First Day Butterflies

Anouk and I stayed at Jan Hendrik's Sunday night, and on Monday we commuted with him to Haarlem (about 45 minutes from Rotterdam when there's no "traffic jam") where Van Luyken's office is located. While on the way to work, I mentioned I had some butterflies about my first day. Jan Hendrik looked at me as if I was insane (it's not a translatable saying, apparently). We arrived at the office and the butterflies were soon gone - the office is nice, and everyone was very friendly and welcoming! It felt good to see a few Jackson Spalding reminders up on Anouk's wall, though.

Every Monday morning Van Luyken employees gather together to discuss the week's activities (kind of like Jackson Spalding's "Jump Start" meetings), so right away I got to meet all of my co-workers and learn a little bit about what everyone is working on. It was very interesting to hear how the work they do for Van Luyken clients is at once different and exactly the same as what we do at JS. Raoul Hoyng, one of Van Luyken's five partners (and also one of the two "Daily Board" bosses, meaning, he is holding term as the day-to-day leader of the firm at present) led the meeting. Along with Anouk and the others, he gave me a royal welcome, complete with my very own Holland football (soccer) shirt - a very orangey orange t-shirt featuring a lion on the front that you can pull up to ROAR! June 9 starts Holland's series of football games for the European Championship, and the games are a BIG deal here - orange flags and lions everywhere... Hup Holland Hup! (Pictured: Anne and the not-so-White Tiger!)

By the way, Gamecock fans, please don't worry. While the orange lion does heavily favor the mascot/color of the most hated of all collegiate teams, you know that my blood is garnet through and through. Just don't hold it against me for wearing orange while I'm in Holland!

Monday afternoon Jan Hendrik, Anne, Carolijn and I headed back to Rotterdam for a harbor cruise on the Maas River (Rotterdam has the world's largest port!) for their client NBZ Fonds. NBZ Fonds is a Dutch Shipping fund that aims to finance ships through leasing or mezzanine finance arrangements up to $5 million. The harbor cruise was a thank you event of sorts for current investors and an informational event for interested prospects (a great idea courtesy of Van Luyken brain power!). The ship left from near the Hotel New York -- once the headquarters for the Holland America shipping lines (now a nice hotel). I took some pictures and helped stuff and hand out out goody bags, and I got to know Anne a bit better. Another fabulous day!


Here's the ship - De Majesteit (a radar steam ship)

Hotel New York

The beautiful Erasmus Bridge -- named, of course, for the Dutch humanist.

Goody bag stuffing was serious business. As one friend put it: "How was your first day of hard work in Amsterdam? Was handing out goody bags on a boat all day in the summer in Europe as tough as it sounds?" It was, folks. It really was.