Oriflame Summer Internship

Week 6 in Tunisia - The final week before the presentation (about my project)

Publicerad 2017-02-10 01:42:00 i Denise in Tunisia

This week, 1st - 7th of August, was the final week before my project presentation, and I was even working during the weekend to get it ready. I had 10 project questions that I should answer, which all had to do with different working areas in Oriflame. I probably mentioned some of the questions before, but they were:
 
1. What is our e-profile?
2. How is our customer service online/offline?
3. How are we perceived by our consultants?
4. What training is needed for our customer service?
5. Do we need a CRM? 6. Is Aramex (a delivery company) losing business for us?
7. SWOT-analysis of the customer service
8. SWOT-analysis of Aramex
9. Which are the real problems that Oriflame Tunisia faces?
10. Recommendations and action plan
An afternoon/evening run the 2nd of August - to finish work and go for a run by the ocean like this... priceless
An afternoon/evening run the 2nd of August - to finish work and go for a run by the ocean like this... priceless
 
As you can see above, the questions are quite broad and can be solved in differrent ways. Today, I got many questions about my project, and I thought it would be good to describe it a bit more here at the blog, for people interested in applying for the Global Summer Internship - which I can strongly recommend.
 
When all of us interns (we were 5) presented in Stockholm, I was quite shocked, because everyone else only got one, two or maximum four questions to work with during the summer - there were both similar questions to mine and quite different, depending on what needed to be done and analyzed in the country and at the Oriflame office. With this said, all of us might have quite different experiences when it comes to working with our projects, and we also probably solved them in quite different ways.
 
Me, for example, was doing a lot of research, both online and offline, before I started. Some days I was with the sales team, some days in the warehouse, some days annoying the finance team and marketing team with my questions, and of course Jonas was always there for me if I needed any help or advices. I conducted a questionnairy online and offline, did an on-site visit to Aramex to understand more about their business and talk to the people in charge and a lot of other things. It was a lot of own responsibility, and by the end of the day - I was the only one responsible for what I had learned and accomplished when I finished work. For some people, this can be quite relaxing, not having a fixed schedule everyday. For other people challenging, not to get very clear guidelines and a lot of responsibility.
 
I'm very adaptable as a person, so for me it was fine. In the beginning, I remember that I could feel a bit shy and not 100 % sure of what I should look for always, but overall there was no problem at all. In the areas where I felt more insecure, I just did more research, and I also used my colleagues to discuss ideas - since they after all had been working at Oriflame much longer than me.
 
Beautiful beach in Kelibia during the weekend!
 
My presentation went very well, and it opened up for discussion, which was very positive. I presented for Jonas and all the managers. It was a bit nervous, since I was going to give feedback on all of their work and all of them are much more experiened in their field than me, not even comparable. But all of them are very nice, and they listened very carefully and were very interested in my findings and what I had to say. For almost each question, I also had an action plan and recommendation for the next steps, and it was great to see that this later led to something and that many of my recommendations actually were implemented later. By this said, I would claim that depending on how good the results of your project are ;-), you have to possibility to make a great impact and you feel quite proud when you see your recommendations implemented.
 
A bit funny thing, is that I was working with my presentation until after midnght at the office the night before - and managed to get locked in! Apparently, there was supposed to be a security guard, but after have been shouting a bit and still wasn't able to find him downstairs by the entrance, I decided to sleep on the floor (...) 3 AM, since I was also afraid to set off an alarm or something similar. I woke up 40 minutes later, by the security man, who then told me to sleep on his "bed" made up by two small couches, since it was "too dangerous" for me to go out 4 AM. I took a taxi back home at 7 PM, got some sleep in my bed, and had my presentation at 2 PM as planned.
 
I don't exaggerate, when I'm saying that I had a really good night's sleep after my presentation! ;-)
 
During the weekend, me and Safa, Rami and their friends, were renting a house in Kelibia - also with very beautiful beaches! We spent a really good weekend, the last week of my internship. Safa and I spent literally every day of the summer during my internship together - and I have a lot her to thank to why my summer was so great! She got me to meet her friends, inviting me to her home, we went shopping together, taking teas... A really good new best friend.
Amine in Kelibia, cleaning the fish for an upcoming very delicious meal!
Beautiful scenery on our way back home the 14th of August, sitting in the car and singing songs, tired and happy after a great weekend.
 
