Internship at the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
in Ottawa, Canada
Field of Study: MA American Studies Student number: S2725835
Name: Manon Plazier
Placement supervisor : Keum Roling University supervisor : Dr. M.E. Messmer
1 Introduction
Two years ago, I would not have imagined doing an internship for the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Canada and moving to Ottawa for six months. As I arrived in the American Studies department with a Bachelor’s degree in English Language and Culture, I had never done an internship or studied abroad before. What I was certain of, is that I wanted to go abroad for a while in my master’s degree. I heard so many good stories from friends and fellow students that it felt like I needed to. On top of that, I had never left Groningen before, so this felt like a big step, but one that was important to take. With this thought in mind, I started looking for
internships. I thought an internship might help in personal growth, getting work experience, and perhaps settling some questions that I had about my future. I applied for multiple organizations within Europe and in North America. When the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ottawa appeared in my searching list, I did not immediately feel the excitement, although Canada had always been a country that I really wanted to discover. Once I started to communicate with the embassy and was chosen to do a job interview, my feelings changed completely and I started to become really excited, but also a bit nervous. During the conversation that I had with my supervisor, Keum Roling, I had a good feeling about working together and the tasks and daily activity at the embassy. The embassy offered me a different position than I initially applied for, instead of the political department, they offered me the ppc department (press, public diplomacy and culture). I do not have a background in marketing or
communication studies so I first had to think about it. However, I soon realized that it could still fit my interests and once they offered me the job, I was really happy and excited about the perspective of working for six months at the embassy.
2 The Organization
The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is situated on the twentieth floor of the Constitution Square offices in downtown Ottawa. It is a medium-sized embassy with thirteen employees and three interns, changing each semester. Together with the Consulate General in Vancouver and Toronto, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ottawa forms the Netherlands network in Canada. Apart from the embassy and consulate general, there are honorary consuls in each province of Canada, who represent the Netherlands. At the head of the Embassy in Ottawa stands the Ambassador Henk van der Zwan and the Deputy Head of Mission Frederieke Quispel. The embassy consists of the following main departments: General/consular affairs, economic affairs, political affairs, ppc (public diplomacy, press and culture) and defense. The economic, political and ppc departments each have one policy officer and one intern, as such I worked closely with the senior policy officer of ppc, Keum Roling, who was also my
supervisor. At the ppc department, we work on many different topics as we cover the
communication and public relations for the embassy, which also encompasses social media. Next to communication, we also work on cultural topics and press-related affairs. Although the ppc department in Ottawa works a lot on the relevant topics for Ottawa, the department also cooperates closely with the ppc officers in Vancouver and Toronto to make sure that the
messaging toward the public is consistent for the entire network and that we can help each other in promoting events where needed. Instead of solely working as a ppc team in Ottawa, we really work together as a network with the ppc departments in Toronto and Vancouver.
In terms of the working environment, the embassy has an open workspace which makes it easier to ask colleagues for help or to have conversations between meetings and tasks. This open atmosphere and a small team that works at the embassy, made me feel quickly at home. The
3 open workspace concept also makes it easier to switch around departments and be aware of what other departments are working on. It really creates a sense of team effort instead of every
department working secluded from each other. Moreover, during the first week, the ambassador asked all three of us (interns) for a coffee and an individual conversation about our background and why we had decided to apply for the embassy. This also helped towards the open atmosphere and made us more at ease if we had any questions or struggles. All in all, the embassy team provided me with a very useful and interesting working environment and, through the ups and downs, I have learned a lot about the diplomatic world and the professional work-life.
