Just Landed contributors

Get to know the people that made Just Landed become reality

Get to know the people behind Just Landed that dedicated their time to help you get settled abroad. If you also want to join Just Landed, check out the possibilities on how you can get involved in our project and contact us!

Peter de Vreede (Netherlands): Peter has a degree in International Management from the Amsterdam School of Business and speaks 5 languages. He is Dutch and has lived in England, France, Spain, Israel, and Mexico. In 2002, Peter co-founded Greenpoint, a company providing internet via satellite and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) in Mexico. Customers include large governmental organizations like INIFAP and Construction companies like QMAX. Previously, he worked for Jobpartners between 2000 and 2002 as a professional services consultant. He initially worked in the UK on the creation of a Dutch language version of Jobpartners' online recruitment application. His work provided the basis for entering the Netherlands market and contributed to the acquisition of key accounts, providing consulting and implementation work for customers such as Nike and Rabobank. Peter was with the business from very early on until 2008 and played an important role in developing Just Landed from an early-stage project to what exists today.

Catalina del Río Faes (Spain): Catalina holds a MSc in Local Economic Development from the London School of Economics, in addition to a degree in Economics and a MA in Translation from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. She started her career in the audit department of VAHN y cía., then joined KPMG Peat Marwick as a consultant. In 1999 she joined the Graduate Programme at JP Morgan in London. She held various positions with the bank, including Manager of the Interest Analysis Team, a Trader for the Liquidity Trading Desk, and Project Coordinator in the Asset Management Area for the integration of JP Morgan with Chase Fleming. Catalina is Spanish and has lived in the US, France and the UK. She is fluent in English and French.

Sigrid Pratsch (Germany): Sigrid holds a degree in Media Management and has had different temporary jobs in media enterprises, among which an internship at Austria’s national TV and radio station ORF and a position as Marketing and PR assistant at an ISP. She has a passion for the editorial side of the media business and hosted a program at her university’s radio station and also wrote articles and feature stories for the campus paper and a youth magazine. At Just Landed, Sigrid has been doing a variety of tasks, including editorial and content-based work, publishing new countries, coordinating production and translations, restructuring the JL Guide and Directory, and writing guidelines on how to publish articles and countries etc.

Nicoletta Di Bartolomeo (Italy): Nicoletta is from Italy but she fell in love with Spain when she did her Erasmus program in Valencia 3 years ago. After that, she returned to Spain for 6 months and went to Scotland for 8 months but it was too cold, windy and rainy for her liking so, when she won the Leonardo Da Vinci internship in Just Landed, she was the happiest girl in the world for coming back to Madrid! She is studying Foreign Languages Applied To Technical Translation (Spanish/English) in Rome's University "La Sapienza" and she is already thinking of moving somewhere else (maybe France) after the final exams. At JL she has translated country guides into Italian and selling advertisement to Italian customers.

Jonathan Diehl (Germany): Jonathan holds a degree in computer science from RWTH Aachen University and is especially interested in interface design and usability research. His goal was to improve the user experience of our site through a user-centered design process, starting with the Classifieds Section. Jonathan speaks German and English, and is learning Spanish.

René Harmsen (Netherlands): René is from Holland and studied European Studies with a specialisation in International Communication Management. After participating in the Erasmus program in Madrid 1,5 years ago, he just had to return! Therefore, he decided to do his internship in Madrid with the main reason to improve his Spanish. At Just Landed, René translated language guides into Dutch and sold advertisements to Dutch speaking companies. After his internship, he went back to Holland to finish his studies and to specialise more in certain aspects related to International Communication.

Eva Kallweit (Germany): Eva is from Germany and studying Multimedia and Communications at a small University near Nuremberg. For her first out of two work placements, she decided to gain some professional experience abroad. Which is why she applied for the internship at Just Landed and finally also got it! At Just Landed she died some editorial and marketing work. And by the way: She hopes to become fluent in Spanish.

Björn Ganslandt (Germany): Björn worked on technical and design aspects of the website and constantly drinks tea. Just like programming, drinking tea is something Björn did not do on a regular basis in Germany, where he studies technical communication and works in the staff of a radio station and as freelance author. When he talks, he does so in German, English or Spanish.

Luis Muñoz (Spain): Luis, for a long time, was the “code master" behind Just Landed. He holds a degree in software development from the Centro Europeo de Estudios Profesionales CEEP in Madrid. His previous work experience includes projects for Ernst & Young Cap Gemini, Mercantil de Informática, Internationalpoint.com and the ERASMUS student network at the Universidad Complutense. Luis is Spanish, speaks English and some Catalan.

Sebastian Flores Cancino: Sebastian is a designer at heart and is helping out with graphics, but at Just Landed he managed the promotional campaign for the Just Landed Directory in Spain. Living as an Ecuadorian in Madrid, he's got a first-hand experience of what it means to be Latin American in Spain, and wants to help others overcome the challenges of moving there.

Nicolás de la Vega (Argentina): Born in Argentina, finished his baccalaureate in Berlin and currently studies Politics and International Relations at the University of Kent. Nicolás translated the contents of the Belgian guide into Spanish, he also wrote (and translated) the topic "moving" and edited part of the guide contents of France (adapted other texts to fit our format). He also took care of the online shop during the time he was present and tested the website searching for bugs.

