We are Ruth and Katherine and we are the Gap Year interns of this year at Roland Berger Amsterdam! After finishing our bachelor of Econometrics and Operations Research in Rotterdam we have both decided to take some time off before starting our Masters. The Gap Year program provides a great mix of different work experiences. We started off our Gap Year with an internship at the Roland Berger office in Amsterdam. Now we will continue our internships at a startup company, Felyx, and at the Roland Berger office in Dubai.

Our Gap Year started with a Kick-off event in Munich with our fellow German Gap Year interns. At the kick-off we had a training about cultural differences, which will be very useful during our abroad period. We also spent some time exploring Munich and had a great dinner at a typical German restaurant. After the kick-off event it was time to get back to work again!

One of us was staffed on a project team that helped a big insurance company with a finance transformation, while the other was staffed on a project in the gas and oil industry. We both did not know much about these industries, but in a short period of time with the help of our teams, we gained a lot of knowledge about each industry. We also quickly developed our Excel and PowerPoint skills by following multiple training programs from colleagues. We were both part of a very big team which made the work even more fun!

Besides work there were a lot of fun activities, like a trip over the weekend with all the (junior) consultants, a Sinterklaas evening, team dinners, a karaoke night and so on. Every Friday we would end the week with a VrijMiBo (drinks on Friday afternoon) where we got to know our colleagues even better. With our teams we had weekly sport activities where we would go for a run or play padel.

We had a great time at the Amsterdam office and are definitely going to miss it, but we are excited to start our next chapter of the Roland Berger Gap Year in Dubai and at Felyx. We will keep you posted!

Katherine & Ruth