The Views

View no. 1: Rotterdam’s morning mist    

This year’s spring in Rotterdam seemed even rainier and gloomier than the last year’s to me. This was most likely due to the fact that I left Holland already in March; therefore, I haven’t had that many chances to enjoy at least a few days that would remind me that the nature is blooming in this time of the year. For this reason, this is what’s stuck in my head: a dewy morning view into our street (as well as the living rooms of our neighbours, as the protestant morale freed from everything unholy apparently commands the Dutch not to hide anything behind the curtains).

Even though I was mostly preoccupied with completing the courses that I discussed in the previous post, I’ve also had a chance to visit Brussels. Thanks to our professors’ contacts, we have taken part in an interesting educational programme in the European Commission, visited the studios of the Flemish public broadcaster VRT and also an NGO that lobbies for popularization of contemporary art. The outcomes of this trip were then capitalized during the preparations of our final projects for the symposium of the Honours Programme, which I have also mentioned earlier.

I’ve had never been to Belgium before, so I was a little surprised by how much different the country is from the Netherlands – everything seemed a bit more unkempt and casual, which, however, seemed a bit more natural compared to the sterility of Holland. However, the trip had a slightly bitter aftertaste due to the fact that only four days later, the Maalbeek metro station, where we have spent some time waiting in the morning, has been a target of a terrorist attack. I do not want to sound pathetic and claim how this coincidence completely overturned my life values, however, I can hardly resist the feeling that some risks are closer to us than I was willing to admit before. But let’s carry on on a bit more optimistic note…

View no. 2: Nusle’s sunny afternoon

I started to enjoy the second view once I returned to Prague for the purpose of a compulsory internship. Even though the City of a Hundred Spires is where I grew up, this homecoming induced more changes than I expected at first. After eight years at Open Gate and almost two years in Rotterdam it was actually for the first time I’ve had a chance to embed myself into the city for some time and get a feeling I actually live here. And even though I won’t pretend that the general weather conditions certainly have its share in this, I certainly don’t regret leaving Rotterdam for some time – if only for this poetically kitschy treetop view over the Nusle district’s roofs.

View no. 3: Hradčany’s panorama   

The last view has a lot to do with why I actually returned to Prague – an internship is a compulsory part of my study and the last quarter of the second year is devoted to it. I decided to take up the opportunity to gain experience in the PPF group and for two months I could enjoy the nice view of the Prague castle from a desk that I was assigned to in the company’s communication department.

Naturally, enjoying the great view was not my primary task – I was expected to mostly perform analysis of data from social networking sites, which fully reflected the base of my study interests so far. Thanks to the fact I could work quite independently I had a plenty of space for developing my own ways of solving some of the issues and seeing whether these solutions hold up to the ideas of experienced professionals. Evaluating how successful these attempts were is not up to me; however, I believe that those two months were not a waste of time for anyone who was “looking after” me. Because that certainly wasn’t the case for me.