the day of departure. Schiphol Airport was pretty easy, even though we had to ask some help from information desk. We found the right gate and the plane and so began the journey to cold Finland. When we landed to Helsinki Vantaa Airport I immediately felt the coldness. It was kind of a difference, because when we left Amsterdam it was 10 degrees and in Helsinki it was -4 degrees. I already think if I should book flights back to the Netherlands…
So that was all! I hope you enjoyed my posts and got a good impression about internship abroad because I really did. If someone asked me to describe my trip with 5 words I would simply say ”pure love for two months.”
Regards,
Sirpa