benthem and crowel architects.
riding to work at 7:30 has become one of my favourite times of day. I love the peace of the cool blue of the morning before the swarm of low-panting high schoolers: I love the piercingly cold air, bakery-lights and red traffic lights to run.
my attire of choice is typically architecture-wear (having fallen victim to black attire since for practical traveller’s reasons) leather boots that I bargained the op-shop down for and a cheap market jacket with an Eskimo hood that has become my best friend.
in holland the word for internship is ‘stage’, which is how I sign in every morning, I am agent 001. there are five of us at the moment, my favourite collegues being 005, from denmark and 003 from spain; bram and marian, respectively, with whom I ascertain thoughts about the projects we have, the quality of the free lunch, going out in amsterdam and dutch etiquette (we are such expats)
i have been employed for a month and have two stuck my hand into two exciting projects, amsterdam’s beloved stedelijk museum and a competition for a bridge in heilbronn, design to be decided tomorrow, a team of four with a respectful head-honcho, the lovely mr wassman, of germany (I seem to have a knack for lovely germans, with a previous fe-german supervisor and an energetic fe-german housemate, with whom I run my lap of the amstel) I appreciate the highly technical component of the design work, having had almost no experience with this, and am content to be taken along for a ride in the design process!
otherwise I enjoy a conversation every so often with a director, who might take a beer with us for a friday borrel or pour us a cup of soup! despite the hierarchy such occasions, once again, that great architects are highly compassionate and caring people, which gives me hope after having folded serviettes with highly-strung and sarcastic Dutchmen who want to put you in your place (somewhere I never went, thanks to language limitations)
i still have difficulty with dutch, particularly concerning vowel combinations, only made easier by quietly amusing english associations. I work with a ‘moon’ (moan) a job (yup!) and end the day with a catchphrase from the selection of ‘DOEI!/DU!/DACH!’
conclusion: work in big firm: have more jobs and share more food but need big boots.
…10am. must go take shower.
DOEI!
