My Last Week at USEU

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I could hardly believe it. My final week at the U.S. Mission to the EU had already come. I’ve never known eleven weeks to go by so quickly. I even extended my internship an extra week and it’s already over. After spending the past week doing all the Belgian stuff I hadn’t done yet and visiting all the Belgian towns you have to visit when you go to Belgium, I was ready to focus solely on my work this final week.

Even though it was my last week at the Mission, I still had soo much to do! With Joe at The Hague for the Secretary’s visit, I worked much harder on the Early Alert than usual. I also was furiously trying to get people scheduled for time in our studio for the video I was putting together for the Community Liaison Office. My work didn’t stop until the minute I left the office for the last time on Friday. (I even stuck around 30 more minutes than I was supposed to!)

Aside from the work itself I spent the rest of the week spending time with people I had met at the Mission. On Tuesday, I had dinner with one of the other interns, Nancy, and then her and I met up with Chris at a famous Belgian bar called Le Cirio. They serve a special drink there that is half champaign and half white wine and is surprisingly delicious. We had to try it before we left.

On Thursday, my supervisor Joe invited me over to his place for dinner. I spent the evening with him, his wife, son, and another one of his friends who had just got back from Thailand. We spent most of the evening talking about Thailand and how great of a time his friend had just had. (Not a big surprise, but I want to go to Thailand now!)

Before Joe’s friend left for Thailand, he had visited a special brewery in Belgium that supposedly (and I agree) makes the best beer in the world. He had brought a case back for Joe who was nice enough to let me try some! The story with this beer is that it is made by monks who only make enough for them to make enough profit to live off of. You can’t buy it at a bar or a liquor store. You have to monitor their internet site for times when you can call to make an appointment to come by and get some. Then you have to drive to this remote location and you can only buy a couple of cases. People try for weeks to get an appointment, as it is so hard to do. The bottles don’t have labels, only three different colored caps distinguishing between the blonde, 8%, and 12% that they make. It sounds crazy, but it really is the greatest beer I have ever had, ever. It definitely merits all the hype.

As we were sipping our Westvleterens, Joe told me how much he appreciated all the hard work I had put in over the last eleven weeks and told me you never really know what you’re going to get with an intern, but with me, he felt like he hit the intern jackpot. That made me laugh, as Joe usually does, but I thought he couldn’t have said anything nicer. His wife even thanked me for all the stress I took off of Joe, which she said even made her life easier.

Then came my last day. The Director of the Hub, Susan, had invited us all to take off work early and come over to her house to have champaign in honor of me leaving. I still had so much to do and had people coming into the studio that my last day was even stressful. I worked on the Early Alert very hard all morning and had never been more proud of my draft than the one I submitted to Joe for approval that day. With very few minor edits, Joe sent out my final Early Alert and took his name off as a drafter for the day, making me the sole drafter. I was honored.

In the afternoon, I had people coming into the studio to do filming, but I still had to find time to do my final checkout before we all were supposed to go over to Susan’s around 3. I was so busy on my last day, I didn’t even have time to eat lunch. I have to admit, with all the loose ends I was tying up, I even made everyone 30 minutes late to our little party.

When we finally made it to Susan’s, she had an amazing spread of food laid out in her beautiful apartment for us. We sipped champaign and ate little goodies outside on her terrace and talked for hours. It was so nice getting to just relax and hang out with everyone in my office on my last day. They even gave me a framed copy of one of my best Early Alerts, which they had all signed so I wouldn’t forget them. (As if I would!) They also gave me a beautiful Belgian tapestry so I would have something Belgian to take with me. Joe may have felt like he won the lottery getting me as an intern like he said, but I’m pretty sure I’m the one that won the lottery of internships. I will truly miss the work I did each day, but even more will miss each and everyone I worked with.

After leaving Susan’s house, Elodie and I went to meet up with her husband and a bunch of other people from the Mission, including Nancy, for happy hour. We had a great time and afterwards Elodie and her husband took Nancy and I to go see the movie Milk. (Great movie, though by that point, I was so tired I could hardly keep my eyes open.)

Looking back over my internship, it’s hard for me to believe everything I’ve gotten to do and how much I’ve learned, not only about foreign relations, but also about myself. This internship has been the most incredible experience of my life and I am so grateful that I was given the opportunity to do everything I did. I feel like I will be coming back to the United States a new person with a new confidence about myself and the world around me. If anything, meeting so many different people on this trip and being immersed in so many different cultures has taught me to embrace who I am and where I am from. I am now so proud to say that I am a Kansan from the United States and think I will really look at home differently when I get back.

Now that my internship is over, I will be spending the next week in Italy before heading back to the U.S. I’ll be heading to Rome, then San Marino and then on to Venice. Not a bad way to round out my European adventure if you ask me. Then it’s back to Brussels, then to Philadelphia, Denver, Colby, and eventually Lawrence. Then, who knows what comes next. On May 17th I will graduate from college and have no idea where the world will take me. One thing is certain, by then I’ll be ready for a new adventure and will be ready to take on whatever is thrown my way.

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Photos

The Hub!
This is where I worked!

Heading into the Hub
My supervisor Joe showing off the Hub.

Elodie & I
Oh, how I will miss you!

Le Cirio
Nancy and Chris at Le Cirio.

Cheers!
to a great internship.