Stageblog - Thomas Bussink - September 2022

Moi! I am Thomas and I’ll be the intern at the Embassy of the Netherlands in Helsinki for the coming half year! I am 24 years old and I study Governance of Sustainability at Leiden University and Political Science at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, in short VU Amsterdam. In this blog you can follow monthly updates about my experiences at the embassy and life in Finland.

Arriving in Finland

Image: ©Thomas Beusink
At the moment of writing this blog, I’ve already had my first month of working at the embassy. A lot has happened already in such a short time! I arrived in Finland in early August. By Finnish standards, it was very warm outside and it felt like all Helsinkians were out and about to celebrate this. The first priority was of course to settle down in my studio and fix the most important stuff. I had found a studio in Meilahti before I came to Finland, which turned out to be a nice neighborhood that’s both close to the city center, as well as walking distance to nature and the sea.  After my arrival I had a week before my internship would start. This is my first time in Helsinki and Finland, so I really tried to use this time to acknowledge myself with the city I was going to live and work the coming months. How do I get around in the city? Where are the nicest café’s? and how on earth am I going to make sense of the Finnish language? After this first week I could already conclude that I was not going to struggle to feel at home in Helsinki. It feels like there are always things to do in the city, may it be walking around with my trusted camera to enjoy the interesting mix of architectural styles, visiting museums or enjoying a good cup of “hipster” coffee in one of the many café’s. And then there is still a whole world to explore outside of Helsinki as well!

What do I do at the embassy

My first day at the embassy was august 22nd. With some healthy nerves and excitement I took the tram to our embassy building that is located right in the middle of the city center. It was really nice to meet my new colleagues. I had a coffee with all of them to get to know each other and gain some insight in what role they have within the embassy team. 

My internship will mainly have a focus on energy and economic affairs. More specifically I will look at the state of the Finnish (green) hydrogen economy, what kinds of businesses are involved and what opportunities there are for Finland and The Netherlands to cooperate. In the context of the energy transition but of course also the current European energy crisis, this is a very interesting topic to focus on. Next to this I get to work on many other things as well. Some interesting things that I could attend this month included for example the opening of the Helsinki Design Week, a naturalization ceremony at the embassy, an EU briefing on agriculture and fisheries and we had a fun teambuilding day with the embassy team. I even got to meet Ajax football legend Jari Litmanen, as he visited the residence to celebrate the fact that it was 30 years ago that he made his debut to Ajax Amsterdam.

Of course the developments with regard to the war in Ukraine play an important role in the daily duties of the embassy. It is interesting to see how this has changed the policy focus of the embassy, as well as the more practical things such as the increasing number of visa requests. It is certainly a very interesting time to be an intern at the Embassy of the Netherlands in Finland.

The life of an intern in Helsinki

When I close the doors of the embassy behind at the end of the working day, I love to explore the city. Especially now the weather is still nice and all the autumn colors decorate the streets. Together with interns of some other embassies, we’ve set up a whatsapp group to plan after work drinks, have coffee during lunch breaks, visit events or go on trips together. We’ve for example visited an open house at the Government Palace, where we were an inch away from meeting Prime Minister Sanna Marin. Sadly we had just left before she came to the palace to meet some citizens. Later this week I’ll go watch an ice hockey game with a bunch of other interns, which will be my first ever ice hockey match!

Two weeks ago I made a day trip to Tallinn, Estonia. You can easily reach this scenic medieval city from Helsinki with a ferry in just two hours. The many old churches and narrow streets form a stark contrast with the relatively young city that Helsinki is. Also important: the food is really good and a bit more affordable than in Finland :-).

I’m looking forward to explore more of Finland in the coming months. Things that are on my wish list include amongst others Tampere, Turku, Porvoo, venturing out into the forests, taking the night train to Lapland and many more. Stay tuned!