The academic year 2016-2017 has well come to an end now and this means that we say goodbye to some of our team members and welcome a few new ones. So, what happens after VU? Every story is different of course but here's Anna and Martina's versions for you:
Martina's post VU story:
Life after the Masters
In the begininnig of Summer 2017 I officially finished the Marketing Masters at the Vrije Universiteit. After moving to Amsterdam all the way from Brazil over a year ago, I wanted the share with you some highlights of my journey and plans for future endeavours:
Life in Amsterdam
As you may have heard many times before, being a student in Amsterdam is just great! The day to day life here is even better than I expected. You always hear people talking about how great it is to be able to cycle anywhere, for instance. However, only after experiencing it myself I realized how much of a privilege this is. The canals, the great architecture and the cultural scene are also some of the many reasons why I became a fan of this city.
Meeting people
Even though I come from a culture that is very different from Dutch culture in many ways, I had the opportunity to meet and become friends with many Dutch and international students. The Masters programme I pursued always motivated this kind of interaction by making sure that the study groups were multicultural, diverse and never the same.
Career perspectives
One thing that I hadn’t realized before moving here is that Amsterdam is a city full of startups and innovative projects. There are also many companies that I knew in Brazil which are Amsterdam-based. Therefore, Amsterdam offers many job opportunities and interesting projects, even for those who don’t speak Dutch (yet) like me. These are some of the reason I decided to stay in Amsterdam after my studies in order to start a career here.
During my studies I discovered new passions and developed new skills that I am already using at work. I am pursuing a career in digital marketing with a focus on social media and working at a fun fashion brand with great colleagues.
I’m looking forward to seeing what Amsterdam holds for my future!
Martina
Anna's post VU story:
Goodbye Netherlands, Hello Wales!
Saying goodbye is never easy, especially not, if you are leaving behind a beautiful city such as Amsterdam, as well as the beautiful friends that stuck with you through the ups and downs, and, of course, the glorious stroopwafel.
Reminiscing on the time I spent at the VU, I am so happy I could make this experience and live in the Netherlands, aversive weather conditions, broken down bikes and all.
I had the opportunity to meet people from all different kinds of countries and cultures, enjoy the museums, music venues, festivals, theatres and everything else Amsterdam has to offer.
Not only have I become a much more confident and enthusiastic bike rider, I feel like obtaining a Research Master’s degree has given me the right tools to tackle the next adventure in front of me: a PhD at Bangor University, in stunning Wales.
I am very excited to start investigating social robots here and hopefully will be able to contribute to the growing field of human-robot interaction, focusing on how interacting with artificial agents activates and shapes our brain.
Signing off from the blog,
Anna
