Hello there, my name is Manita, and I am 20 years old. As a third year student at the Rotterdam Business School, I am assigned to do an international internship. This is exactly what I am doing now.  For the next 5 months I will be living in Curacao. I actually have chosen this island because of all the good stories that I heard from the people who already visited the Island. Here I am now, after 5 days, Blog 1 the experiences of my  first few  days.

When we arrived at the airport (Hato) at the 26th of August at 7:30 PM, 45 students and I were picked up with cabs. After a drink and a snack we were brought to our accommodation.  During the drive it turned out that the driver of our van forgot the way to the apartments, luckily he could call the other driver and we came there 5 minutes later.

Once we arrived we got a warm welcome from all the other students that arrived earlier this week. I was assigned to my room with 2 other roommates. Once we were settled, and we talked a bit, it was already late, time flies also here.

Imagine coming from The Netherlands where temperatures are 10 degrees lower than here on the island.  air-conditioning is available, but nobody wants to use it during the night, since the costs are 10 Nafl. (5 euro) per day(!)

The next day we were surprised with a breakfast by our kind roommate Amber, who went grocery shopping the day before.  Bread costs the same as in The Netherlands, but a lot of dairy products here are way more expensive. It is wise to select local merchandise as these bear less transport and tax costs. For example, raspberry syrup from ‘Karvan Cévitam’ is only available at Albert Heijn, where it costs 10 Nafl. This is 5 euro. In The Netherlands it would only cost 2,50 euro.I would advise to look more to de local products, like fresh lime juice from Curacao origin. You can take a look at this link: http://www.iammadein.com/curacao/listcat/beverage/

The rest of the day we used for unpack and to get acclimated, and we rented an all-risk insured car. The following days we did a lot of (grocery) shopping, we even scored 3 wind machines (fan’s) so the nights became more pleasant, and we went to the beach three times. I had my first experience with a Full Moon party and two other beach parties.

On the 27th we also had to come to the office of Wereldstage for information about our stays, internships, and licenses for our extended stay at Curacao. At the 1st of September I  was introduced to my internship company; I am made in Curacao. In the next couple of days I definitely will be really busy with working, so they told me to get a good rest today. With my roommate Niene I went to Cabana beach, and back home we cooked our dinner, rice with chicken and curry with some salad. Unfortunately still no local meals (yet!). Amber came back and joined us too.

Tomorrow my real first day will start at 11:00 AM. I am really looking forward to starting this new adventure.  For now, I am relaxing outside on our balcony, it couldn’t have been better if you ask me.