Day 17 - Fugro Women's Dinner

on my way to work this morning, i rode the elevator with some guy who's living in my apartment. studying aerospace engineering at TU Delft. i was running late and doing the normal jamie hutchins 'making lists of things to do' in her head as per usual, and i wasnt really making an effort in the conversation. when i got in the car i realized that was dumb, i should have made more of an effort to make friends. so, i wrote a note and stuck it on the bulletin board by the elevator. hopefully he will see it! elisabet, claartje, and noelle (i tell them about it later) think this is hysterical and that a dutch person definitely would not have posted the note. they want me to keep them updated what he does :) i hope he contacts me - i need to make some more non-work friends :)

Today i mostly worked on some pile design. in the morning a fellow venturian here for the big-wig meetings dropped off the Fugro jacket for Jan Willem - i hope he likes it!! he also dropped off some other bartering tools that will likely come in handy in the future :)

During lunch i went on a walk with Claartje and Barbara. they are both great and wonderfully genuine and i had a really nice time chatting with them on our walk. the weather is perfect today. partly sunny and crisp. feels like fall. a canal runs through the park and jumbo size ducks are playing in the water. look like loons or canada geese. they're probably twice the size of ducks in the US!

right after work i went to the little strip mall near the office and FINALLY found the very elusive Perfect Pair of Black Boots. good price too! i only had about 20 mins and could only go to one store, so i think it was meant to be. now i really look european!! i had to be at a nearby restaurant at 6PM for a Fugro women's dinner. we ate at Verdusie, which is a wonderful little restaurant about 5 minutes from the office. about 25 women from all different fugro opco's were there, from FIBV, FEBV, FWI (me!), Fugro UK, Fugro N.V., Fugro Survey BV, Fugro Jason, Fugro Intersite and Fugro Inpark. most of these opco's work in the same Leidschendam complex but on different floors or different buildings. so mayn of these women, although technically working for the same company, have never met.

it was a great night, getting to know everyone and just being around other professional women. many of the women had really great stories about being offshore or a cool project, and i met many people that had been to the ventura office or had worked with people that are in the Ventura office. it always amazes me how small the world really is. the program was in english so i felt like it was really easy to talk to everyone tonight. most people were dutch but some french, belgian, german, and brits. and one other american from nebraska (married a dutch guy and has lived here for 3 years).

after a wonderful buffet, coffee, and chit chat, i left at about 9:30 from Verdusie. i headed home, changed out of my work clothes, and rode my bike over to the "V" bar and met elisabet and some of her friends. these friends all know her from university, and they try to get together every thursday night. i meet her boyfriend and they are so cute together!! he's a really nice guy and he's easy to get along with :) he other friends are really cool and i'm looking forward to seeing them next week. we left the pub around midnight. one of her friends lives in my building so we rode our bikes home together. i told him to keep me posted on any fun things that come up. i ask him if he knows kanye west. he looks at me blankly. :( finding a concert buddy is not looking very promising.