The days after my presentation, I was sitting down with people responsible for the areas in which I had given recommendations, and we were looking on how we could change things and take new initiatives. Now after my internship is over, I know that what I did made an impact and I have seen some of the changes myself, for example regarding Oriflame Tunisia's e-profile, which I was doing a quite throughout job to analyze and come with future recommendations.
 
I will write more about my internship experience in the other post! I had an amazing experience with Oriflame from the start to the end, and could not have been more happy with my internship. 
 
 
Bisous,
Denise
 
 

Week 5 in Tunisia - A late continuation, but better late than never!

Publicerad 2017-02-10 00:47:00 i Denise in Tunisia

Dear all,
 
What can I say? With my latest blog post published the 27th of July 2016, and today being Thursday 9th of February 2017... Well, at least I can say - and I hope that you agree - that better late than never! I surely have been wanting to make an update and fair conclusion of how the best summer of my life ended, and after seeing dear people from Oriflame today at the Stockholm School of Economics' student fair Handelsdagarna (today, it was exactly one year ago since I met with Oriflame at Handelsdagarna and first heard about the Global Summer Internship) I felt so inspired and happy, so I couldn't just keep me from finally updating.
 
First of all, I want to say that I definitely have had my fair share of adventures in my life. The latest summer I spent in Sweden was in 2010 and since then, I was spending my summer in Ukraine in 2011, Moscow in 2012, backpacking in Southeast in 2013, in Vietnam/China/Thailand in 2014 and in Vietnam in 2015. I've had such an amazing life and seen so much, and with this said, I still must say that the best summer in my life i spent in Tunisia in 2016 - thank you Oriflame! 
 
But, if we rewind the tape a bit, please let me just sum up what happened from the 27th of July to the 15th of August, when my internship ended:
 
The before project presentation stress (I was going to present the result of my project the 9th of August, to later have time for implementation and execution) set in, and the upcoming 13 days after my latest post, I was quite busy with summing up and analyzing all the data that I've got in, e.g. from the customer service survey, go through the couple of thousands of customer service e-mail that had gotten in for July - and other "small" things, which's time I had perhaps underestimated a bit. 
 
Me and Jonas eating lunch outside of the office the 27th of July
Some of my amazing colleagues at Oriflame Tunisia - such funny, intelligent and warm people!
The always busy street in Sidi Bou Saïd - I was living at the bottom of this street and always running up for this street when it was empty in the mornings
 
During the weekend, my colleague and friend Ons invited me to her home city Madhia, which is famous in Tunisia for it's beauty - and I couldn't other than agree. I spent an amazing weekend with Ons and her family, they had a really gorgeous villa just by the ocean, invited me to eat really delicious food and her brother Khalil also helped to show me around in Madhia. Definitely a city I can recommend you to go to!
 
Amazing view in Madhia
The best view belongs to the dead - the first time in my life that I have seen a graveyard located just by the ocean
 
One of all the gorgeous cafés in Tunisia
I was at my 2nd Tunisian wedding in 2 weeks - a very luxurous feeling and quite different from Swedish weddings - but a bit similar to Vietnamese and Chinese!
 
My 5th week in Tunisia also offered many new impressions and adventures, and I'm so happy that I got the chance to see even more of the country. I will continue week 6 in another blog post - I realized when I looked through the photos, that there are a lot of things that need to be summed up!
 
A tout,
Denise

Week 5 in Tunisia - Customer Service, Arabic lessons and Tunisian Wedding

Publicerad 2016-07-27 01:52:00 i Denise in Tunisia

Hi all!
 
Finally an update from beautiful Tunisia! My fifth week has just come to its end, meaning that I have been at Oriflame Tunisia for about a month now. I can still remember how slightly nervous I was before my first day and the time when I actually did Ramadan light here (only drinking, no eating before 7.43 PM) and it certainly feels like another era here.
 
My days at the office nowadays start at 9 AM and I finish around 4.30 PM. Even though I have my own project and questions that need to be answered, I always have more than 40 colleagues who are always ready and there to answer any question about the company that I might have. Especially the management team (Marketing, Sales, Operations and Finance) is a great support for me, and the last week I had a lot of discussions with Emira, who is head of Marketing. I really enjoy how I can see how things that are being discussed actually getting executed - and that quite fast - at Oriflame Tunisia. I like how I can discuss my ideas with the management team, and know that I could actually - with permission of course - try some of them and get literally practical experience, instead of just be a little, tiny part of something which's result I would never get to see with my own eyes. That, I would say, is absolutely one of the most fun things with my internship at Oriflame, and something I believe that few companies can offer an intern.
 