The Internship
As an intern at the ppc department, my daily tasks varied often as the department covers a lot of areas and it is a very interdisciplinary job. Like the previous intern correctly pointed out, “you are like a spider in the web.” My regular tasks for ppc consisted of responding to questions and requests from the public through email or social media. I created daily social media content, kept track of our different social media channels (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram), kept in contact with the PPC departments in Toronto and Vancouver for upcoming events and messaging towards the public. I worked on requests from the embassy for the Foreign Ministry in The Hague and on pages for the website. In addition, I have been part of the organization for multiple receptions/events, in which I also was actively involved with the event narrative and set up. In my learning outcomes, I had indicated that I wanted to learn how to do the event planning and be involved from the beginning until the end. Therefore, my supervisor decided to make me in charge of the King’s Day reception. Of course, this was under his supervision and he and other
4 staff members would be there to help me when needed. Still, this was my project and I received a lot of freedom and responsibility in the planning and outcome. I am very grateful to the embassy that they gave me this big task because it certainly was an interesting project, which I will
elaborate on with further details in the section “Large Projects.” In preparation for King’s Day, it was useful to attend multiple receptions and experience closely the preparations. In my first week as an intern, I was in charge of finishing the final tasks for the Winter Celebration event, which the former PPC intern had been working on. In addition, I was present during the event itself. In short, Winter Celebration is a yearly event that takes place at Rideau Hall, the home of Prime Minister Trudeau and the Governor General Julie Payette. The Governor-General
represents Queen Elizabeth II of the UK in Canada. During this celebration, embassies and organizations display their culture and traditions to the citizens of Ottawa. This translated into traditional Dutch games and handing out traditional Dutch food. It was a really interesting experience, especially since you are able to be in direct contact with the inhabitants of Ottawa and inform them about our Dutch culture. Also, it is a way for the embassy to show what we are about and assist where needed. In the “Samples of Work”section I have added a link to a
message with a picture to give an impression of the event.
During this first week, I also attended a reception on LGBTQI equality. Before I had started my internship at the embassy, I had indicated my preference for the political department. I had chosen for this position since I often like to do research and write on minority groups and human rights within my master’s degree. Unfortunately, the embassy in Ottawa has no prime focus on First Nation communities in Canada, which I find really interesting. However, as the Netherlands is a forerunner in terms of legal rights and social acceptance of the LGBTQI community, the embassy is actively engaged with LGBTQI rights and equality. The embassy
5 staff was aware of my keen interest in these kinds of topics and provided me with specific tasks on the topic of LGBTQI. Thus, I was also working on tasks of the political department and I got to work closely with the political affairs officer. On LGBTQI, I mostly attended receptions and was part of the preparations where needed. Moreover, I worked on the messaging for an
LGBTQI campaign, contacted an NGO in the Netherlands for a film request, and a proposal for informative web pages on LGBTQI policy of the Dutch mission in Canada.
Large Projects
Below I will describe three big tasks of the internship that stood out the most to me and during which I learned the most. These large projects are the organization of a King’s Day reception, the organization of a LGBTQI film screening & reception on IDAHOT Day at the Tulip Festival.
King’s Day Reception 2019
As previously mentioned, I had indicated that I wanted to learn how to set up an event from the beginning until the end. Although I had pursued multiple commission positions during my studies, I had never before organized a big event like the King’s Day reception of the embassy. I thought that it would be very interesting, also for my personal development, to be in charge of such an event. My supervisor really pushed me out of my comfort zone by making me “the leader” of the event. It was scary but in the end, I am very happy that he gave me this opportunity. King’s Day would become the event where I would participate in the
ideas/narrative/drawing of the event, contacting the event venue, third parties like the caterer and the tent company, handing out tasks to the embassy staff, doing decoration sessions, as well as being present during the day itself and making sure that everything went smoothly. King’s Day is
6 the national day of the Netherlands during which we celebrate the birthday of the King. The embassy celebrates this day by hosting a reception for the network and friends. This year, our King’s Day had a little twist, since a special exhibition was connected to the King’s Day celebration. The Future of Food, an art installation show, created by a partnership of the Dutch Institute of Food and Design and our embassy would have its premiere. This special opening was only open for our reception guests and the press. It was decided to host the reception at the heritage barn of the Museum of Agriculture and Food where the exhibition would also take place. Future of Food is a thought-provoking exhibition focused on diverse topics like food waste, climate change, freshwater decline, loss of biodiversity and really tries to make visitors think about their attitude as consumers or producers. As such, King’s Day had a combined theme of tradition (bitterballen, the orange color, tulips, cheese) but also the future of our planet (edible insects and thought-provoking quotes). It was my task to come up with ideas for a traditional King’s Day with a little twist. I came up with ideas for the decoration and how we would set up the barn. I arranged a team of experienced staff who had been part of multiple King’s Days in the past and asked them for advice and my co-intern from economic affairs was also very helpful in all of this. I had to arrange the liquor license for the embassy, be creative in decorations and goodie bags (in which we added edible insects), choose food/beverages, and contact the different parties that would help us. All of this needed to be approved by my supervisor and the
ambassador. I worked closely with the event coordinator at the museum and went to do an on-site check with my supervisor. Finally, I translated the ambassador’s speech into French. Unfortunately, I had to fly back to the Netherlands for personal reasons a few weeks before the event. My input for the organization of the King’s Day event had to be put on hold, however, my co-workers did a fantastic job at continuing the work. Looking back, it was a lot of fun to be part
7 of the organization of such an event, although at times it could be stressful. Seeing the end result was really amazing after putting so much work in it. In the “Samples of Work” section, I have added a few pictures for an impression of the celebration.
