Oriflame Summer Internship

Day 4 in Tunisia - Last day of vacation

Publicerad 2016-06-19 23:56:00 i Denise in Tunisia

Good evening!
 
It is 22.38 PM here in Tunis and the children are singing songs and playing football on the street. I just brushed my teeth and got ready for bed - tomorrow vacation is over, and it's time to get to work!
 
This day started off as great as always - I woke up 9 AM and then went out for my regular long run. The latest days I've run 20 km each day, this morning I only had time for 15 km. Sidi Bou Saïd where I live is located a bit up on a hill, and I ran back to the same beach quite below it as I ran to yesterday. During the night it was actually raining and thundering a lot, so today the water was even clearer than it usually is. The weather was also a bit cooler and actually some clouds in the sky!
 
The inclining tourist road I run up for every day - actually a lot of tourists today!
This view is absolutely priceless... and meets me every time I have run up for the long, inclining touristic road. So worth it! The beach I ran to today is what you can see below, but more to the right. 
The water was extremely blue today, just had to take a photo!
 
By 1 PM I met up with some other Swedes and expates here in Tunis to go to a beach further aways, unfortunately had to take a taxi back on the way when I realized that it was 2 hours away and it would be hard for me to make it to the dinner with my boss Jonas at Oriflame this evening. But there will be other opportunities for excursions!
 
I came back from the dinner with Jonas about one hour ago, we had a nice drive in Tunis and he showed me around a bit and ate at an Italian restaurant. It was really nice to talk with him about career paths and his experience at Oriflame, which was really positive. I will have a project that I will work on, to start off with, and it seems like I will get a really good understanding about the different roles and tasks at Oriflame during my internship. It definitely seems like I'm going to have things to do anyway! ;-)
 
Over and out, hope you guys all had a great weekend! As you may understand judging by my photos - I'm not really having a hard time to survive over here... 
 
Sweet dreams,
Denise
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Day 3 in Tunisia - A relaxed day with beautiful views

Publicerad 2016-06-19 01:06:00 i Denise in Tunisia

Good evening!
 
Today I went out for another long run and explored more in Sidi Bou Saïd. I think it's around 34 degrees, and actually not too hot in the wind. Tunis has a lot of hills, so it's great training to run up and down - and a nice view who waits for the one who is enudrant enough!
The street where I live, I live to the right just where the stair goes up
A lot of people (mostly guys and men) are on the beach playing football and swim, but it was still not crowded. There are very few tourists here in Tunis and it's very seldom that I see many foreigners here. Today has also been my first day swimming in Tunisia!
 I was supposed to meet Taher from Oriflame to go for a coffee this evening, but it was actually raining (!) a bit a couple of hours ago, so we decided to stay home. Because of Ramadan, many places open up around 9 PM. It actually feels good to have an evening home as well, and take care of things and just relax - probably 2 hour running in the middle of the day and to the beach also contributes to that!
 
Tomorrow I will go to a new beach with some Swedes who are here in Tunis and later have dinner with Jonas, my boss at Oriflame, who is flying from Sweden tomorrow. It's gonna be interesting to hear about his experience with Oriflame here in Tunis and also get to know more about the projects I will be working at the upcoming weeks!
 
Good night and sweet dreams!
 
Denise
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Day 2 in Tunisia - Running and exploring

Publicerad 2016-06-18 17:22:00 i Denise in Tunisia

Bonjour le blog!
 
Sorry for no update yesterday. Everything is great here, except for that the internet could be a bit faster. I have gone crazy maybe 40 times since I got here, because it takes so long time to upload photos and even get into the page where you update this blog. Anyway, right now the internet seems to work!
My apartment! One bedroom, living room, bathroom, kitchen, toilet and a big balcony on the backside.
The mosque about 100 m from where I live in Sidi Bou Saïd
 
Yesterday I woke up by 9 and went out for a loooong 20 km run around Sadi Bou Saïd where I live, and then to La Marsa where me and Safa were yesterday. Today I was out for 3 hours, with obligatory stops to take photos - of course ;-) People were super happy to see me, and many even did thumbs up! Once I didn't know exactly which way to run, I could always stop and ask someone. I love that people speak French here, but am thrilled to learn some Arabic soon.
Beautiful views on my morning run, which turned into a lunch run as well... If it looks like this, I could run forever.
 
 Met these Tunisian gentlemen who wanted to talk and take a picture while I was running on the beach in La Marsa. They got so concerned about that I was going to run all the way back to Sidi Bou Saïd again, so they insisted on first accompanying me, then giving me money for a taxi, and then bought me a yoghurt so I wouldn't be thirsty when I said I was going to run back anyway. More kind people to the world!
 