Oriflame ground floor
 
So - last week was spent with the customer service, cashiers, in the warehouse and by interviewing all the staff at Oriflame Tunisia, since one of the questions I have is how we perceive ourselves. Another example of one of my tasks is to do a SWOT analysis and several questions about customer service; how the consultants perceive us, what we can do better, online/offline etc.. That is why a great part of last week also went to collecting material for my questionnaire, make it and to translate it into French (not the best of the languages I speak, even though it has become significantly better here).
 
Me (in front of my computer) with Marwa who is responsible for claims on phone and of the walk-in customer service at the ground floor - it is important for me to take my own initatives and not be shy to talk with people and ask them to tell me about what they are doing and ask questions
 
There was a total of 6 people coming with feedback and who wanted to make certain changes, until I finally (!) launched it today. It is the first questionnaire that Oriflame Tunisia hands out to its consultants, so it is very important that everything is just.... perfect. And it of course feels great to have been trusted with the responsibilty to create that one, make sure to collect enough answers and to analyze it :-)
 
I feel quite relieved now that the questionnaire is launched both online and offline, which means that I can focus on collecting answers and doing more analysis during the week - and prepare for my presentation. Deadline and presenation is next Friday. I know I wrote in the beginning that I would try to finish in a couple of weeks - but I realized quite fast that this kind of project you do better if you do it really profoundly, and that there is always more that can be done and more material that can be collected.
 
The guys working within the operations team in the warehouse - super friendly and always taking good care of me when I'm visiting/disturbing to ask them about everything from how the back office process works to what they think are the company's greatest strenghts and threaths ;-)
 
Outside of work, I have been taking standard Arabic lessons - and am proud to announce that I now know the alphabet and can read and write (!!!) - at an 8 year old's level then, of course. It's an amazing feeling when all these strange Arabic letters turn into something that finally makes sense. I did military service as interpreter and interrogator in Russian before, and have always been curious about the challenge that those who studied Arabic faced (there was always an argument, and still is, which language that was hardest to study, since we were eliminated if we didn't pass the weekly exams and always had 400 - 600 new words and grammar/week). I still know a bit too little about Arabic to compare with Russian, but I can say for sure that Mandarin Chinese (which I studied when I lived in China) is way more complicated to write and also harder to pronounce and speak anyway. So there you go, all fellow polyglots out there who must have wondered! ;-)
 
During the weekend I went with Safa and her fiance Rami to Safa's cousin's wedding in Nabeul and also swimming in Hammamet. Yesterday was fortunate enough a national holiday, so then we went to one of their close friends' engagement celebration, which was really nice and actually more like a pool party - Tunisia keeps surprising ;-)
 
The bride and her family enters
 
 
Me, Safa (MD assistant at Oriflame who really has become my best friend here in Tunisia) and her brother (who could be her twin) and her fiancé Rami (who then probably has become my second best friend in Tunisia) at the wedding on Saturday
 
On the beach in Hammamet, during my Sunday run
 
Tunisia is keeping to treat me well, which is due to a great internship and kind and amazing people who are "taking care" of me outside of work. I couldn't have had a better internship, and I realized today at the management meeting, how much I actually know and understand about Oriflame now, that I didn't when I started - and how I also have started to really care about the company.
 
Hope you guys enjoyed my small update (which takes longer than you think!), and that you keep having an amazing summer.
 
All the best and bisous from Tunisia,
Denise

Week 4 in Tunisia - First week after Ramadan

Publicerad 2016-07-14 23:58:50 i Denise in Tunisia

Hi all! Update from Tunisia!
 
This week has been the first one after Ramadan and I can both feel and see the difference. At the office, people are even happier than before and the working hours are now longer than under Ramadan. Before when I had lunch I could sometimes feel very guilty, as I was the only one eating (openly, anyway), but now it can be crowded in the kitchen and people seem to have even more energy to work.
 
As I have mentioned, the main focus of my project is customer service, why it is important that I understand the whole process when it comes to claims, how the existing customer service works and that I do a lot of research myself for solutions and opportunities. I spent the whole Monday in the warehouse where all the products are stored. Consultants come to Oriflame to pick up and pay for their products that they later will sell, and Oriflame is also sending out products for Home Delivery and to SPO:s (Service Point Oriflame) around Tunisia. On Tuesday I was sitting with Rahma and Ines at the customer service desk the whole day, observing and learning. Yesteray and today I have been doing a lot of research myself, and been talking to more people at the office to get a clear understanding of things.
 
