Marleen

Travel information

I am currently

Description

Hi!
My name is Marleen and I'm 24 years old. I absolutely love traveling. For the past 2 years I've been traveling around the world with my best friend. At the moment I'm back home for probably a few months. I'm planning to go to Canada around April 2024.

I absolutely love traveling, meeting new people, and getting to know different cultures. I also love nature, the outdoors, wilderness, roadtripping, and adventure. My favourite thing to do is hiking, and I feel happiest when I'm surrounded by mountains. I love being surrounded by animals and taking care of them. I also love music (unfortanetly I'm not blessed with any music-related talents, but I absolutely love listening to it haha), reading a good book, and watching movies/series. I like doing creative stuff such as drawing, painting, writing, etc..

I studied International Development studies and I'm interested in topics such as sustainability, the environment, tiny houses, interior, and minimalism, but also in humanitarian topics like poverty and refugees. I also really like photography and (vegetable) gardening, even though I don't know much about it haha (I'd love to learn though!). I'd say I'm an organized, adventurous, hard-working and open person who's always up for trying and learning something new.

(I added screenshots of reviews from other workaway hosts from when I was traveling with my friend in Photos)

Interests

Languages spoken

English: Fluent
Dutch: Fluent
German: Beginner

Skills and knowledge I'd like to share or learn

I'm interested in:  

Charity Work

Art Projects

Eco Projects

Gardening

DIY and building projects

Animal Care

Life at a Farmstay

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Some knowledge of:  

Babysitting and creative play

Helping around the house

Hospitality/Tourism

More details about your skills

For the past 1,5 years I've been doing several workaways around the world. I learned a lot and gained different skills during these travels and workaways, as well as during work back home in The Netherlands, such as:
-Working on a ranch and doing farm chores such as feeding the animals, cleaning, fencing, general maintenance, chopping wood, building a cabin, gardening, painting;
-Cleaning/housekeeping, cooking, working in stores, helping customers, making sure guests are having a good time, working on holiday parks, working in restaurants/hospitality, waitressing;
-Helping around the house, looking after kids;
I am used to working in a team, but I'm also very happy and able to do individual tasks by myself. Also, I don't mind hard work outside and I am used to working long days and doing physical work.

For reviews from workaway hosts from when I was doing workaways with my friend: I made screenshots and uploaded them as Photos on my individual workaway account!

A more elaborated overview of my (work) experiences:
Canada: October 2021 - January 2022
-In November and december 2021 I worked on a rescue ranch in Alberta for five weeks. Next to looking after the animals (horses, donkeys, and lama's), I did all sort of tasks together with my friend and two other workawayers like chopping firewood, cleaning, and fencing. We also built a cabin which was a lot of fun and a great learning experience. I absolutely loved being surrounded by animals, working outside, and learning new stuff every day.
-After the rescue ranch, we went to a family in Golden B.C. We helped around the house, spend a lot of time with the three kids, and we looked after the dogs. It was absolutely amazing to become a part of this family so quickly.
-Together with my friend I also did some housesitting in Canada for different homeowners: we looked after the house and the many animals of the homeowners, which was a really cool experience as well.

Costa Rica: February - April 2022
-In Costa Rica I worked as a volunteer in a huge animal rescue centre called Lands in Love. My main job was walking all the amazing and lovely dogs. In addition to this, I helped with cleaning and fundraising.
-I also worked on a farm where we did all sorts of tasks like weeding, gardening, doing some creative projects, and feeding the cows.

Ireland: April - June 2022
-In Ireland I worked on a wedding venue, called Ashley Park House in Nenagh. My main job was waitressing, but I would also regularly help in housekeeping.

Canada: July 2022 - November 2022
-In July 2022 I went back to Canada with my friend to visit our workaway family in Golden. We helped around the house, garden, and with the kids and dogs again. We did a lot of painting as well (we painted the house, deck, windowsills etc.). We also did some small roadtrips, enjoyed summer, and met a lot of absolutly amazing people.

New Zealand: November 2022 - June 2023
Together with my friend I went to New Zealand on a work visa. Here we worked for a company that cleaned holiday homes in Twizel.

Netherlands (home): June 2023 - August 2023
I spend three months back home in the Netherlands with my family. I also worked at my previous job while I was there: a small grocery store with a bakery, located on a huge holiday park. I've worked here from 2018-2021 as well. I am mainly responsible for baking fresh bread every morning for the guests. In addition to this I am a cashier. Since June, I've also been helping out as a volunteer in a local thriftshop.

Norway: September 2023
At the end of August I left the Netherlands and went to Norway for 2,5 weeks. Here I did a workaway where I looked after someone's house, cat and garden while the host was away for work and vacation.

At the moment I'm back in Ireland working at the wedding venue where I worked a year ago as well. I'm planning to stay here until the end of October.



From 2018 - 2021 I studied International Development studies at Wageningen University. I graduated in 2021 and I have bachelor degree.

In 2017 I finished highschool and went to New Zealand for nine months to travel and work: I did all sorts of agricultural jobs (picking strawberry's, planting kumura's, sorting kiwi's), and I also cleaned holiday homes in Twizel (for the same company I did this year). I also did some wwoofing where I mainly looked after animals, helped in the garden and around the house, painted and cleaned.

Age

25

What else ...

I love learning new (random) stuff and I hope I will when doing workaways! One thing I've always wanted to learn is horseback riding. I'd also love to learn a new language, and maybe be able to do something related to my study (like nature conservation, sustainabilty, development, organic farming, etc.). It may be a long shot, but who knows what will happen! I'm open for anything really :)

Some more information

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  Smoker

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  Driver's licence

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  Allergies

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  Special dietary requirements
  I'm a vegan, but I fully understand if this means I have to cook for myself! I really don't mind doing that at all :). If necessary I'm sure we can discuss something and make the necessary arrangements