About Wendy!

Cześć! / Hi! / Hoi!

Now that you've met Avtandil, Jose, Julia and Umur, it's time to introduce the newest member of our current MLC team: me! :)

My name is Wendy and I'm from the Netherlands. I grew up in Ossendrecht, a pretty small village in the south of the Netherlands, close to Antwerp in Belgium, but when I was 18 I moved to Amsterdam - or actually, to a town almost surrounded by Amsterdam, named Diemen - in order to study Linguistics at the University of Amsterdam. In my final year of Linguistics, I chose 'Second Language Acquisition' as my minor, and this topic really caught my attention (and my heart, in a way). How do people learn a new language? What helps them in the process, and what doesn't? Is there a formula for instant language learning success? …Loads of questions that could impossibly all be answered in just one small minor, so after I finished Linguistics I studied 'Dutch as a Second Language', and I got my MA-degree in July 2014.

In the meantime, my love for different cultures and languages found other ways of expression. I worked for Vluchtelingenwerk Bergen op Zoom (a NGO that offers practical support to refugees and asylum-seekers), as a volunteer, and from 2012 until 2015 I worked for a publisher, creating lesson materials for people who want or have to learn Dutch. These jobs gave me the opportunity to meet other cultures while staying in the Netherlands, but eventually I wanted to be a bit more adventurous. So in 2013 I traveled through Central-Europe for 3 weeks, on my own. (Back then, I was in Wrocław for two nights!) And last year I went to Slovenia and Croatia. Yes, the famous travel bug bit me!

Thus, on one hand there's a passion for languages and on the other an obsession with meeting other cultures – what more do you need to join the Multicultural Language Cafe? Well, at least one more thing: you need to become an EVS-volunteer! 

On Friday the first of May I arrived in Wrocław and right now, after only ten days, I have to admit I feel overwhelmed by all the new experiences – living in a shared apartment, in a Polish city, speaking English on a daily basis, slowly learning Polish (it’s so difficult!), working for Semper Avanti and the MLC as an EVS-volunteer, getting to know people from many different countries, making friends for life (or just for one party)… Overwhelming, for sure, but in a very good, instructive and enriching way. I’m really glad I’m here, and hopefully the next 9 months will be as amazing as the first ten days.

Na razie! / See you later! / Tot de volgende!