Me and Emira, Head of Marketing, today talking about different promotion strategies
 
I think it's going on good with the project, and I like that I need to be creative and very self-going when it comes to how I will get to the answer of things. At the same time, I have great support in all of my colleagues at the office, who I really have started to like after almost 3 weeks working.
 
Farewell for Senda who has been working in the sales team at Oriflame Tunisia
 
Today before we went home for the day, everyone gathered to say goodbye to an employee named Senda, who had her last day at Oriflame. Everyone was one by one giving her his/her best wishes for the future and you could really feel how warm people were. Having my Oriflame-email, I also receive goodbye-mails from people who of different reasons will finish their time at Oriflame, sent to many if not all Oriflame employees over the world. I think it's amazing to see how many people that seem to be so thankful and happy for their time at the company, and I can imagine that Oriflame is just such a company where previous colleagues actually keep contact with each other even afterwords.
 
Hope all is great with all of you - can't believe it's the 14th of July and that I left Stockholm the 15th of June. Time surely passes fast when you're having a great time.
 
Bisous,
Denise

Oriflame products

Publicerad 2016-07-09 16:25:00 i Denise in Tunisia

Since I've been writing about Oriflame here in most of the updates, I think you already know that I'm very positive to the company, to my colleagues and to my Global Summer Internship here. Something else I could write about, is that I have actually met mothers of friends who are Oriflame consultants - which really puts a face on that "ordinary woman" who sells Oriflame products to inrease here income, besides of doing housework and taking care of the family, for example. It really makes me happy that women, through Oriflame, get a possibility to become more independent and also work with selling products that interests them.
 
About the Oriflame products, I basically just use Oriflame right now - from skin care, makeup, hair products to perfumes. Therefore, I will now upload a selfie so you can judge for yourself ;-)
 
 
I really like the products, and no one has said that I have to write about this. I'm using so much of the Oriflame products right now, and have planned to buy with me even more before my internship is over. On the photo and on a regular daily basis, I use the powder, bronzing powder (really good with bronzing pearls which looks very natural, like a conturing and bronzing in one), mascara (from TheOne, it's really good for my short eyelashes), eyeshadow and eyeliner. I will photo the products and upload here, of Oriflame's products there are different "serials" and product lines.
 
Actually, felt so relieaved when I tried the products and really, really liked them - I don't really believe in working for something, or selling something, you don't believe in. That mostly don't work out very well ;-) So yes - I can honestly say that I like Oriflame in many aspects, the products, the focus on people in the company and CSR work contributing to that!
 
The rest of the weekend I will just enjoy, so I can give 100 % on Monday. Today I've been chilling at home, gonna workout in a bit and then clean here, since Safa, Rami and their friends are coming over in a couple of hours before we're going to a pool party here (gonna be quite interesting). Tomorrow will probably be some Tunisian studies on the beah (Tunisian is actually quite easy to learn, I must say), finishing some work and then kickboxing in the evening and dinner. And yes - I know I'm very lucky to have this kind of internship :-)
 
Bisous from Tunisia!
Denise
 

Week 3 in Tunisia - End of Ramadan

Publicerad 2016-07-09 16:12:00 i Denise in Tunisia

Hello from Tunisia!
 
How is everyone doing? Here in Tunisia everything is just fine and the weather is as beatuiful as always. This week  we have been having days off Wednesday, Thursday and Friday because of the end of Ramadan. I went with some people to Hammamet again, swimming and having a good time. Got back yesterday evening and now it's already Saturday!
 
This is already my third week and even though I really had time to experience both the country and get well started with my project, I must say that time really flies - as always, when you're having a great time. I barely don't event remember what I expected before I came here, or if I even had time to reflect so much during everyday life in Stockholm with university, studies, daily kickboxing trainings, part time job and other things...
 
Since I have been living in four different countries the latest four years (Russia, China, Thailand and Vietnam), I'm quite used to just go with the flow, live for the moment and make the most out of my time when I'm at a certain place. I know there will come a day when I will leave, and I know there will come a day when I will be at another place, but wherever I am in the world - I tend to just focus on that and get 100 % out of the experience. Something I really regret during all these years abroad, experiencing new cultures, learning new languages and getting friends with very diverse backgrounds, is that I didn't share more with people in Sweden at social medias, so people would have an understanding of what I have been doing - four years traveling the world is a long time!
 
Some reflections from Tunisia anyway so far:
 
1. Dress code - during Ramadan, yes, girls should cover themselves more, basically meaning wearing something which went down over the knees. In reality, I although spotted some girls in quite short shorts and guys were walking around on the street in swimming trousers and barechested anyway. Now Ramadan just finished, but after have going out at a club here last night, I can say that people dress exactly like in Spain for example, when going out.
 
