Written By: Wytske Rijpkema

Hi Everyone,

My name is Wytske Rijpkema and I’m thrilled to be the new and first international intern at Pushing the Envelope. I was born in a small village in the north of the Netherlands, where I grew up on a farm with my father (who is a farmer), my mother and my brother and sisters. My father is used to working really hard and I respect that. My mom is a teacher in primary school. The school system in Holland differs from here. She teaches the fourth grade which consists of children ages seven to eight.

When I started University I moved to Groningen, which is another city in the north of the Netherlands. There I started studying for my bachelor of commerce degree. I was always amazed by advertising campaigns, social media and other communication channels, so that’s why I chose to study commerce and economics (specific fields: Marketing and Communications) at the Hanze University of Applied Science. In my first year, we had to create a magazine which turned out to be my favorite assignment as I love to do creative things.

I chose the minor: History, Culture and Language of the English speaking World, which is about the histories and culture of Britain, the USA and the most important countries within the Commonwealth. I also learned a great deal about their geographies and improved my English language skills. It was a sort of preparation to be able to do my internship in the United States of America.

For the next five months I will do my internship at Pushing the Envelope. I’m excited to become a professional in the field of marketing and communication at Pushing the Envelope. I think it will differ from the things I’ve learned so far in my classes. What makes it even more interesting is that I’ll be working in a whole other culture! I can already see a difference from the Dutch culture. For example: when you’re applying for a job in the United States, you have to send your resume. When we’re applying in the Netherlands we send our CV, which has a photo; gender and nationality on it.

I began my internship last Friday and was able to meet the whole PTE team. These are a group of lovely and experienced professionals and I’m sure I’ll have the most amazing time for the next five months.