msvanbakel

msvanbakel

Working together interculturally

Many organisations hire international talent to meet the needs of their business. These international employees have to work well together with the locals who already work there. I am starting a new study in both Denmark and New Zealand in…

Breaking out of the expat bubble

“…Chinese students stick together with Chinese, Thai students with Thais…. when they go to the campus, they are together. I hardly see culturally mixed groups of people.” 1 ‘The happy expat needs friends’ to truly thrive in the new country…

Talking to strangers

Last week I found myself in a situation where I basically did not know anyone. I was on the other side of the world, at the Human Resources International Conference in Dunedin, New Zealand, and since I’m soon publishing a…