One Wild and Precious Life as an EU Trainee: International AfterWork

International AfterWork @ Mezzo Bar

As a EU Trainee you become fairly acquaint with the Brussels party scene. One of these party scenes is International AfterWork at Mezzo bar. 

It's held every Wednesday evening. And it's awesome! Every week there is a theme such as Italian night, Greek night, Romanian night, Russian night.. All international people are very welcome. 

People are encouraged to go to other people. So if you are coming alone, do not worry, you won't be alone for long. There is always an international person you can start talking to and discuss life, travels and general life in Brussels. 

To me Wednesday is one of the best days in the week. Plus, it's super good cause it's in the city centre. As a EU trainee I am usually hanging out in the Schuman area, and International AfterWork gives me an excuse to make a trip to the city centre. :) It feels nice to get out of the EU bubble for a night and talk about non EU related stuff. 

There is the usual crowd, and then there are the newcomers. Which makes the Wednesday night predictable and unpredictable at the same time. Which is good! It keeps the anticipation alive!

Oh, forgot to mention the best part! There is happy hour that lasts for 4 hours (6pm-10pm)! :) And the beer is  very cheap too! :) 

I have met really good people, and I developed great friendships at the International AfterWork. 

So, if you are a trainee, or you work in Brussels, or you are just visiting, I would highly advise you to come to the International AfterWork. It's always crowded, there is always good music, and I bet you can always find a particularly entertaining company! And ofcourse, networking!

Readathon: Hour 24

End of Event Survey

Which hour was most daunting for you?

Hour 18. I crashed. Went for a power nap (which thank god managed to stay a nap and not me sleeping till tomorrow!) for 3,5 hours and I feel human again. It was a good decision. I looked like a zombie in the hour 18.  

Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?

I insist contemporary romance books are the best way to go. This time I decided to do a little change and read Fantasy because I wanted to startSrah J. Maas books in a while and readathon sounded like a good excuse to finally do it. But it's definitely slower place of reading. Took me 16 hours to finish the first book and it was 416 pages. I think I will stick with contemporary romance (again) next time!

Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next season?

As I state every year (twice) this event is made of awesome. Keep the good work readathon people! The only thing that I skipped this time were the challenges. I haven't done any at all. The titles didn't seem intriguing. 

What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?

The twitter feed was bat shit crazy good!

How many books did you read?

1 book + 

What were the names of the books you read?

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (416 pages)

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas (about 75 pages)

Total of: 491 freaking pages! 

Which book did you enjoy most?

The one that I actually managed to finish :D

How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?

Readathon events are made of awesomeness. I love participating in this event! It's a blast everytime!

See you again in April 2017 lovely people!

Readathon: Hour 12 - Coffee is my best friend

Official Read-a-Thon page

Mid-Event Survey

1. What are you reading right now?

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas - more than half way through :)
2. How many books have you read so far?

300 pages into the first book!
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas - apparently the second book is pure awesomeness!
4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?

Apart from getting home 10 minutes after the start ... not much! Switched my phone to silent mode and it's amazing how noone can bother you.
5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?
That my reading is going so slow! I knew that I should have gone with contemporary romance instead of fantasy but I really wanted a little change this time aroud! And twitter! It's an awesome event and enjoying every moment of it!

Hope you're having an amazing read-a-thon! Don't fall asleep! Make yourself a coffee and most of all, happy reading! And thank you cheerleaders for cheering! This means so much! :)

Readathon: Hour 1

Readathon official page

#Readathon is here! :) :) I am so super excited about it! It's gonna be an awesome experience, I can feel it! :)

What is my goal? To read and have fun on Twitter and discussing awesome books!! :D

To read list:

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (416 pages)

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas (640 pages)

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?

This time around I am reading from Brussels, Belgium! Hehe, everytime it seems I'm reading somewhere else in Europe.

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?

For the second book, A Court of Mist and Fury! Heard sooo many great things about it!

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?

Pasta, probably. And coffee :)

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!

I moved to Brussels 3 weeks ago and I started my internship at the European Commission. So far so good and I really like in here. Finally a grown up job that I studied for! I'm really happy :) I love to read Adult and New adult books. I like Romance. Dystopia, contemporary, historical.. it has to have some romance in it and I am a happy girl!

5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?

I've learnt that reading contemporary romance books is the best for this kind of events - it goes faster. But this time I will try fantasy cause I've been meaning to start this series for forever - so it's time! And I'll try to check more blogs and meet new awesome bloggers :)

You can find me on Twitter here: @neabarabea

Happy readathon to all of you amazing people :) Good luck! Lets have a good adventure together!

One Wild and Precious Life as an EU Trainee: Let the Adventure Begin!

