London

There has been 2 weeks and I still dont realize I am already living here. Right after Vichayito, I stayed one night in Lima and then travelled to London with Joost.

The first day I went to the office, which is located in a very nice zone of London; to be exact in front of the Buckingham palace (Grosvernor 33). The office is different to what I am used to; in contrast, everyone (directors, managers, etc) sits in one single big area, very close to eachother. We have a space issue being the reason why some departments will move to other buildings. Still, its nice to be able to interact/ meet with people from different departments in the same place, or share a coffee in the kitchen.

I have been amazed by the flexibility of the company, confidence is given openly to employees, with the expectation of concrete results. So as far as you do your job, you can work from home, work from another office, or arrive at your time schedule. Of course this is in exception to meetings. I havent had the feeling of working under self accountability since I was working for SSGN from my home office in Brazil. In a certain way, this culture gives you for further responsibility on your performance. I personally like it.

So far the experience has been wonderful and full of new discoveries, specially about me. Although, the business sector is not my favourite, I am more and more falling in love with the company and realizing about the so many opportunities here for me and how many things I am able to do, besides I love my job!. Over the last 2 weeks I have been travelling cause part of the job is also office coach (does it sound familiar?) for introducing the HR programs , welcome new joiners, or simply have face to face sessions and connect to employees personally. As for introduction to the company, already from the first day, I am taking care of my project tasks.

First times in London:

- Jetlag (never had it before, I guess i am getting old...)

- Desorganized (i had so many things to do and didnt know from whre to start)

- Too much coffee? really too much

- Postponing things (hopefully not anymore)

- Speaking english with indian accent, I mean this is an indian company.

So far, it's been a different experience. I have never experienced to have everything new at the same time, and to be honest it took me a little longer to get used to than normally , but now I guess I am 90% adapted and looking forward to what is coming.... ;)

New year's eve in Vichayito

After thinking about where to go for new year, I realized that I havent given much attention to discover new spots of my own country. Following the recommendations of some colleagues from the north of Peru, Joost and I decided to go to "Vichayito" for New Year's eve. Located in the very north of the country, Vichayito is between Mancora (a very famous and therefore crowded beach in Peru) and Los Organos (a small town). From few years, the zone became one of the summer spots for middle/ high class people in Peru, but still Vichayito remained "unexplored" and a bit independent from the rest of the zone. Certainly a perfect Oasis for getting out of the noisy Lima.

We had 6 days of peace in a beach isolated from the rest of the world. I never imagined to have such beautiful summer spots in Peru!

The daily routine was going into the beach which was basically 10 meeters from the bungalows, resting in the swimming pool while reading a book, playing some cards while having some drinks, riding horses and relaxing in front of wonderful landscapes.

Party in the yellow company!!


Almost as a goodbye to the company, the 25th anniversary party of DHL happened! It was held probably in the place where my most memorable events happened. The “circulo militar” is where I had my sweet fifteen party, where my parents celebrated their 25th anniversary, etc.


This time, we had the whole spot next to the swimming pool decorated of yellow and red, and the celebration started with the show of one of the most famous Peruvian singer “Cecilia Barraza”. I was surprised by the fact that she doesn’t only have a wonderful voice but she’s already a show herself; a really fun woman full of energy!

Our country manager introduced the agenda of the night and then the major show happened. This time the show was performed by the senior executives of the company who created a DHL lyric of the song “Pedro Navaja”. They dressed as airplanes, couriers, vans, and even a thief, dancing and singing the story of a courier, showing to the whole company that they do know what the business is about and appreciate the work of every single one that make it happen…

As Cecilia Barraza said during her show, it’s wonderful to have a woman as a country manager, and this is true but it’s even greater to have a country manager as human as she is. She stayed wearing the courier t-shirt and shared the table with the couriers and province representatives. The first person after my AIESEC term I truly see as a role model.



Of course the party was amazing, I don’t remember dancing like I did since l am back in Peru. I had a lot of fun.