LGBTI Screening & Reception – IDAHOT 2019
Every year the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ottawa works closely with the Canadian Tulip Festival. This festival has been created in celebration of the long-standing friendship between Canada and the Netherlands. During the Second World War, the Royal family moved to Canada to escape the German oppression. Dutch Princess Juliana and her family sought refuge in Ottawa. During this time, Princess Juliana gave birth to Princess Margriet in Ottawa. To thank all Canadian soldiers for their help in liberating the Netherlands from the German army, the Dutch Royal family provided Canada with a gift of 100 000 tulip bulbs. In celebration of this, the yearly Canadian Tulip Festival was created and until this day people come to Ottawa to see the tulip beds and celebrate this special friendship. During this festival, the embassy organizes/sponsors multiple events and among these, we organized a special reception for IDAHOT day in cooperation with the NGOs Amnesty International, Capital Pride, and the Dignity Network. IDAHOT stands for International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia. Together with the political affairs officer, I had the opportunity to work on this event. I reached out to the NGO Human Rights in the Picture, in the Netherlands, to provide us with a movie that they had made on transgender youth in the Netherlands, Vietnam, and Honduras. This was extremely exciting since the film has recently been created and it would provide our audience with an eye-opener on the social issues surrounding the acceptance of transgenders. It was an interesting experience to set up such an event since we were able to
8 inform/educate the audience on this important topic. Also, I had to think again about the
practical side like the caterer, the film set up, decorations, and invitations. In addition, I had the opportunity to work closely with third parties and the festival staff. Events like King’s Day and this LGBTQI reception really teaches you to be aware of the crucialities for a smooth event, be aware of the details, make sure you do not forget things, setting up a strict run through, and handing out tasks to people when necessary. Although there is room for improvement, I feel like I have come to better understand the importance of these components and it has made me realize that I really enjoy the creativity and team effort that goes into working on an event. In the
“Samples of Work” section I have added a link to a message with pictures of the event in order to give an impression.
Critical Evaluation of the Internship
Before starting my internship, I had crafted a list of internship learning outcomes and skills that I wanted to pursue in my internship. Although the way I look at it now has completely changed in comparison to when I started and I might not have completely achieved all my goals, I think that the internship was definitely one big learning experience for me. I had to overcome some barriers at times and deal with my perfectionism in a more healthy way. Luckily, my supervisor was a great help in giving me feedback, overcoming these barriers and giving me enough challenges to be able to develop in my work. Below, I have mentioned all the general and study-related
learning outcomes and to what extent I think I have accomplished them. I have divided them by general ones and study-related ones since some learning outcomes are a follow up to my
9 General
● Working goal-oriented and effectively on tasks, both individually and in a team. Being
able to prioritize (time management). Making creative contributions to team meetings. Assuming responsibility for my work.
This goal is something that I have struggled with for a long time, but it was one of the key learning outcomes that I wanted to be able to handle better. During my internship, I have had the chance to unravel how I struggle with this aspect. Luckily, I had many good conversations with my supervisor and the deputy head of the mission, who were both very helpful in finding
solutions. During one of the long conversations I had with my supervisor, I will never forget one of the images he drew for me which really changed how I perceived dealing with time
management.