2. Dangerous - I live literally 10 m away from the police station, in a "richer" area just 30 m from the big tourist street, which is one of the highlights when tours are arranged for tourists. I live 200 m from the small supermarket, and it takes me maxiumum 10 min to run to the beach (I don't like walking). With this said, I know that I'm in a priviliged, expat situation here, and have therefore no reasons to feel unsafe where I live. I have never felt unsafe in any country where I have lived, but if I would compare it to for example India, where I felt I had to be covered (now we're talking Indian clothes covered) all the time and didn't leave the hotel after 9 PM because it was dark and unknown - it's not even comparable. There are policemen at all crowded places and the atmosphere is good and warm.
 
3. Being a foreigner - Speaking for myself, most people here in Sidi Bou Saïd where I live (which is quite small, maye 400 people where everyone knows everyone) see me when I'm running up for the very steep street here, up to the view over the ocean where I usually take photos. On that street, there are a lot of small shops and coffee places. As in many other countries except from Sweden ;-) it can be a bit unusual to see a girl working out, especially so often and so intense that I do. Speaking of own experiene, I also know that Asian girls don't work out so much, and I've been told that the only experience people have here of Asians, are that they are very pale-skinned, take a lot of photos and don't work out - not when the peopel here have seen them anyway. With this said, I'm quite a rare sight in many Tunisians eyes, and 100 % of all the people are very curious of where I'm from. I'm apparently "known" at the "Japonaise" here and people often call me on the street, not in a bad way. As I have written before, most Tunisians are very friendly, welcoming, warm and really like tourists. As a foreigner, you are therefore well treated.
 
4. Tunisian guys - since some of my friends ask. Unknown guys can be quite pushy sometimes, as I've experienced in southern France and Spain for example. I would although say that it's better here, and if I'm getting annoyed, most guys go away. Flirting with girls on the street and when siting in cars is although way too common here, the main reason to why I'm always listening to music while I'm running and rarely have eyecontact with anyone - most girls will understand me on this. I would say both girls and guys feel more European here than in Russia or Asia for example, and Tunisia is from what I've heard the most open Arab country - which I could basically agree with, even though this is the first Arab country I visit.
 
In the future, I will update here a little bit more seldom, not every day like before. I know that a lot of you reading are on summer holiday anyway, and that your time spent reading all of this is limited ;-)
 
Wish you all a great continuation of the summer!
 
Denise
 

Day 19 in Tunisia - Monday

Publicerad 2016-07-05 17:10:07 i Denise in Tunisia

Hello!
 
Good day at work today - it's quite calm now before the end of Ramadan - and I've been working with my project. They have a lot to do in the warehouse and at customer service right now, why I'm still focusing on customer service online, and will do offline in the beginning of next week. Feels OK, even if I would have liked to get started already this week and learn more about the process and how it works here!
 
Morning run as usual - I hear day by day that I get more "bronzée", and I'm not completely sure wether it's good or not...!
People selling turkish ice-cream (?) on the street and doing tricks right next to us
 
In the evening I met up with Safa and we were sitting in Sidi Bou Saïd and had a coffee, enjoying one of the last evenings of Ramadan. It's actually a bit crazy that I haven't experienced Tunisia without Ramadan yet! This week will by the way be very short workwise - just Monday and Tuesday. Ramadan ends on Wednesday and then it's family time - so I guess I'll have a lot of time to spend by myself then, haha ;-)
 
Wishing you all a great start of a new week!
 
Denise
 
 

Day 18 in Tunisia - Bronzing and boxing

Publicerad 2016-07-05 16:58:01 i Denise in Tunisia

Happy Sunday!
 
On Sunday I went for a long run, was hanging out on the beach and did some work at home. In the afternoon, I went fo a private boxing/kickboxing lesson with a private trainer at the boxing club I visited before. It was really good, and I got quite tired after a whole day in the sun. After that I joined the group training for 1 hour, which was mostly hit on the bag, cardio and some abs strength in the end. A good club, I will definitely come back!
 
My every day downhill, which then turns to an uphill
 
Hope you all had a great Sunday!
 
Denise
 
 

Day 17 in Tunisia - A whole day in Hammamet

Publicerad 2016-07-03 22:12:00 i Denise in Tunisia

Hello hello!
 
