"Cape Town has undoubtedly become a second home for me"
Read about Ane's internship experience at tech startup Flexistore Minilager in Cape Town, South Africa.
When I traveled south to Cape Town, South Africa in September 2019, I had no idea what to expect. The 18-hour flight felt long and was filled with both anticipation and nervousness.
What surprised me most when I finally landed was the city itself. I'm not sure what I expected, but what greeted me was a beautiful, welcoming, and vibrant city. Even though the city is large, it didn't take long for me to get to know the different neighborhoods in the city center and get an impression of where I liked to spend my time.
Cape Town has endless exciting areas, great restaurants, incredible nature, places to explore and, last but not least, people. I am convinced that you can never “get around” this city, as there is always something new to see and do.
I lived for the first few months in Green Point, which is a five-minute drive from the city center, with another Norwegian girl who was in Cape Town on an exchange with her studies. Here we had a short walk to everything we needed, and we often went to Cushty Neighborhood Deli, which without a doubt has the best breakfast in the neighborhood. After Christmas, I got an AirBnB room in Observatory, an area a little further from the city center, but closer to the university (University of Cape Town), and is therefore an area full of life, students, bars and vintage shops. Here I lived with “locals”, who were students at the university. During my stay in Cape Town, I stayed in two very different parts of the city, but both of which have led to extremely many good memories.
My first day at work consisted of getting to know the Flexistore team and an introduction to what I would be doing over the next few months. I quickly realized that the internship was much more exciting than just receiving phone calls and emails. Because even though I was initially responsible for customer service and support, I felt like I was part of the Flexistore team, which is so much more than that.
One of the things that has made the job so exciting is that it is a startup. The team at Flexistore is not that big, which means that I have gotten to know everyone well and also felt like an important part of Flexistore. It has given me a lot of knowledge to be able to follow and take part in a company that has continuously grown since I started just a few months ago.
I have had the opportunity to try my hand at several different fields, and I learn a lot from following the others who work with everything from app development to marketing and project development, and not least the mini-warehouse industry itself.
Christmas dinner with the Flexistore team.
When I finished high school, I was really ready to do something other than follow along in class and do homework in the evenings. The days at the office went by extremely quickly despite being full working days. Although we worked on our own, we also worked as a group and I got to participate and contribute to many exciting new developments and challenges that arose daily.
Outside of work hours, I had plenty of time to find other fun things to do. This included everything from skydiving to shark diving, safaris and good food.
South Africa and Cape Town are very different from Norway, for better or worse. You get to experience how big the differences actually are between people from different backgrounds, which is impressive. Countless trips with different Uber drivers have taught me that people have extremely different views and opinions on what is causing the economic and social problems that the country is experiencing. Yet almost everyone you meet will welcome you with open arms and helpfulness.
My journey ended abruptly in mid-March when the world really understood how badly the corona virus would affect Europe. I was originally supposed to stay in Cape Town until April 10th. But when the press release from Erna Solberg was sent on March 12th, I realized that it was urgent to get home or risk being stuck in South Africa for a long time to come. I got on about the first flight home, which was very sad. I had to leave friends, colleagues and work, but I understood after a short while that this was the right choice. Strict restrictions had already been imposed in Norway and Europe, and on March 27th, South Africa also went into “lockdown” where people have been required to stay home unless they are going to the most necessary things, such as shopping for food. This has probably been the right thing to do in the situation, as several areas in South Africa are often much more densely populated than in Norway.
Despite the fact that the stay was somewhat shorter than planned, Cape Town has undoubtedly become a second home for me. After all, it is the first place I have lived outside the farm at Tynset. In short, this internship and this experience have been an incredible “gap year”, as I have become more independent, met and got to know wonderful people and colleagues, and not least gained valuable experience. Both in terms of work and living and working so far away from home.
