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Published: December 2nd 2015
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Salem , 15/9/2015 - 12/10/2015
Days are still the same here. I’m going to my internship everyday and I’m involved in the same projects with another intern from Spain. Everything is going well. The people are nice here and I like the things I have to do. I heard a lot of stories about students who did their internship at other companies and the companies took a lot of advantage from them. These are university students and thought they would learn more about the field which they are studying at, but the only thing they learned at their internship was making copies, they set coffee and they were franking mails. I’m glad these are not the only things I have do for 5 months. I finally have a monthly mobile plan for my phone. Now, I can make phone calls in the US and using internet on my mobile phone. First, I thought I didn’t need that and would only use WIFI, but it’s nice to have internet and be able to make phone calls everywhere.
Like I told you in my previous blog I did my study abroad in Spain (Mallorca!) for one semester. I met
a lot of great people from around the world. One of my friends I met on the island is from Belgium. He told me that he and his friends were going to Miami in September and I told him that we should meet up over there. I already booked the tickets in Holland, so they were not too expensive. I was very excited going to Miami, because I heard great stories about this city. One of the students from my university in Holland is doing here internship in Florida. We had a lot of contact since our stay in the US and she was also planning going to Miami that weekend. When I arrived at the airport, I heard more Spanish than English. I was waiting for my friends for a long time, because their airplane had a delay. I was asking the people at the airport if they might knew something, but they couldn’t understand me . They asked me “en Español?”…. so, I had to speak Spanish with them and they understood me, even the people who worked at the airport. After a few hours my friends finally arrived at the gate, we rented a car and we
were on our way to the hotel in Miami Beach. It was raining a lot, but not like normal raining.. It was crazy! The next few days we drove around Miami Beach and Miami. Going out was very expensive. We went to a bar and I paid $20 for a very simple mix drink (I didn’t even like it haha). We also went on a boat tour trough the Everglades. The Everglades is world's widest river. That was a great experience, we saw a lot of alligators and snakes. We also went to a fancy party in another hotel in Miami Beach. We didn’t have to pay at all and the music was very good. We had a great night. So, you don’t always need a lot of money to party! Moreover we went to the Keys. My Dutch friend and I were in a car and the Belgium people were in another car. We drove behind them and after a few minutes we already lost them. The keys are five Islands in the south of Florida and It’s very close to Cuba. It took us 3 hours from Miami Beach to these Islands., but it was totally worth is.
It was totally different from Miami and I can’t even compare this with Boston. The weather was great that day and we found a nice place to swim. Unfortunately, it all good things come to an end. I really liked to spend these days in Florida and to see my friends, but I had to go back to Boston.
This month I also met a lot of new people in Boston. A lot of them are students, but there are also a lot of young professionals. It’s nice to meet new people in this city. We hang out every weekend and going out for dinner, watching movies, or going to bar and clubs. Unfortunately, things aren’t going well always. In the beginning of October someone stole my wallet. My passport, visa, credit card, ATM cards, driver license were also in it. I never got it back. So, I had to apply for a new passport at the Dutch embassy in New York City. Later, I found out that someone used my credit card and took $600 of it. Again, I lost a lot of money.
Sometimes it’s nice to have family all around the world. My family knew
I was in the States, so they invited me to come over during the Columbus weekend, it’s usual that a lot of people have their day off at Columbus day. So, this was a longer weekend than usual and it was nice to spend this weekend with my family. Luckily, the Dutch embassy had the time to make an appointment for me that weekend. I travelled by bus from Boston to New York City. I took the bus 4,5 hour (actually a little bit longer, because there was a lot of traffic that day) and I arrived at Manhattan where my family was waiting for me. It was nice to finally see them. The last time I saw them I was around 4 years old. And at that time they didn’t have kids yet, so I also saw my three cousins for the first time. The next day we drove to Pennsylvania. They have their family house there. It’s a nice state with beautiful nature. The last day we went back to New York City. I went to the Dutch Embassy and they arranged a new passport for me. After, I applied for my passport, there was a little bit
time left for discovering New York City. We went to Chinatown, Times Square and we drove around the city.
The following tips might be very helpful:
· Look for a mobile plan for you phone carefully. In general it’s more expensive than the prepaid plans in Holland and Spain. Do your research and you’ll find a plan which fits you. I chosed for the T-mobile family plan from Walmart. It was not very expensive, but I had some difficulties with the payment. They won’t accept an international credit card and the other option is to pay your bill at the Walmart store. Unfortunately, the Walmart stores are not very close to my place and I didn’t have a car, so I had to take the bus. And traveling by bus is a drama here… either they will come very late or they won’t show up. Besides of that.. the customer service of T-mobile/ Walmart is very bad.. I was explaining my situation and they didn’t even care and they were not friendly at all.
· Be careful with your stuff. If you don’t need to bring your passport anywhere, just leave it at home and
Key west
One of the keys! keep it in a save place. The same for your creditcard, be very careful with your credit card… In the US you don’t need a code, so It’s very easy to use someone’s credit card.
· It’s not always bad to travel by bus! I traveled by bus a few times from Boston to New York and it’s very cheap. Prices start $7, but I traveled during holidays and weekend. Those days are more expensive, but still … I paid around $50 for a round trip and that is much cheaper if you compare it with a flight on the same days!
· If it’s not possible to travel by bus, you can always check websites like: Skyscanner and Google flights. They offer a lot of flights and you can sort and filter them.
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