On Saturday I went to Hammamet, 1,5 hours from Tunis, very close to Nabeul where Safa's family lives where I was last weekend, with some new friends from here. We started 11 AM and came back around 7 PM, so it was a long and fun day! The water was just perfect with a lot of waves, although with a very strong current - which you could have fun in if you don't go to far outside.
 
There were a lot of hotels, a port, tourist shops, a whole street with restaurants and a kilometer long beach with water parachutes, wakeboard, banana tubes and other fun things. Because of Ramadan and a great lack of tourists, it was basically empty. I get a bit sad every time I come to such beautfiul places, perfect for vacation, and think about how many people (in Sweden for example) who are afraid to come here. And now I'm not talking about wild backpacking to random areas, but about just normal touristic places. 
 
 
 
 
A great day and I hope there are many more like this to come!
 
Bisous,
Denise

Day 16 in Tunisia - Cakes, customer service and nice restaurants

Publicerad 2016-07-03 21:54:00 i Denise in Tunisia

Hi all!
 
As some of you might have noticed, I'm getting a bit bad at updating every day when it gets closer to the weekend. So here, 3 days in a row - update from Tunisia!
 
This day was the first without having Jonas on the office, which felt a bit strange. We will have contact and I'll update him regularly anyway, but it has been nice to have him at the office, and to have a chat to and from work, so he will definitely be missed. But I'll carry on, as the only Swede at Oriflame Tunisia now!
 
Today I have been both in the warehouse and then sitting with customer service at Oriflame. The point is that I will learn everything in the claims chain and how the customer service works. They were unfortunately super super busy, so I'll come back again more times next week, probably even spend most of the week there. Basically everyone who work in the warehouse and at CS only speak English, but French, and I must say that I feel really glad that I have had a couple of weeks to practice my French by now. Amazing how fast it goes with languages when you're in the right environment!
 
 
Today something really funny (or well...) happened at the office - there were two big cakes in the fridge left from the staff party on Wednesday. I usually just drink during the day because of Ramadan, but basically all of my colleagues at Oriflame are doing Ramadan; meaning, not drinking/eating until 7.43 PM. Therefore, I felt super privileged when I took a piece (the first) of one of the cakes during the morning - to see that basically both of them were finished by the end of the day! We all had a great laugh when I noticed it. Apparently people are getting more and more in cheating mode by the end of Ramadan! ;-) It ends on Wednesday by the way, with a great 2 day celebration.
 After work. I went to eat with Emira who is Head of Marketing, at a really nice restaurant by the water. Apparently, the chef had been working in Paris for many years, and had now come back to Tunisia to open his own restaruant. The food was delicious, and I ate way too much as usually...
In the evening we went to do some shopping and I had a really nice evening with Emira, who also surprised me when she told me that she had lived in Paris whole her life, before she moved to Tunisia 5 years ago. I really like when you think that you have a more or less good understanding of a person, and they surprise you.
 
Bisous,
Denise
 
 
 
 
 

Day 15 in Tunisia - The most important things in life aren't things

Publicerad 2016-07-01 11:48:53 i Denise in Tunisia

Bonsoir bonsoir!
 
Today I've been feeling much better and had a productive day at the office. I've been focusing most on the customer service online, at social medias and our website for example, and started yesterday to focus more on it offline. Oriflame is a company which really cares about people, and that goes out all the way from the employees, consultants to customers! One of the reasons why it feels valuable for me to focus on customer service.
 
Later on, I will be spending more time with the CS team, create online surveys and also talk to consultants to collect their impression, and finally have enough understanding to make an analysis and come up with conclusions and possible solutions. I admit I thought I could do everything quite fast(er) in the beginning of the week, but I realized that this is a big project which I really do need time to focus on. As with everything else - it's hard to understand what's good/bad, working well/not so well, if you don't have a good understanding of what really is good/bad and how things work. As everything is relevant, what does the competition look like and what does Oriflame do better/different? And will something that works in another country work as well in Tunisia? How many people use the different social medias, how do they use them and how do people behave here? A lot of questions that need to be answer in order to make a good job, which I'm determined to do!
 
Khaled and me! Khaled has a great interest in Russia, so when he is teaching me some Tunisian, I teach him some Russian.
 
After I got home I went for a run around 5.30 PM and did some workout as usual. Don't feel 100 % yet, but I hope it will get better. A really sweet thing happened when I was sitting and reading articles and doing sit-ups by the beach - a boy came forward and started to speak with me in Tunisian and wanted to take a photo with me, with my phone. After we had taken the photo, he said "Merci", then kissed me on the cheek and ran away, blushing. So cute!
 
