How I Fell in Love with my Belgian Workplace- Autumn Hinze

I was supposed to go to Australia. My semester would have been surfing, beaches, piña coladas, and a tan. Then I remembered I have a fear of large expanses of water, am allergic to pineapples, and burn like an unattended shrimp on the barbie. So I reassessed. I dropped out of the Australia program and began to plead with whoever I could to get into the Brussels internship program.

People told me an internship in Brussels was hit or miss, and I didn’t want to spend my semester doing boring office work. If I was traveling across the ocean for a job, it needed to be the most thrilling job this internship program could offer. I listed my interests and qualifications and sat back and worried constantly for a few months.

I got the email on a Monday morning while I was sitting in my car outside of my friends Grace and Gabby’s apartment waiting to pick them up to go to class. When they walked out I practically screamed at them how excited I was that I had been placed at 87seconds, the video production agency.

It feels like time flew by after that, because next thing I knew, it was my first day. I was so nervous. What if they hated me? What if they had no use for me? I am an aspiring screenwriter with not enough experience and two low-quality class projects as my excuse for experience in Adobe Premiere.

I had a lot to learn, I knew that from before I got there. The way 87seconds works is similar to an advertising agency in that they create proposals to pitch to potential clients and then create pretty much any sort of video for them, or clients come to 87seconds to work with them to produce videos for their company.

One of the account managers showed me how it all happens while including me immediately on a huge project. I think he thought it was funny how nervous I was. I was intimidated by everyone at first because they seemed like geniuses. I actually still think they are. Every idea they had at our pitch meetings was at least 100 times better than mine and they work incredibly hard to meet the needs of their clients.

At lunch we got to talk about everything that makes us as Americans and Belgians different- and what makes us similar. For instance, they learn at least three languages from early childhood, and my knowledge of French is comparable to a dim fourth grader. They think being able to drive when you're 15 is irresponsible, but I think our driving and drinking ages makes more sense than theirs. But we can come together over the big things. Like how we all think Trump is an idiot. And that’s beautiful.

Some of my friends had positions in the parliament. They wrote briefings all day while I helped create beautiful, funny, and inspiring videos. To each their own. They did, however, let me know things like when Brexit was and what that meant for me (the answer is nothing), and they told me the background behind some of the stuff I could see through my own experience.

Working in another country is scary. Genuinely terrifying. Not only is there a language difference, but there is also a culture difference. For example, someone would say “This is bad” when they actually meant “I think we need to go a little lower budget for this production, but I still love this idea.” What made me hold back tears at the beginning became something I appreciated about the Belgian workplace. I got to know what ideas were stronger than others and how to push the strong ones through to the end, and as a result I also became a professional at taking harsh criticism.

So do I wish that I had gone to Australia? No. I have gained a global awareness that I would not have gotten without feeling uncomfortable and having to adapt and learn. I gained tangible skills, but I also gained an appreciation for how to communicate across cultures through our work and through my relationships with my coworkers.

This is by the kitchen in 87seconds and we sat here to talk or have meetings

My friend Kristyn and I- we both worked at 87seconds