Stage & the City: The secret diary of a blue book stagiaire VI

The closing chapter

I have a friend that does not want to marry her boyfriend. I think that is a bit strange, but being 24 there are still a lot of things to do in life. But in the past few weeks everything now seems so clear to me. I do know what I want. I know that I will marry, have children and grow old with the man I love. Right now I can’t wait to finish my work in Brussels, at the moment I really do not care about interservice consultations, legislative proposals, meetings with Member States and stakeholders. Every minute I think about moving away from here to be with my future husband in Spain. This will be the beginning of the next chapter of my life. I will never have to worry about the future, which I have constantly done for the past year. 

Still I do take time to reflect on my months here in Brussels. Compared to what I expected the weather has been great for the whole time, I had never expected summer temperatures in March! I am grateful to have met a lot of wonderful people and there have been some amazing parties, I sure will not forget the 80s party. Of course being a stagiaire at the Commission has been a great experience all in all. My new colleagues who made me feel welcome, my different tasks, my supervisor, my fellow stagiaires with whom I shared the office, coffee breaks, lunch in the canteen, a quick walk in the park during lunch, Council meetings, Member States, deadlines for reports, meetings, meetings and more meetings.

 
The one big dark cloud in my otherwise so blue sky is my Head of Unit. I really did not know what to do, but thinking about it I really want to make sure that the unit does not get another stagiaire or at least that any stagiaire does not get played like me. I have decided to tell someone about my cheating chauvinistic Head of Unit. Therefore I have written a letter that I will send to the Director General and HR when I leave Brussels. Being heartbroken and played is not how I want to summarise my time in Belgium. Now I actually do have all that I can ever wish for, and it would not have happened if I had not done the summer stage at the European Commission in Brussels in 2011.

XOXOXO