Well! The answer is simple. ‘No’.
I came to the Netherlands as an accompanying partner. My husband got a job at the TU/e and we decided to move here. What we had planned was, he will be working and I will be pursuing my higher education. Little did we know that the Dutch education system is different from the Nepali education system.
So with my 3 years of Bachelor’s degree and 2 years of Master’s degree, I couldn’t apply for Research Master’s, let alone PhD. In addition, my knowledge has been more general and broad rather than specific. No specialization was yet done. Took me a year to really accept that I need to think something else. Perhaps doing a Master. That still is one of the goals.
After this realization, I started looking for jobs. Masters in English Literature and Culture wasn’t going to help find a job in Eindhoven. In fact, very hard to get one in the Netherlands. Unless you have years and years of experience, native English and C1 level Dutch proficiency. I would think of giving a try until I come to the third requirement. Well! Broaden your job search. That’s what I did.
However, during all these exploration, I always gave a thought over Get in Touch Program. A program for international spouses which I was part of since I came to Eindhoven. As days went by so was GiT becoming more and more important to me. It is my family, my second family. so I used to think, “even if I get a job or study, I wouldn’t want to compromise Thursday’s GiT meetups. I would like to be a part of it and keep meeting my old and new friends”.
One day, one of my brother-in-laws, suggested me to do some projects regarding Get in Touch since I was so invested in this program. And since I like to write, I thought of bringing my writing and Get in Touch in the same page. Well! in the same website in this case. So with Carola (founder of GiT) and Ed Heerschaap (Coordinator Living In, Holland Expat Center), I documented the the journey of GiT (Journey of Get In Touch).
It was during those days when Carola asked me about carrying on GiT in the future. It was overwhelming. I knew it was going to be quite a challenge. It was during those conversations I knew that if I want to carry GiT on, I will need to register my company.
So, that’s the first time ever when the idea of having my own company entered my mind.