I got back and showered and took a taxi to the carrefoure (the big supermarket) here. It costed less than 4 dinars to get there, one dinar is around 3,8 Swedish crowns. In the taxi I spoke French with the taxi driver, it is really great that most people speak French in Tunisia, except for only Arabic with Tunisian dialect. I really should just have bought a memory card for my new camera, but ended up buying 20 kg of food upon that... Is there something more interesting than to go to supermarkets in new countries?!
 
In the evening I went to a coffee place with Safa, her boyfriend and her friends. They were all super nice and spoke great English. And man, they can really crack jokes! One of Safa's friends had been working for PWC in Tunis and was going to New York today. Apparently KPMG, EY, Deloitte and PWC are all in Tunisia, someting which anyway didn't really cross my mind.
 
 
Something very funny was that everyone were complaining about Ramadan and that it was "so boring" now (none of them were actually "doing" Ramadan in terms of not eating during the day) and that there was no partying going on. So many people have told me "Wait until after Ramadan, then you will see - Tunisia will completely change". Since I really enjoy just sitting outside drinking tea with Tunisians, and learn more about them and about Tunisia, it will be very interesting to see the rhythm change after Ramadan!
 
By the way, saw an article on LinkedIn about a big charity event that Oriflame organized in Vietnam with SOS Children Village. Being adopted from Vietnam as a baby and having a girl (fadderbarn) at SOS Children Village in Vietnam that my family supported with money for many years, of course makes this even closer to heart for me. For you guys who didn't know that, Oriflame's CSR work is really huge, and Oriflame is so much more than "just" makeup and beauty. Oriflame has changed the life for many women in developing countries all around the world, giving them an opportunity to earn their own money and become more independent. For me as a young woman and for equality and independence, it feels great to be working for a company which shares my values.
 
More about that and Oriflame's business in another update - I'm super excited to start my internship next week, to learn more about everything, and then tell you guys about it.
 
Ciao and stay tuned for my next update!
 
Denise
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First day in Tunisia

Publicerad 2016-06-17 02:56:00 i Denise in Tunisia

Hi all!
 
So here is my first update about Tunisia - I was having problems taking the pictures out of my phone for more than one hour and am really tired now (it's 1.30 AM here and it's been a long day), so I'll make it a quite short one.
 
Yesterday evening I took the plane from Stockholm - Frankfurt - Tunis and arrived 11.30 PM. Taher, a colleague at Oriflame, met me at the airport and we went straight to... eat ice-cream!
 
A bit tired me and Taher at Ice n Roll 2 AM in the morning
 
The small place was literally crowded, and I can honestly tell you that it was quite surprising to see all the people, dressed in "western" clothes, showing "ordinary" much skin, and all the house music playing in the background - since it's actually Ramadan and I thought people covered themselves more in Arab countries. When I first came I had a thicker sweater on, whereupon Taher stared at me and asked "You didn't bring any summer clothes?".
 
From the ice-cream place to my apartment, which is super nice and located in Sidi Bou Said, very close to the ocean - and I feel like I'm more in Santorini than in Tunis... Got to bed 3 AM - ready for the 15 min super loud announcement (!) about that people had to stop eating now, since it's Ramadan, and fell asleep around 3.30 AM.
 
Me and Safa at a view point in La Marsa, Tunis
 
After a good night's sleep, this day has been very exciting, mainly thanks to Safa, my colleague at Oriflame, who has taken well care of me. We had lunch by the ocean (apparently only about 60 % of all Tunisians actually stop eating during Ramadan) with an amazing view, and were then sightseeing around before we got changed and went for dinner and tea in the evening.
 
 
In the evening we had a walk on the beach and enjoyed the view, sitting and looking out over the ocean
 
Believe it or not, but actually a former bar (!) at the beach in La Marsa, 100 m from the restaurant where we had dinner
 
Dinner - People are tired during the day because of Ramadan and eat a lot in the evening!
 
People in Tunisia come out and relax together with friends and family during Ramadan
 
Things that were sold on the touristy street on the way up to where we were sitting a couple of hours ago
 
At a roof top café with Safa and her friends - Tunisians are very warm and welcoming people
 
So far I have had a really great first day in Tunisia and it feels great to get the chance to get settled a bit before I start my internship on Monday. I feel very fortunate that I got the chance to come here, and I get really well taken care of. I could write meters about my new impressions and all my thoughts about Tunisia that are completely wrong, but that would be... meters. For now, all you should know is that Tunis is a beautiful, safe city, and that people are super friendly (the ones I have met so far, anyway!). My internship at Oriflame couldn't have started better, even though it officially actually hasn't yet started.
 
Hope you guys liked my first update - it has taken way too long, so I will probably make them shorter in the future (or have another blog, where I'll put all the rest of my 40 photos and movie clips I took today in this beautiful city!).
 
Good night and stay tuned for more updates!
 
Denise
 
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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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