Letter from the Commission

Hi, I was reading the "letter from the Commission" topic on the October 2009 section of this forum.
It seems that letters were sent by post at the time.

The selection e-mail I received on June 28th said "You will soon receive the detailed offer as well as practical information about your place of recruitment per email."

Have they started to send them by e-mail now?
I'd like to know because I won't be home since July 16th to July 25th and I don't want to miss it

If you know something please share the info. Thanks!

Hi,
No news yet...

No news either! I'll keep you guys posted.

I got the official confirmation today! Fingers crossed for all

Got it as well! Lots of documents to fill, print and send...

For those who asked: they sent it by EMAIL and not by post.

See you in October!

-Frenchie

hiya!

I've also just got it via e-mail! Fingers crossed that you all also get them today!

c u in October!

-Lolo-

Hi!

I've also got it:) Have you noticed we are starting on the 4th of October? Niiicee:)

See you soon!

I got it too! See you at the official reception. I see they also include a travel allowance for those of more than 50kms away from Bruxelles. Make sure you keep your tickets/gas receipts .

Mine has arrived too... but my starting day is October 5th (in Madou).
Does any of you start on that day too?
Deadline for acceptance is July 29th, so enought time to go through all the paperwork.
See you there

Got it too, email seems to be the way!

@gaia: I'm starting on the 5th at Madou as well! What's your DG? I'm in INFSO...

And, does anybody know if the place where we will start is the place where the whole traineeship will take place? I was just wondering...in terms of finding accommodation close by.

See you guys in October then!

alicia wrote:Got it too, email seems to be the way!
@gaia: I'm starting on the 5th at Madou as well! What's your DG? I'm in INFSO...
And, does anybody know if the place where we will start is the place where the whole traineeship will take place? I was just wondering...in terms of finding accommodation close by.
See you guys in October then!

Alicia: the welcoming is at Madou (here on the map) close to the city centre. If you're in INFSO, your internship will be in Beaulieu (here on the map), so you should look for accommodation in the Beaulieu area, close to where you'll work.
Unless of course you want to stay in the centre where all city life / parties / cultural events take place, but in this case be sure to live near a Metro station so that you don't take too much time going to your work (Metro line 5 is the line for you).
Hope this helps!

Thanks frenchie !

Beaulieu is kinda far away, that's why (for a second) I got really happy today when I saw that it was in Madou. Anyway, it's good to know in advance that this it only for the welcome event! Thanks again!

I begin on 5 October too And will be a trainee for DG ENVirinment, which is also at Beaulieu! See u all very soon, greets from Brussels

Hi everyone.

I got the e-mail, too and I will also start at Madou on Oct 5. How do you guys know where your DGs and services are??? I am at DG EAC and I have no idea where this one is. Anybody knows??

Hi Jeannek!

Take a look at that: http://ec.europa.eu/oib/buildings_en.cfm

It looks like all the DGs are close to Schumman except from INFSO, ECFIN and ENV, which are located in Beaulieu.

Hope it helps!

Alicia: Thanks a lot. It looks like I will stay at Madou :-)

Hey there!

I got my offer yesterday too.
I will start at Madou on 5th October at 8:30AM.

I know it's extremly early for that kind of arrangments but anyway it would be great to drink Belgian beer with you after the official part

Totally up for the after official beer-part Looking forward to see you all on the 5/10...
Good luck with the administrative things

Big yesssss for the beer on the 5th!!

Have you noticed that some people start on the 4th, others on the 5th? Have they separated the stagiaires into 2 groups or what?

@alicia - I'll be in Relex.

@Frenchie: since you seem to know Brussels quite well, could you tell me if Parc du Cinquantenaire is close to the Relex building and if it is a nice neighbourhood? Thanks

To all of you: a beer after the official welcome seems an excellent programme to me...but how will we find each other? We should choose a spot or some kind of sign to recognize each other

gaia wrote:@alicia - I'll be in Relex.

@Frenchie: since you seem to know Brussels quite well, could you tell me if Parc du Cinquantenaire is close to the Relex building and if it is a nice neighbourhood? Thanks

To all of you: a beer after the official welcome seems an excellent programme to me...but how will we find each other? We should choose a spot or some kind of sign to recognize each other

Gaia: Parc du Cinquantenaire is a big park near Schuman, where the main buildings of the Commission are - with "main buildings" I mean Berlaymont, and Charlemagne where most of RELEX units are located. So the park is indeed very close to Relex. All the streets around the park are very nice and rather quiet so I guess it's what you can call a nice neighbourhood - it's a little bit pricier though.
To the north-west of the Parc du Cinquantenaire, you have very nice areas such as Ambiorix and Square Marie-Louise - I worked there for 6 months so I can only recommend it. To the east of the Parc you find Mérode and Montgomery which are very nice spots as well - a lot of my friends live there and they like it but it's a bit further from the city centre.
I don't recommend living further east than Montgomery as it is too far away from everything else, and very badly connected by public transportation (unless you have a car of course). There you have neighbourhoods such as Woluwé-Saint-Pierre and Woluwé-Saint-Lambert, they are very posh and nice but a lot more expensive.

Anyway, here's my 2 cents - I hope this helps. If you're a bit lost among the "communes" in Brussels, here is a map: http://www.ilotsacre.be/site/gemeenten19communes.htm

I haven't got any reply so far, not positive, not negative.

It's already the 19th.

Is it a good or a bad sign?

Hi all!

One short question regarding the deadline: How do you interpret it?

Does it mean the trainee office must receive the confirmed offer before or on 29th?
Or does it mean we have to send it before or on the 29th so that the postmark counts?

@ Frenchie
Thanks a lot for the info!

Hi!
Also, to clarify - in the document it was stated that we should send the documents (acceptance form etc.) as scanned copies via e-mail or as originals via regular mail. How do majority of you send - via email or in paper? Seemed that easier and quicker is sending them by email, but then again i wonder - does EC really do not need the originals?

@ Ginger: I will send it as scanned copies because otherwise I won't meet the deadline.
But I was also wondering whether the scanned version is enough for the EC.

I e-mailed my docs yesterday and a couple minutes ago I received a confirmation e-mail:
"Dear Sir or Madam,

This message confirms receipt of your signed acceptance form for the training period starting 1 October 2010. If you have any question about the traineeship, you can contact the person mentioned at the top of this message."

Indeed, EC does not need the originals in paper!

I sent the documents by post, but I guess if they wrote that you can send them by e-mail, you can send them by e-mail.
If you think you're gonna be late for the deadline, just send an e-mail to the traineeship's office saying that your documents will arrive later than the 29th but that you accept the traineeship, and come up with a lame excuse to justify your situation ("there was a strike in my post office" or "my pet rabbit ate my medical insurance form" etc.)

Hello everybody!

Have any of you emailed the EAC-STAGES....email and got a response? I sent off an email with a query two days ago and I have yet to get a reply so I'm starting to get anxious!

Thanks,

Callie

Callie wrote:Hello everybody!

Have any of you emailed the EAC-STAGES....email and got a response? I sent off an email with a query two days ago and I have yet to get a reply so I'm starting to get anxious!

Thanks,

Callie

Callie, yesterday (21 July) was National Holiday in Belgium (Fête Nationale de Belgique). The Commission (and the Traineeship's Office) was closed.