InterNations team member Corinna tells us about her Amsterdam Community visit and how she met many of our Ambassadors in the Netherlands and Belgium. She also has some fantastic news for all our members in the Netherlands!

The idea for my trip to Amsterdam was born when I received an e-mail from our Amsterdam Ambassador Elsbeth Beerepoot telling me that she would like to invite all Ambassadors living in the Netherlands for a small dinner& drinks gathering. In all 5 Communities – Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam, Utrecht and Maastricht – we have new Ambassador Teams who started their role in the last 6 months. Thanks to their motivation and commitment, local life has received an immense boost in these InterNations Communities. We currently have two monthly events in Amsterdam and one monthly event each in The Hague, Rotterdam, Utrecht and Maastricht. Acting as contact persons for other members as well as organizing and hosting the monthly gatherings, all Ambassador teams oversaw a growth of their online member base and their events recently. Reason enough to join this little meeting of active InterNations Ambassadors and thank them personally for their great support.

My trip started on Saturday morning (a bit later than planned as my original flight had been cancelled) and I arrived in Amsterdam at around 2 pm. The first thing that surprised me was the huge number of tourists walking around the city center in the freezing January cold. After checking in at my hotel I joined the tourist crowd to make my way to Leidseplein, where I wanted to meet Elsbeth for coffee. Our meeting at the restaurant / café Stanislavski in the theatre building with its classy but laid-back atmosphere was the perfect opportunity for me to learn a bit more about the Amsterdam Community. I could also give Elsbeth some news from headquarters and tell her about our future projects like the upcoming launch of our Activity Groups.

After a walk around the city center, where I was lucky to discover Vinomio, one of our latest Albatross-only Event locations, I went to Bar Italia to meet the Rotterdam Ambassadors Meri and Kasia. We exchanged a lot of ideas about future events & activities and the two also told me about their experiences from past events and passed on feedback from their members. As we found out, Rotterdam is not only a very active Community when it comes to offline activities, but also a community of “happy clickers” registering on our online guest list and not cancelling when they find out they can’t make it. So to all Rotterdam members who read this: We are very grateful for your interest in InterNations Events, but please only register on the guest list if you intend to show up! Don’t worry, we have plenty of other features & functions to click on instead

When the other guests arrived, we moved on to the restaurant section of Bar Italia. We were quite a big group with Elsbeth, Brendan and Andrea from Amsterdam, Enrique and Alexander from The Hague, Kasia and Meri from Rotterdam, Gisa from Utrecht and our surprise guest Eric who came all the way from Brussels. Most Ambassadors didn’t know each other at the beginning, but in no time the air was filled with chatter and fun stories about the different Communities. It felt like we had known each other for a long time! As a representative of one of our biggest Communities, Eric could give the others a taste of what their work as InterNations Ambassadors could look like in two or three years:-) It was really interesting for all of us to hear about his experiences and the challenges they faced in one of our most successful Communities.

After a fantastic dinner including Antipasti as starter as well as delicious wine and prosecco, some of us couldn’t resist ordering the spectacular Grey Goose vodka cocktail for dessert, which was prepared right in front of our eyes. The evening ended after another drink at the bar next door and we all said good-bye at around 2 am. It was a wonderful evening and a fantastic opportunity for me to meet everyone in person and learn more about their experiences as InterNations Ambassadors.

Last but not least, I am happy to announce that we will open two new Local Communities in the Netherlands soon! I’m already looking forward to seeing active members and a flourishing Community life in Eindhoven and Breda!

On Sunday, I tried to make the most of my remaining few hours in Amsterdam by going for a long stroll and simply let the many different impressions sink in. Coming from southern Germany, I was especially thrilled to find so many shops open on a Sunday And although it was hard at times to get a good feel of Amsterdam due to the throngs of tourists everywhere, I managed to take some great pictures (the bike picture is my favourite) as keepsakes of this memorable trip.

In the last three weeks, since we posted the blog update featuring the video from Expat.tv The Hague, InterNations made the online headlines three more times. First of all, our Brussels Community – including our Ambassador Lorenzo Piazza – made their own appearance in the Brussels International news from Janaury 16th. You can watch the impressions from January’s InterNations Brussels Event in their online archive, but don’t forget to fast-forward until minute 10:47: to the office team’s considerable amusement, we were featured immediately after the clip segment on the Belgian goth metal scene!

But not only Lorenzo in Brussels got his place in the spotlight – Barbara Weinzierl, our Ambassador in Stockholm, talks about her life in the Swedish capital and the activities of the local InterNations chapter, too. In her interview with The Local, the English-language news platform for expats in Sweden, she discusses her own background as an Austrian in Scandinavia, her role as an Ambassador, and international clubbing in Stureplan.

Apparently, InterNations doesn’t attract merely expatriates, but quite a few globe-trotters as well. When the Budget Travel blog, an online guide for the smart and thrifty traveller, compiled some resources for today’s Internet-savvy adventurers from all over the world, we were delighted to hear that InterNations is a good place for making local contacts and getting insider tips from people who may speak your language. You can read all their advice on social networking & travel on their site.

InterNations co-founder Malte Zeeck paid a visit to our Brussels Community last week – here are some of his impressions from his trip:

It is -2 degrees Celsius when I am walking down the Rue du Châtelain looking for the All Suite Hotel, a five-star hotel in Brussels where tonight’s InterNations January Event is taking place. The trip to Brussels is especially nice as it is one of InterNations most popular communities. Arriving at the event location I immediately see why. Two young international students do the accreditation for the event in a lush and elegant setting. Everything is perfectly organized as I receive my InterNations Dollar for a free welcome drink of champagne and my name tag, which includes the colorful German flag. 550 members from 70 different nations have signed up for this event. There is a truly international feeling in this room while I am talking to members of the European Parliament, hotel architects, consultants, diplomats, journalists and other interesting individuals. The guests are elegantly dressed and the mood is cheerful.