EU Trainees October 2016

It hit me all at once when we were driving through France that I can finally take a deep breath. And I am free. I am free. 

When we were nearing Brussels I saw from the window of the bus this huge rainbow. We literally went beneath it. And I thought to myself "This is a really good sign".

I'm ready to start over again. Brussels here I come! Let the adventure begin! 

In the first week I have meet SO MANY people. Guys I am not kidding you, so many people. I think of myself as a person who remember all names, but woah, not this time. There were just too many. Everything was very overwhelming. New city, new house, new flatmates, new job, new colleagues, new people, new potential friends to meet. 

Overwhelming or not, though, OMG this place is the best thing ever!

My job is awesome. I really like the tasks that I've been given. And I love my supervisor and the 2 ladies of the team. My girls, I really enjoy working with them. It's dynamic and challenging. I love my job.

For the first time after a long while it seems my education is finally paying off. Thank you Edinburgh University. Thank you Universe. I am the happiest girl on the planet.

Being a Blue Book Trainee at the EU Commission is the best thing that ever happened to me.

There are no words to describe how happy and proud I was the moment I received the EU badge. I felt so badass. All that blood, and sweat, and tears, and hardwork were fucking worth it. It was all worth it. 

All that excitement for the future. 

Bring it on. 

You can close your eyes and think of England, or you just don't and you let it go.

Dear England,

most of my life I thought you were the best thing in existence. I did. I really, really did. I thought English people were just better because they were English. I thought they were better because they speak English with the proper English accent. I thought they were better because they were born in England and not anywhere else. Because England. 

Not anymore.

England, I'm so tired of you and your people. I'm so tired of trying to fit in and trying and trying, and trying. I'm tired. I'll never fit in.

I will never be anything other than an Eastern European to you. Ever. And the way you say this is so insulting, even if you don't mean it, it still is (sorry Eastern European people, you know what I mean, and again I'm sorry) in fact insulting. And not because you have no fucking clue of geography (because btw I would have never ever passed my finals in high school if I didn't know which countries belong to which side of Europe), but because you never really try, do you? All the excuse I ever get is "I'm not good in geography". I can understand that if you are an American, or Asian, but fucking European?! How did YOU pass finals in high school!? 

Second thing is you make me feel lower than you just by being. Talking to me. Being like "Are you Swedish?" with all that glint in your eyes, and then I say "No, I'm Slovenian," and you are "ah." What does that mean? Am I lower than you just because I'm from the Balkan, even though you think Slovenia is in the Baltic?

Why was I ever envy of you and your way of life?

And your way of life. You know, we, Slovenians, we might be very direct, but fuck my life, we were never this mean.

Dating. We might not do it the way you do it, but we sure as hell don't drag people along making them feel like they matter when in fact they don't. And I'm not talking about the first date. I'm talking about the 5th where you should sure as hell know if yes or no. And I mean sure as fucking hell. We don't lie to each other. Not like this. Geez, if we are not compatible then we just aren't, but don't make it sound like the best thing ever when you're actually thinking this was the worst thing ever. Honesty is the key, no? Cause this is mean, evil even. And it's not okay. And believe me, it never will be. You should never play with people's emotions. It's not right. 

I've been living here trying to make it, you know. It's just not working. And I was working hard to make it. But you know what? I don't feel like doing it anymore. 

Your lifestyle where everything is about work. Cause you know work? Not about friends, not about family, not about free time where you do the fuck you want?! But work. Hang it, seriously.  If I was meant to be alive to work 10-11 hours a day for 17000 pounds a year (which equals less than the minimum wage) as a graduate job.. then honestly I don't even know what to say. I get it that we start at the bottom, but flipping fucking chicken should never get me more money than a graduate job. Thank you capitalism and fuck you.

And I miss the passion. Passion for life, adventure, and beautiful things. And as much as I tried to find it in here, sorry England you have none. 

So, here we are. With me counting down the weeks and you laughing at me bloody England. You know, you don't feel like anything like in the historical romance - at least then you had gentleman who treated ladies well and took care of them, so tell me, what do you have now?

I think this is us. Done. 

I'm tired of you letting me down and you're probably tired of making me try harder. Which ever it is.. I don't really care. Cause this is not anymore about doing what is right or what is easy, but it's about what can I live with and what I cannot. And I'm really sorry to say (or not so sorry anymore), I cannot do this anymore. I just can't. You are not good for me.

I need to start doing what is right for me. And you are such a huge obstacle that I don't feel like investing more years in it to make it (possibly) work. Sorry England, I can't be bothered. We are done.

See A.? I might not be Taylor Swift, but I have my voice and my words.

With all my love,