All Posts | whatdiplomatsdo

7 days ago

The art of living

How to enjoy yourself? I must be a fairly serious person if I ask myself this question on a regular basis. Or at least, I used to ask...

Mar 25

Get or job or a PhD?

What’s a better idea: pursuing a PhD or entering the job market after obtaining a bachelor or master degree? With all the alleged “degree...

Mar 24

My academic exchange in Canada suuuuucked

How to put this mildly? Doing an academic exchange abroad can be… not as great as you might think. Personally, I hated it. No, this is...

Mar 19

Why being an actress is not glamorous

Before I was a diplomat, and before I even went to college, I was an actress in theater, TV, and in movies. In the Netherlands though,...

Mar 13

American Diplomat podcast

Because I promoted the How Did We Not Know That podcast I should probably also mention the American Diplomat podcast. It’s hosted by a...

Mar 5

That time I was stuck on a mountain

Look, I’m not the queen of disastrous vacations. Most of the time, my trips turn out fine, or better than fine. But I like to reminisce,...

Mar 5

That time I had a worm in my leg

Travel isn’t everything. Sure, it’s one of my favorite hobbies (along with reading, shopping, cooking and, since recently, working out),...

Feb 24

The 6-month rule of settling in

After six months of living in a foreign country, you may feel a shift. Suddenly, everything looks and feels a bit different. You worry...

Feb 18

Just when I thought passports were boring

As I mentioned before, there are many different sides to consular work. I explained in a previous post that I work mostly on...

Feb 6

How the kids pick up a foreign language

We’ve been posted in Germany for six months now. While life and work have been weird for me under COVID, the kids have a had a fairly...

Jan 31

International Relations Career Checklist

I often get asked how to get started in the field of international relations. I’ve written many lengthy blogposts—essentially a small...

Jan 26

FS Career tracks: best & worst

Of the five career tracks within the general Foreign Service I chose consular because I realized it was my best chance of never being...

Jan 25

Recap 2020

Well. I think we all had more or less the same 2020, didn’t we? We stayed home a lot. We drank more than usual. We explored old and new...

Dec 29, 2020

Rich people, ugh

Today it occurred to me that of all groups of people, I probably like rich people the least. And that rich people behave similarly all...

Dec 7, 2020

Career advice with journalist Aisha Chowdhry

Aisha Chowdhry is my awesome international journalist friend, currently working freelance out of Southern Africa. I met her in Pakistan,...

Nov 23, 2020

Tips for high school students: what to study for the FS?

If you’re in high school right now and you already know you want to be Foreign Service Officer I say: good for you! Many FSOs will...

Nov 18, 2020

Career Advice with Entrepreneur Gertje Vanhoutte

Gertje is an experienced Human Resources professional who worked in the private sector, public sector, and now as an entrepreneur. She’s...

Nov 12, 2020

You are extraordinary enough

Yes, you over there! There are many people who read my blog and then email me to say they want an international career but doubt their...

Nov 10, 2020

When your dream job is a nightmare

Some six years ago I thought I’d found my dream job. It had everything I wanted: working on a variety of international issues (migration,...

Nov 6, 2020

It doesn’t have to be this way

As I’m writing this, the presidential election is in full swing. It looks like Biden is going to win but it’s still a nail-biter. Yet all...

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