Everyone is here to meet others, be it for friendship or for business. Our two very active ambassadors, Eric Vanderdonck, a young Belgian global mind who spent a lot of time in South America and Lorenzo Piazza, a charismatic Italian, a fan of Florence’s football club Fiorentina who works for the European Commission, are busy greeting old members and introducing newcomers to others. Lorenzo just came back from the InterNations Ski Weekend in Les Diablerets, Switzerland, where he injured his arm, but he nevertheless greets every single member. It is a pleasure for me to say a few words when asked to do so by the two Ambassadors. I am happy to thank those two for hosting great events in Brussels for 1,5 years now, with an ever-growing popularity. By now they even organize two big events per month, one for networking in an elegant hotel setting, the other one in a posh club where members get the chance to dance. This drives around 700 of the more than 6000 members to the monthly events in Brussels, which makes it one of the biggest event-communities of InterNations. The members seem to enjoy the evening a lot and many tell me that they have met good friends through InterNations. At one o’clock I happily call it a night and retire to the very cozy and classy Stanhope hotel, another regular InterNations event location.

On the next day Eric and Lorenzo show me the A-Loft, the location for the next Brussels Get-Together and over “Pappardelle Cinghiale” and Chianti in the Italian restaurant “La Fattoria del Chianti” we discuss the future of the Brussels Community. It is great to see how many ideas these two Ambassadors have for their community.

This time I do get the chance to stay the weekend and to discover Brussels in more detail. Under a bright blue sky and freezing temperatures I get to see all the things Brussels is famous for. There is the Belgian Royal Palace, the impressive Grand-Place surrounded by picturesque guildhalls and the Gothic town hall, the Galeries Saint-Hubert, the Musée Magritte and the Comic Museum where I get to admire sketches of the creators of Tin Tin, Lucky Luke, Asterix or the smurfs. Brussels is the world capital of comic strips and you even find them scattered all around town on the facades of houses. I walk past the landmark of Brussels, the “Manneken Pis” (a little man peeing – a beautiful fountain) and see what most people do not know about Brussels, the peeing woman “Jeanneke Pis” and even a peeing dog. The European quarter with Place Luxembourg and Place Schumann, the European Parliament building and the Commission, many embassies and shiny glass buildings stand in quite a contrast to the old town. Of course I also try the Belgian frites, the Carbonade and the special beers and I am impressed by the many chocolatiers who present their chocolates in the windows of their shops like diamonds and jewelry. It is fun to discover Brussels and the Belgians seem to be friendly and open towards foreigners. I can only recommend a visit it if you have the time.

On 25 February the Brussels IN-community gathered in the calm and cozy framework of the Spitzbergen Lounge Bar @Thon Hotel Rogier for its traditional monthly get-together. Approximately 120 people from all over the world participated in the evening, the highest figure ever for the Brussels family: we again beat ourselves!!! Some members of the Ecademy Brussels community also took part in the event as well as an IN member belonging to the Munich community. It was the first time that we met in a hotel, and many of the participants expressed satisfaction for this kind of solution, which will thus likely be repeated in the future. If you were there and liked this evening be prepared for the next meeting which will take place on 19 March!!! 

Special thanks to our Local Ambassador Lorenzo Piazza for  taking the photos. Pictures are available under the following link: InterNations photo album.

For the last of their regular “Third Thursday Get-Togethers” in 2008, our Brussels Ambassadors Noel B. Salazar and Lorenzo Piazza invited the fast-growing InterNations community in the European capital to an old favourite: Upon popular demand, the Maison du Peuple was chosen as the venue for this year’s concluding event. Even more casual than usual (and, due to the festive season, also slightly less crowded), the meeting provided an excellent opportunity for exchanging season’s greetings and kind wishes and catching up a little before all the expatriates head home for the holidays.

On November 20, 2008, the InterNations community of the European capital joined for its sixth monthly Get-Together, this time at Tribe-K, a cozy, yet elegant venue located in one of the most exclusive neighbourhoods of Brussels, the Avenue Louise. This attractive setting drew over 100 people from all corners of the globe, from Ireland to Israel, from Chile to Australia, from Turkey over a visitor from InterNations Stockholm to … Belgium.

At the end of the really successful evening co-organized by the Brussels Ambassadors Noel Salazar and Lorenzo Piazza (with some very helpful suggestions from Liliane Van Pellecon), a small but intrepid group of ‘nighthawks’ stayed on after the ‘official’ end of the event, dancing to 80s rhythms for the better part of the night.

(You can find all photos from this marvellous Get-Together over here.)

(Our Antwerp Ambassador Ron Ebenau took many more photos on this evening. You can browse his album here.)

A steadily increasing number of guests find their way to the InterNations Third Thursday Get-Togethers in Brussels each month. For the fifth meeting hosted by Ambassador Noel B. Salazar on October 16, the crowd met at Le Cirio, a famous stylish café in the heart of Europe’s capital. While the current financial crisis weighing heavily on the mind of many, the entertaining evening surely helped them to relax. There was again plenty of opportunity to meet new people, expats as well as Belgians from the most diverse backgrounds. This shows some promise for the upcoming winter months!