Sunshine and Hard Work

23.10.2016

 

Greetings from sunny Alicante! It’s still 25 degrees here, very nice :)

So now I got to really begin at work, after numerous trainings and introductions, it has now been a few days of actual work for me. And I couldn’t be happier with what I do! When I first came here, I was afraid that the trainees would only have non-legal or secretary tasks but no way: I get to really be part of the board that I work for and really participate, I have a lot of responsibility and I get to say what I think and I get to write legal texts. It’s hard work, but so interesting, and I learn an incredible amount of things about trademarks every day.

I guess I had some good luck to have been assigned to the Boards of Appeal, because some of the trainees work for example for the human resources department or a department which organises trainings for the staff here, and their tasks, I think, are mostly non-lawyer tasks.

Also in terms of working conditions, EUIPO is really great. We have reasonable and flexible working hours, nice restaurants – and a bakery (:D) in the building, we get to use the EUIPO gym for free, and everyone around are smart and helpful. Although, I still have to get to used to the fact that I am not allowed to do anything else myself than my actual work. Before, I have mostly worked for small entities and have been used to that if I want some office supplies, I’ll go to the store and buy some and if I want to use a computer, I’ll install it and the programs I need myself. Here it is different: There’s a guy to install your printer and a guy to bring you some office equipment if you need some, and believe it or not, but there’s guy to adjust your table height :D

I’ve spent quite long days at the office now, but it’s not all about work: during spare-time we’ve done all kinds of fun things with the trainees. We are about 80 trainees now, of I guess almost 20 nationalities, and all of us only began this autumn, so there’s always someone to accompany you if you want to come up with something to do. We’ve been out having some tapas together, had some house parties, been on the beach and so on. There have also been group sports activities – which I though unfortunately couldn’t participate so far because this cold I have been having, but later on I definitely will. I think my cold is now finally getting better. I believe now, that I know what caused it: the air humidity, which is something entirely new for me. Even if it so warm here, it’s so humid that often it feels like I’m wearing completely wet clothes. And so, even on warm weather I might feel a bit cold.

By the way, my Spanish classes begin on Tuesday, I’m excited :-) By far, it’s still been that basically every day I use some English, some French, some German, some Spanish and some Finnish. Which is great of course and I really enjoy practicing all of my languages. Still I hope to use more and more Spanish now every day and actually, I am improving. All everyday arrangements, shopping etc. I already manage in Spanish with no problems. Yesterday for example, I discovered that a cell phone cover I had bought earlier, did not fit my phone as well as I would’ve wanted it to, so I returned it – managing to successfully explain this to the clerk in Spanish made me kind of proud of myself!

With love,

Noora