Let us introduce: Jari Blom, 22 years old and living in Hellouw (NL). He is a 3rd year student Civil Engineering at Avans University of Applied Sciences. Father Cor works at subsidiary Hercuton and Jari also works there since he was 17 years old during vacations and days off. And then you get the opportunity to do an internship abroad. What do you choose?
Jari “I wanted to do an internship abroad in the 1st year, but that was not allowed then. Luckily it was allowed this academic year. So I started to look into the possibilities and had conversations with different companies. In the end, I chose Janssen de Jong Groep, because that assignment appealed to me the most.”
“I had a conversation with Judith Hettinga. She is HR Manager at Janssen de Jong Groep. After we had agreed that I would do an internship at Windward Roads on Sint Maarten, Judith made all the contacts with the Caribbean. Funny detail: a classmate of mine (Maikel van der Zalm) also applied without us knowing about each other. So in the end I left for Sint Maarten together with him. That was quite nice, because it allowed you to rely on each other as well”.
I ended up working in the Caribbean for 5 months. On August 23rd 2019 I left and on January 24th 2020 I said goodbye to my colleagues there.
There was a contact person on the spot who we could contact for questions. An apartment was made available from Windward Roads. I lived here together with Maikel. We booked the ticket ourselves, but the rest was arranged by Janssen de Jong Groep. We were picked up at the airport by Danny – a colleague from Windward Roads – who took us to the apartment. He also showed us around the island the day after.
Actually the same as when you go on vacation: mainly clothes and sunscreen.
Photo: Goats caught with all the employees on the project site.
My girlfriend and my family. Especially in the beginning I was a bit homesick. Luckily we were able to keep in touch through WhatsApp and both my girlfriend, my parents and oldest sister came to Sint Maarten. It was great to show them where I worked and stayed. I also missed the Dutch food like ‘stamppot’.
I spent half of my internship on Sint Maarten and the other half worked on Sint Eustatius. The work was very diverse, from making drawings to helping on the construction site. Among other things I updated the equipment book with all the equipment of Windward Roads. Together with Maikel, I regularly set out GPS coordinates in preparation for the work. The second half of my internship I mainly worked for Statia Roads B.V. on Sint Eustatius. There I had just started a project where they could use an intern. With a propeller plane it is only an 18 minute flight from Sint Maarten to Sint Eustatius. It was a very educational period in which I lived with colleagues in a large house that also functioned as an office.
I had set five learning goals in advance, including leadership, handling GPS and drawing in Civiel 3D. I was given the space to achieve all my learning goals.
We built a large resort on St. Eustatius in an area where goats, cows, chickens and pigs also roamed around in the wild. I can still remember the first time a cow was in one of our containers. When the construction site was fenced, we first had to catch all the animals and place them outside the fence. You don’t easily experience something like that in the Netherlands. The building site was at the foot of a beautiful volcano. We climbed this one together. An unforgettable experience.
Photo: Cooking for the colleagues.
When we just arrived it was above 30 degrees in full sun. My skin really had to get used to the different climate and the sunscreen flowed abundantly. We stayed there during the winter period, so the temperature got a bit lower during the months. And of course we had air conditioning in the office, which was a big difference.
They are beautiful islands with lots of beautiful beaches. We spent most of our free time at the beach.
Almost everything in the supermarket has to be imported. The prices on the islands are therefore considerably higher than in the Netherlands. That took some getting used to when shopping. I cooked a lot of pasta and chicken and of course I ate takeaway Chinese.
It’s pretty weird to have to say goodbye after a period in which you work and live so intensively with colleagues. Both on St. Eustatius and St. Maarten we had a little party to say goodbye, very nice.
I had to get used to it. Of course it is nice to be with your family and friends again, but the difference is big. And I’m not just talking about the climate. The mentality in the Caribbean is very relaxed. Even when things don’t go as planned, everyone stays relaxed and calm. In the Netherlands we are in a lot more in a hurry and we complain more. And the sun of course, I really missed it the first period in the Netherlands.
I have noticed that I enjoy living with other people. For fun, but also for cooking, for example. I spent a few days alone in the apartment and I didn’t like that very much.
From a colleague on St. Eustatius I got a license plate of an old car, I gave it a prominent place in my bedroom. I also bought some t-shirts and an old map of the whole Caribbean.
I would recommend it to anyone! You learn a lot in your field, but also from other cultures. It is important that you immediately open up to all these new experiences and impressions. The mentality, the way of working, the houses. Everything is different than you are used to in the Netherlands. But it is so much fun to work with people of different nationalities. It is an experience that has made me more mature and that I will carry with me for the rest of my life.