I get quite a lot of interactions from people here in Tunisia, which I believe has to do mostly with that people like tourists, that I look different and that I do sports. Even if it feels strange sometimes (especially on the beach when I'm swimming) to take photos with people, I don't really mind it. When I lived in Asia, especially in China, people were so fascinated about Westerners because of their "white skin", "high nosebone", "double eyelids" and fair hair, and always wanted to take photos. I think it's nice that people can appreciate differences in our appearences, and find what's beautiful in our different features. If people want to take photos with me because they think I look exotic, I can deal with feeling a bit uncomofortable if it makes them happy.
Sunset 7.30 PM - can't get enough of this view
 
About clothes in Tunisia, that is another question that people from back home have asked me about. I thought that you had to be completely covered, like in India, and actually didn't bring much clothes from back home, since I thought that I would buy and wear the traditonal Tunisian clothes (which no one is wearing except for during celebrations, by the way). Where I live in Sidi Bou Saïd (and La Marsa) I have seen a lot of people with quite short shorts and dressed, even though it's Ramadan, and then people are even supposed to tone down their dressing style a bit. Apparently things will change a lot after Ramadan; clubs will open, there will be more people in the streets all the time and not only after 10 PM, and people will dress differently. I will therefore wait a bit to comment if people really dress like in Europe here, but as for me, I basically don't feel restricted at all.
 
I keep looking forward to learn more about this country and its people. I basically only spend time with Tunisians at and outside of work, and I really enjoy it and feel that I learn a lot from it. The world is really a big place, but the more you travel and see, the more you realize how similar people are and as someone at Oriflame wrote today; the most important things in life aren't things.
 
Warm regards from Tunisia!
Denise
 
 

Day 14 in Tunisia - Staff Iftar

Publicerad 2016-06-30 13:02:00 i Denise in Tunisia

Good day!
 
Yesterday proceeded au Ramadan-style from 9 AM - 4.30 PM at the office, working on my project. It's really nice with an open working space. My colleagues are very open, friendly and willing to answer all my different questions - which mainly have to do with the e-profile and customer service at the moment. It feels like a very relevant topic, and I learn a lot while researching more and getting a deeper understanding of the different challenges and solutions to problems.
It was quite hot yesterday, about 35 degrees, so thankful for that the air condition was working
 
After the office, I got home and rested a bit - as I wrote before I think I drank some bad water here, wasn't really feeling 100 % yesterday... Was thinking about forcing myself to go for a run before the dinner for the Oriflame staff later at 7 PM, but went to the beach in Sidi Bou Saïd and had an afternoon swim with a friend instead. I can totally live with this work/life-balance ;-)
Staff Iftar (something you celebrate after Ramadan) at Jonas' gorgeous villa in the evening
 
During the evening it was Staff Iftar (a feast you celebrate to finish the end of Ramadan) at Jonas' beautiful place and all of the staff except for one was there, some with their children, friends and spouses. Very nice to see everyone outside of the office, especially since I have my desk at the 3rd floor (Oriflame has a ground floor for cashiers, consultants, customer service and warehouse and the 2nd floor for the Sales Team, the 3rd floor management team among others) and don't see some of the staff a lot.
Safa and Jonas - MD & Management Assistant and MD - both of them great!
A majority of Oriflame Tunisia's Management Team! Beautiful and friendly women and colleagues.
 
Safa has really become a really good friend and colleague here - can't imagine Tunisia without her!
 
After the dinner, which was delicious au Tunisian style, there was some dancing, photographing, fruits and dessert. Jonas is unfortunately leaving on vacation tomorrow, and so the flowers shouldn't go to waste, me and Safa both got a big bouquet of beautiful flowers with us home. A great evening, which ended with a nice night walk in Sidi Bou Saïd for me and Safa.
 
Hope you all had just as a great day and are enjoying the last days of June! (Where did this month go??!)
 
Denise

Day 13 in Tunisia - Long day at the office

Publicerad 2016-06-30 10:50:00 i Denise in Tunisia

Hello!
 