“Have you ever tried to fill up a fishbowl? You cannot put in the small stones first and assume that the bigger stones will simply follow, this will never fit. Time management works the same. You need to start with the big stones first or big tasks before you can fit the smaller stones or small tasks. If you perceive tasks this way, it will naturally fall in place.” - Keum Roling (2019).
In these many conversations with my supervisor, I have been able to identify what is needed to become more effective in my work. I have definitely started to learn better how to prioritize and how to be more effective. Time management was and still is a struggle for me but I am getting there slowly but steadily. When it comes to contributions, my supervisor advised me to become
10 more proactive which I recognized was not my biggest strength. I think I struggled at the
beginning with adapting to the position at the PPC department. Nevertheless, on a creative level, I feel like I have achieved a lot. The PPC department is definitely one of the few departments where you can be really creative if you want to and that is one of the aspects that I loved about it. In my social media messaging, LGBTI campaign contributions, suggestions for requests that we received, but most of all, the King’s Day reception event planning, I was able to implement a lot of creativity. I believe I contributed in a responsible way to the embassy and took my work seriously.
● Identifying the key aspects to successfully organize events.
This learning outcome has been very well accomplished. I think that the opportunity to organize King’s Day and the LGBTI film screening event both highly contributed to that. While planning, organizing and executing the events, I have learned what is important to make sure that an event goes smoothly. Every event has its own aspects that will not go as planned, even if you think you have everything under control or have planned it out in your mind, it will always go different than expected. This does not mean, that it is wrong. The key is to accept it and find solutions on the spot to still make it work. Also, hard work definitely pays off. The amount of time that goes into planning and organizing is nothing compared to how quick events pass by. Nevertheless, it gives an amazing feeling to see the end result. This really made me discover that I like event planning and that I want to continue this in the future. I especially like the creativity that goes into the whole process of event planning. ● Acquiring diplomatic etiquette in terms of how to act at formal diplomatic events and
11 I definitely got the chance to achieve this learning outcome. Although I did not attend many meetings with external parties. I had the chance to be at meetings of communication officers from the different embassies, at the EU delegation. I also attended a meeting with an external party with my supervisor once or twice. Apart from meetings, I had the chance to go to a lot of receptions organized by the embassy, in cooperation with other
organizations/embassies/delegations, or from other embassies. Besides the events that I have mentioned before, I went to a UK delegation reception on LGBTQI and the Danish National Day reception. The embassy gave us a lot of opportunities to experience diplomatic events and the world of diplomatic etiquette.
● Writing official texts for a specific audience.
Although I sometimes had the chance to be a part of meetings or answer phone calls. The writing was a big part of my internship as it is one of the premier ways that we communicate at the ppc department. Interestingly, the types of text were very diverse. For example, I would sometimes write official requests for the ministry in the Hague, write statements/messages for social media, or answer email questions/requests. I also got the chance to use my knowledge of French as I would write replies in French, and I even got the chance to translate the ambassador’s King’s Day speech in French. All these official texts required different audiences and I think I realized this by weekly writing and editing messages for social media. Social media is an interesting platform as you need to carefully think about how you are going to frame your message. You need to ask yourself questions like, “who do I want to reach with my message?”, “how do I make this message engaging?” or “what to do I want to aim for with my message?”. Also, after five years of studying, I had gotten really used to writing extensive research papers, while writing for
12 my position at the embassy was more focused on clear, concise, and engaged writing. This was a new skill that I had to develop, but one that I found, was a lot of fun. In the beginning, I did not particularly like writing for social media, but now I have gotten better at it. Also, writing for the embassy sparked an interest in speech writing. As the ambassador often gives speeches at events, it was interesting to have conversations with a colleague about how she writes the speeches and where she gets inspiration from.
● Using specific creative programs like HTML, Photoshop and Microsoft PowerPoint to
create a promotion for the embassy
I did not get to this learning outcome during my internship since promotion mostly happened through social media. I did not use the programs above, however, I used Loomly every day. This program works as a calendar and makes it possible to plan messages for social media ahead which is very useful if you have to create a lot of content each week. It also provides the writer with tools on how to make texts engaging and what to keep in mind when writing. I had never used such a program before and I really got the hang of using it effectively for my work at the embassy.
