Getting in the loop of the working world is just the beginning. Then you have to survive its first steps.

At 25, Matias Jurgenflop, finally done with his double Masters in International Law and EU Policies, was fully geared up to enter the competitive elite environment of EU Affairs. His dream quickly started to take shape when he managed to get an internship at Freshman and Sandwich, one of Brussels’ most prestigious consultancies. Only problem: the salary was barely enough to pay for his rent.

“I come from a tiny village in Austria and my family is very poor, explained Jurgenflop. They had to sell the cow to help me finance my studies, as the loan I got was not enough itself. My rent in Brussels was 550 euros, and I got 600 with the internship. That left me with 50 euros to live, not one more cent.”

However, the young man accepts the offer without thinking any further.

“I was still a bit stressed, admits Jurgenflop, as it was a full time job with some extra hours, so I couldn’t work aside.”

But after a week, while attending a conference on the future of organic tomatoes in Latvia, he makes the discovery that will transform his life: The Buffet.

“It was a revelation, the answer to all my problems, says Jurgenflop, the voice still shaking with excitement. Right in front of me was enough food to help me go through at least two days!”

As the educated and bright young man he is, Matias quickly sets up a strategy, mapping all the conferences happening in Brussels and coming up with elaborated ways to get the food. However things were not easy every day.

“The problem was not finding the conferences. It was rather how to get the food without raising suspicion or looking out of manners. Also, I ended up becoming slightly traumatised by every triangle shape.”

Matias first started by coming back to the buffet once every 7 minutes (a strategic timing he calculated), putting one sandwich in his bag for each one he ate. But he quickly realised the technique was not subtle enough.

“The solution actually came naturally. The companies that do the catering for the events are no more than a dozen, and I ended up knowing the waiters who saw me at every event. So I became friends with them and they saved me food each time”.

So Matias was finally sorted. The story could have stopped there. But it went even further.

By engaging into discussions with the catering companies, the young man became so knowledgeable about the food industry that he got noticed by some heavyweights.

“It was at a conference on GMOs, I remember it very well, I had just negotiated 3 shrimps triangles, two brie and raisins sandwiches and a couple of mango mousse verrines with Kamel, the Waiter from Ixke, when I stumbled on a Senior Advisor at “Feed Europe”. He was so impressed by how much I knew about food catering and people working in the industry that he offered me to work for them!"

A beautiful story indeed: now after 6 years of study and one internship, Matias is finally working- again as a Trainee, but for a salary that enables him to eat, pay his bills and even have a few drinks in Irish pubs every week.

Yacine Kouhen

www.yacinekouhen.com