THIS IS MY STORY

This is me!

  • 1997 - 2008

    My childhood

    I was born in early 1997 in a city called Den Bosch. We moved to Wateringen (near The Hague) pretty soon but I really grew up in Hoofddorp (a town between Haarlem and Amsterdam, with Schiphol Airport in our backyard), where we moved when I turned seven. As a kid I loved reading and writing and making music! 

  • 2008 - 2015

    High school

    Haarlemmermeer Lyceum was my high school, where I had bilingual education. The first three years were fairly easy, I loved going to school and really liked all the creative assignments my English classes had. In the fourth year, after going against my math-teacher’s advice to not take a technical set of courses, things weren’t as easy any more. I had to work a lot harder, which I didn’t do because I was busy doing other things. I had joined my school’s debating club and I was busy in the school’s event club where I did sound and lighting design. I was always doing things for the school, just never for school.

    So I failed that year. That year put things into perspective and taught me to prioritize things better, but most of all it gave me a drive to do the best at whatever I am doing at that time. Three years later I was proud of myself for graduation high school, without having to give up on any of the other things I was doing. 

  • September 2015 - now

    College

    At this time I find myself a student of Saxion University of Applied Sciences, where I study Urban Planning and Area Development. I am bound to graduate next year. During my studies I was employed for the university as a coordinator at a science program called Programma Betatechniek. I managed several projects aiming to promote and integrate science and technical studies in primary and secondary education. I was also in charge of leading and motivating fellow students in doing their work as an ambassador for science and technical studies. I am also an ambassador for Urban Planning (along with the studies Urban Design, Climate and Management and Public Administration) because I believe I am studying the best thing in the world! 

  • September 2016 - now

    Honours programme

    In my second year of college I got the chance to join an honours programme called Natural Leadership, provided by the awesome Stichting Projectkompassie. The programme is all about project management, personal development and personal leadership. I also got to take the PRINCE2 exam, which I passed in 2017.

  • June 2017 - December 2017

    Internship at the Municipality of Deventer

    In the summer and fall of 2017 I was an intern in the team that deals with the (physical) urban developments of my municipality: Deventer. I mainly focused on the cooperation between the municipality and private parties in urban developments, working with projects that incllude legislative, spatial and financial aspects. 

  • January 2018 - April 2018

    Study abroad at MSU

    In the first months of 2018 I did my study abroad in the United States, at Michigan State University. It was probably the best decision of my life. I had countless of opportunities during my semester. I got to know American College Life, including living with a roommate and experiencing the madness around college sports. I marched in the anti-gun protest March for Our Lives. I got to go to interesting lectures and met awesome teachers that helped me shape my future. I followed courses about creative writing and creative thinking, but also about community engagement, international development and change and the world of media.

    But above all I met a bunch of wonderful people who I am lucky enough to now be able to call friends. I’ll forever cherish the memories and I’ll always be a Spartan. GO GREEN!

  • May 2018

    Where am I now?

    Right now I am traveling the world! You can read all about my trip here!

  • The future

    Where am I going?

    In September I will be back home after eight amazing months of studying abroad and traveling the world. The academic year of 2018-2019 will be all about graduating. In order to graduate all students have to pick a field of specialization, a certain theme, for the thesis projects and final year. I will be doing a crossover in themes, focussing both on management strategics in urban planning and on environmental challenges such as climate change. 

    When I graduate I hope do pursue a masters degree, although I am unsure which program I would want to do and at which university (in the Netherlands or abroad) I would want to do it. I have recently developed a passion for urban challenges in countries that struggle with urbanization, slumification and urban greening. I would love to work in such a field as soon as I get my masters degree!

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My passion for urban planning

When I was seven years old I used to build entire cities with Playmobil and Lego in the attic each week. Each week I created a story that went along with what I built. I never really played with it; as soon as my “world” was complete, there was no fun anymore. When I’m older, I’m going to be an architect, I thought. This seemed the best solution to design whatever I wanted. But as time passed I found out I like areas more than objects or buildings, so architecture was off the table. In my third year of high school I looked into urban design for the first time. However, I let go of that idea rather quickly as I never managed to get ideas that were in my head on paper. 

When I had to pick a career, or at least a field of study, at the end of high school I knew for sure I had to do something that had to do with building(s) or built environment. But the mathematical side didn’t seem like a good idea and I wasn’t too interested in real estate. So then what? I wanted something in that area, but more aimed at people than at objects. I was also interested in infrastructure, logistics, management, sociology, politics and area development. When I heard about urban planning every piece of the puzzle suddenly fell into place. I decided to go for it and have happily walked every step of the way. My passion for the field has only grown since.

Read. 

As a kid I always liked reading. All sorts of books I devoured. The classic Grimm fairytales, Astrid Lindgren, Roald Dahl and Dutch authors such as Tonke Dragt and later Thea Beckman, I loved them all. The richer the fantasies in the books, and the more alien the worlds in them, the more I liked them. Nowadays J.K. Rowling and Tolkien are my favourites.

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Write. 

It didn’t take long for me to discover how fun it can be to write. I have been doing things with poetry since I was about eight years old. In the final years of high school I had an IB-English course, which differs from the regular English classes. Text analysis of poems, prose and literature became daily routine. We also had to write a lot. Not just essays that explored the theoretical side of the course, but also creative pieces. This contributed a lot to my love for writing and the development of my (English) writing skills. 

It is in that period that I started working on a story line for my own book(s), but because I have always been busy with all kinds of things, I never got any further than a few short stories. It is, however, still one of my big dreams to finish it!

Discover. 

My parents took my to many corners of the world. In a campervan we have seen most of Europe. During many trips we were always on the road, so I have seen a lot of different places. When I got older I started to travel with friends. Now I am busy exploring the world, you can read more about that here.  To travel a lot, means to discover a lot. The more places I visited, the bigger my hunger became to see even more and learn more about those places.

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OTHER
FUN
FACTS
ABOUT
ME

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I grew up with music!
I started out playing the recorder and did that for three years. When I was eight, I started playing the French Horn. I still love it! Nowadays I play with a local orchestra in my hometown called Stedelijk Orkest Lebuïnus (SOL). 

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In high school I was part of the debating team. We did several competitions, amongst which the Dutch Championships. Even though my speaking skills have become a little rusty, I do still visit tournaments, mainly as a member of the jury for school teams.

My friends are really important to me. I love hanging out with them and having a good time. 

I recently bought a racing bike and fell in love with it. I like to cruise through the region and enjoy nature at the same time.

As someone who likes stories, I also like good movies and series. Favorite genre: fantasy.

At home I have two guinea-pigs, Boson en Quark (yup, really named after elementary particles) and a fish. My cat, Munchkin, still lives at my parents’ place.