● Being able to bring the public closer to the embassy by educating/informing them of the
tasks of the embassy.
Although the embassy does not inform the public on specific daily tasks at the embassy. We focus a lot on specific events and themes that are important for the embassy. For example, our followers got to know about events around the CETA agreement between the Netherlands and Canada, LGBTI, women in tech and business, or circular economy. This shows the diversity of topics that the embassy works on. In that sense, we give our followers a glimpse of the work at
13 the embassy and bring them closer. Sometimes, we go further than simply informing and we ask for their cooperation or we promote initiatives that are in line with our goals. In the section “sample works”, I added a few examples of messages that I wrote for Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Study-related
● Gaining a deeper insight into the diplomatic relations between The Netherlands and
Canada (Europe and the American continent) and their shared goals.
This learning outcome reflects one of the first and main aspects I got in touch with at the
embassy. Canada and the Netherlands have a lot of shared values and goals in their policy. Both countries emphasize the importance of human rights and dignity, economic stability, climate change and invest/exchange a lot in innovation/technology, and the agricultural sector. This cooperation comes out of a long-established friendship that dates back to the immigration waves from the Netherlands to Canada in the past, and the previously mentioned shared history around the Second World War. There are more than 1 million Canadians of Dutch descent living in Canada today. The open mindedness of the two countries makes for an interesting terrain to work on, and I think I came across this learning outcome daily. I also believe strongly that an
internship at the embassy is the perfect place to come to understand the international relations between countries.
● Independently and creatively applying the theoretical knowledge and skills I have
14 Although I did not have any in-depth course about Canada before doing my internship, I already knew a lot about cultural and historical issues that have played a role in the establishment of the North-American continent today. For example, the extensive scale of cultures due to immigration and its fairly recent history. I was able to use this knowledge in writing requests for the embassy but also in my messages for social media. In addition, it was very interesting to see howCanada and the US are neighbors, yet the countries have a different approach in doing politics.
● Acquiring an in-depth knowledge of how the representation of a country works within
another country (e.g. the whole system of Dutch representations: embassy, consulates, honorary consuls within Canada).
During the internship, I was immediately confronted with the extent of terms/abbreviations that are used in the diplomatic world and which I did not know about. Even now, I am still learning about how the ministry of foreign affairs works and which organizations are part of it. I got the opportunity to work a lot with the communications officers of the consulate general in Toronto and Vancouver, especially when my supervisor went away for vacation. I contacted them a few times a week to talk about messaging and events that would happen in the coming weeks at the embassy/consulates. I also met the consul generals of both the consulates. Although I now know a lot about how the embassy cooperates with the consulates, I have not had the chance to learn a lot about the honorary consuls and their role in the network.
● Gaining insight into the embassy’s human rights and humanitarian aid activities and
15 As I am particularly interested in human rights and humanitarian aid within my studies, I wanted to be able to work on this at the embassy. Luckily, the embassy answered my request and gave me a lot of tasks on LGBTI rights. Although this is one specific aspect of the human rights protection policy that the embassy works on, as they also work toward women's rights and freedom of speech and religion, one does not exclude the other necessarily. For example, I wrote a proposal for human rights info on the website of the network in Canada. I also got the chance to work on the narrative for the Two Dutch Kissing Boys campaign, which are two inflatable dolls who travel from embassy to embassy to promote LGBTI equality. As previously
mentioned, I also got the chance to attend many receptions where I could talk with people about LGBTQI policy in Canada. I even met a Canadian priest who works toward LGBTQI equality. As an activist and priest, he tries to bring together the LGBTQI community and religion, since religion remains a sensitive topic for many members of the LGBTQI community. Through all these examples I gained a diverse knowledge on a particular part of the human rights policy of the embassy.
● Developing the relevant skills to prepare for meetings with Canadian governmental
organizations and institutions (background check/knowing your audience).
As previously mentioned, I did not have a lot of meetings with external parties, as such I did not have to do a background check that often or work on developing useful skills for this.
Nevertheless, when going to a meeting with my supervisor it was a good learning experience to see how my supervisor handled the conversation and knew who was standing in front of him. (NETWORKING SKILLS MENTION THESE)
16 ● Drawing on the interdisciplinary skills acquired in American Studies in order to
cooperate effectively with all departments at the embassy on trans-departmental tasks.