New week and it defnitely feels like a new era has started here, which is both good and worse. This super excited feeling I had when I just got here has calmed down a bit, and I'm now embracing the fact that I know what to do, where to go and how life is here more. I know my colleagues better and I feel and act more relaxed. I take my everyday runs, I eat more or less the same food that I like and don't get as amazed by the spectacular views, beaches and landscapes here as I did the first week, so I have to photo capture completely everything. Welcome to everyday life!
Today has been a long day at the office working with my project. Most people left around 4 PM (Ramadan), but I decided to stay a bit longer to feel more or less satisfied when I left - you can always do more, right?! ;-)
 
Went to the small supermarket where I live and bought my ordinary lemon juice, talked to the guy who usually stands where I buy my juice and actually met a friend's friend in the store (first signs of that you're start to being a local, right?) and then met up with another friend later. Felt quite tired today actually, I think I unfortunately drank some bad water yesterday, so didn't go for a run for the first time ever. Met up with a friend later and had was driving around and having a walk in Sidi Bou Saïd. 
 
Soon sunset after work at one of my favorite places!
There are plenty of cats everywhere here - feels like I'm in heaven
Around 7.20 PM before everybody hurries home and start to eat!
 
I hope I'll feel better tomorrow - first day that I didn't work out here actually... feels a little bit lazy ;-)
 
Hope you all had a great day! 
Denise

Day 12 in Tunisia - Project gets started

Publicerad 2016-06-28 00:04:00 i Denise in Tunisia

Hi all!
 
It's 10.46 PM in Tunis and I'm sitting and updating this blog and studying some Tunisian Arabic. I will start my lessons this week, but study Arabic (no Tunisian dialect) why I thought it would be good to get started with the Tunisian dialect as well, which is quite different from traditional Arabic in certain ways. After a couple of days of vacation and then the intro week last week, it feels exciting to finally start with my project at Oriflame and to focus more on work/studies.
 
I am really glad I got to have a soft start when I got here, and hopefully I will do an even better job now working on my project - when I both understand Oriflame and the business in Tunisia more, and don't have to focus on basic things such as where to buy my food etc..
 
My project is focused on mainly Customer Service, and I have been given certain questions that need to be answered and analyzed. I will work very independently, with weekly guiding from the management team, which will be an interesting challenge for me, but I feel excited and determined to take on. I will present my analysis in the beginning of August, and will get more tasks if I finish earlier with the one I got today - I am aiming to fulfill it way before deadline ;-)
 
Some pictures from yesterday:
Got to know a cabin crew group from Qatar Airways yesterday, with whom I had dinner with at this restaurant in Sidi Bou Saïd. The pilot (to the left) told me he has been to more than 100 countries! #lifegoals
 
Now I'm super tired and will soon go to bed. This week I will focus on getting as much as possible done with the project, and probably spend longer days at the office. Time to get to work! Talked to many of my friends who are having internship at banks in London, and it's the same thing there - last week was intro week, now time to deliver.
 
Sweet dreams!
 
Denise

Day 10 & 11 in Tunisia - Nabeul and relaxed Sunday

Publicerad 2016-06-27 23:42:00 i Denise in Tunisia

During the Saturday I went with Safa, Rami and Rami's mother to Safa's house in a city called Nabeul, about 1,5 hour away from Tunis. I haven't eaten so much food for at least over one year! Since I am doing a bit of "Ramadan light" (often not eating in the day, just drinking, before 7.40 PM), I was super hungry. Safa's whole family was there; brothers, sisters, nieces, parents... Before we could start eating a bell rang, and then it was constant eating for one hour.
 
Amazing colors, apparently typical Tunisian
Safa's mother had been cooking for hours before we came. She then changed the spoon I was eating with, because she thought I should have the nicest one. True hospitality!
Safa's three brothers and Rami and me
 Dinner ready!
After the dinner it was first fruit as dessert, then Tunisian dessert (Tunisian cakes with coffee) and finally... this. The final (!) dessert made by 99% sugar.
 
In the evening we girls/women took a walk in Nabeul center, which was crowded around 11 PM. I don't know if I have ever been so full in my entire life, and it was hard to keep my eyes open in the car on our way back to Tunis later...
 
Yesterday, Sunday, was a complete relax day. I slept long, went for a run in the morning, went swimming, Skyped with my parents and went for dinner in the evening. Took care of things that needed to be taken care of and prepared for Monday.
 
Overall - a great weekend in Tunis! Can't believe I've only been here for 11 days - it feels way longer.

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On this blog you can follow some of the Oriflame Global Summer Interns who have been selected for their passion, creativity and energy to complete exciting strategic projects in one of our locations around the world. This summer we will follow Emilia Bryngelsson, who is doing her summer internship in Istanbul and Anton Ekman who will be working in Moscow. Feel Inspired? Do you want to dare yourself and take the leap out in the Oriflame world ? Be on the lookout on our corporate site when applications for Global Summer Internship 2018 opens up in December!

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