As a student of Horticulture and Business Management program from HAS University of Applied Sciences I get to do 2 internships in my 3rd year and when I came upon Aardam BV I immediately thought: “Now, wouldn’t it be nice to spend this winter in a tropical oasis, learn about cultivation of exotics and not even need to leave the Dutch countryside?’’. And so it happened and as of September 2021, Aardam has become my second home.
To those who haven’t met me yet, my name is Sandra Stopar and for the full 20 weeks I will be busy doing a market research for tropical ornamentals in the area of Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. If you got the chance to visit our company lately and you wondered who the new girl is, sitting in the office with her hat on, staring intensely at the lap top and listening to Red Hot Chili Peppers- Yes, that was me, Sandra. Feel welcome to say hi. Business hours: Mon-Fri 8:00 to 16:30.
I come from sub-Alpine Slovenia so setting into the solid 22 degrees among the palms was new for me but I believe that I adjusted quite well. They feed me a lot of delicious sugar-less cakes and the local humidity does me good.
As I previously mentioned, my primary task is to conduct a research regarding the potential of Eastern and South-Eastern countries as a market for the young tropical plants export but this is far from being the only thing I get to do at the company. In the short span of a couple of weeks I got to try out a number of different activities, from planting, sorting, packaging, photographing, testing, preparing, talking to the customers, attending the trade fairs…And the list goes on. Arthur is very generous at providing assignments and I gladly take them, as a knowledge-thirsty person I am.
And my goal for this internship, you ask? Throughout the 5 months I will be spending here I hope to gain more valuable experience about the business and greenhouse cultivation, to get more insight into the market of tropical ornamentals, retrieve business contacts and foremost to contribute to the company with my knowledge and hard work the best I can.
Sandra,
November 2021