The interdisciplinary skills that I have learned in American Studies really helped me in being able to switch between topics and seeing them from different angles. Working at the embassy is definitely an interdisciplinary job and having an interdisciplinary background and broad interest are really useful. As I worked for the PPC department but also got to work with the political department these skills were even more useful. Within American studies, I have learned to write well-argued essays, analyze primary and secondary sources, use cross-disciplinary
methodologies on subjects, and gain deeper knowledge into the complexity of the
North-American and South-North-American culture whether through religion, history, politics or sociological aspects. I think that knowing about these complexities of North-American society have definitely helped me in understanding better how diplomatic and international relations work between Canada and the Netherlands.
● Working and communicating effectively in an international and intercultural context. This learning outcome is much related to the above-mentioned learning outcome. In American studies, I have learned to articulate the complexities of American cultures and politics within seminar discussions or in my papers, and I have also been able to look at topics in an objective way. Altogether, this has given me a strong range of skills that have helped me during my internship. I was automatically confronted with an environment in which everyone has a
different background/culture which also means that everyone has a different point of view. To be able to work around this and sometimes put your own beliefs and values aside to understand someone else’s point of view is an important part of the diplomatic job. Diplomats try to
17 strengthen the bond between countries and cooperation. I think I have definitely been able to effectively put this into place.
Conclusion
My internship at the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands has been a valuable lesson and I feel more confident and at ease with my future career now that I have experienced it. The internship has given me a lot more confidence in my writing skills and my
conversation/presentation skills through networking receptions and calling with external parties for the embassy. It was sometimes scary to take a jump into the unknown and undertake actions outside my comfort zone, but it has brought me a lot. I feel that this internship has been the beginning of a long but important learning process and it was my first real discovery of the work-life. Even though I believe that diplomacy is not what I feel most passionate about and I probably will not be pursuing the life of a diplomat, this internship has made me better realize what I want for my future career, how the working space works and how an international
organization functions. What I particularly liked about the diplomatic environment is the feeling of being at the centre of world politics and being constantly in touch with the latest news. I liked being able to use my creativity within the organization of events and writing and especially the interdisciplinarity of the embassy. I also enjoyed meeting or attending receptions where interesting people like the LGBTQI advisor to Prime Minister Trudeau was present, talking to people who are working for LGBTQI office of Prime Minister Trudeau or defending the rights of LGBTQI people through their NGOs. I also got the chance to meet our Dutch foreign affairs minister, Stef Blok, who paid a visit to our embassy on his trip to Canada. This meeting with the embassy staff was a very special moment to experience and one that I will not soon forget. All in
18 all, I can say that doing an internship has brought me a lot of new insights and skills that I would not have learned with following courses and writing my thesis, in that sense it has been a
19 Appendix 1: Samples of Work
In this section I will provide a few examples of work that I have created at the embassy. Since I was mostly working on organizing events, I do not have a lot of written work. Also, some of the written work cannot be published, therefore I have added social media messages. Under “social media” messages that I created can be found and under “events” photos can be found of the events that I created or helped creating to give an impression.
Social Media: https://www.facebook.com/thenetherlandsincanada/photos/a.268676859879471/2296429853770 818/?type=3&theater https://www.facebook.com/thenetherlandsincanada/videos/331782900831374/ https://www.facebook.com/thenetherlandsincanada/photos/a.268676859879471/2236539516426 519/?type=3&theater https://twitter.com/NLinCanada/status/1135667230300131328 https://twitter.com/NLinCanada/status/1111298718899339265 https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6542732040058531840/ https://www.instagram.com/p/ByaWlooC1sw/ Events: Winter Celebration: https://www.facebook.com/thenetherlandsincanada/photos/a.268676859879471/2104844772929 328/?type=3&theater King’s Day:
20 https://www.facebook.com/thenetherlandsincanada/photos/pcb.2215726598507811/2215724321 841372/?type=3&theater
LGBTQI film screening & reception for IDAHOT day :
https://www.facebook.com/thenetherlandsincanada/photos/a.268676859879471/2248091745271 296/?type=3&theater