Bettina De-Carli (Switzerland): Bettina is from the Italian part of Switzerland. She moved to the French part at 16 to go to high school, got a University degree in Communications and Combined Studies from Richmond, The American International University in London. Lived in London for 4 years, has a strong passion for the city and would like to go back one day. After doing an internship at Just Landed, she is planning on staying in Spain longer, work and enjoy the city and the culture for a couple of years before finding a way somewhere else! At Just Landed Bettina helped expand the number of countries we have available in Italian and worked on editorial.

Stéphane Azamar (France): Stéphane is currently enrolled in an international business school called E.S.C.E (Ecole Supérieure du Commerce Exterieur). He contributed to the translational work of our Canada guide but also in our advertising campaign in France. During his internship with Just Landed in Madrid, he was able to practice his Spanish and his English.

Linda Wohlfarth (Germany): Linda is currently enrolled in an international study program of the EuropeanSchool of Business Reutlingen, Germany and ICADE Madrid. She joined Just landed for a summer internship. Practicing her Spanish, English and German she is helping Just Landed with translating content.

Jessica Schulz (Germany): After taking her A-Levels she decided to go to the EuropeanSchool of Business in Reutlingen, Germany. This is an integrated dual diploma programme studying in German and Spanish. The second half of her studies will take place in Madrid. Jessi joined us to do an internship for one month during the summer holidays in order to improve her language skills and gain some international experience. She translated Italy from English into German.

Kari Masson (USA): Kari has a very colorful collection of stamps in her passport. After growing up in Cote d’Ivoire, West Africa, she studied in the US and UK, spent time with the Maasai people of Kenya, camped in the Swedish tundra, and worked in Senegal. The most recent addition to her passport is a French residency permit. She speaks English, French, and the African dialect of Wolof. Drawing on her experiences, Kari is a freelance writer for travel, cross-cultural, and expatriate-focused publications. More than 50 of her articles have appeared in North America, Europe, and Africa. If you are looking to add dynamic creativity to your publication, contact Kari at .
Website: www.jkmassonprint.blogspot.com

Hamish Colquhoun (UK): Having completed the first year of his Economics degree course with Edinburgh University, Hamish joined the Just Landed team in 2005 on a summer internship. His prior work experience included a 7-month Gap Year placement with Rothschild’s in London and a 3-month posting in La Paz, Bolivia working as a journalist for The Express. Whilst with Just Landed in Madrid, Hamish produced the content for and launched the UK site. He then actively marketed the site, and successfully negotiated a number of important commercial agreements for the company. Hamish is British and, in addition to English, speaks fluent Spanish.

Sonia Tissier (France): As part of her “Licence Professionnelle Information Stratégique et Actions sur les Marchés ( i.e. vocational degree course in international business and marketing) in the University Institute of Technologies of Moulins, France; Sonia joined the Just Landed team as a trainee, where she works on the Directory project, a versatile task in operation for several months. Having spent several months in Spain, Sonia reached a good level in Spanish, in addition to French and English.

Joren Ellenbroek (Holland): Joren is currently enrolled in the IBMS program of the HanzeUniversity in Groningen, the Netherlands. Living in Madrid for half a year, he has joined the Just Landed team as an intern, as a part of his study program. He is currently involved in the Directory project, a versatile task in operation for several months. Having lived in Spain for nearly one year, Joren is now fluent in Spanish, in addition to Dutch, English and German.

Alessandra Urbani (Italy): Alessandra contacted us to find out why we didn't have any content in Italian. She did the translation which meant that Switzerland became the first Just Landed country to become available in Italian.

Zigor Muñoz (Euskal Herria): Zigor translated the very large guide for Germany into Spanish. Zigor is Basque and has spent many years living, working and studying away from his homeland. He is now still in exile, but slightly closer to home, as is currently based in Madrid.

Tony Jervis (UK): Tony used his 9 years of living as an expat in France to help improve the guide for this country, contributing useful tips from his personal experiences.

Joanna Urbanska (Poland): Joanna knocked on our door in Madrid one day and proposed to translate our Germany guide into Polish. Polish characters drove our programmers crazy. By now, the Polish site on Germany is one of the most popular sites on Just Landed. Thank you, Joanna, for opening up Just Landed to a whole new population!

Andrés Rivero (Venezuela): Andrés translated our Spain guide into Spanish, breaking the ground for a website for Latin Americans in Spain. He's definitely been one of our best translators so far, thank you, Andrés!

Aurore Bligny (France): Aurore managed the original translation of our guide to France. She also used her internship in Madrid to get accustomed to speaking in three languages at a time.

Makhiban Gengadharan (Sri Lanka): Makhiban was our first intern at Just Landed and translated a good part of our country guides into French, including the guides to Germany, Spain and Holland.

Stefan Beckmann (Germany): Stefan has given Just Landed its face. He did the whole design of our new portal, including the difficult navigation for managing multiple countries and languages. Although his heart is dedicated to old cars and retro-stuff, he earns his liviing as a professional designer for a wide range of "non-retro" websites.

Petr Cech (Czech Republic): Petr has been living for many years in France. He wrote the original country guide for France, researching the information to get you settled effectively. He also produced our first PDF-guide to Spain, which is now used by a variety of language schools and other institutions.

George de Lint (Netherlands): George programmed the first version of the Just Landed website, working long night shifts to get a working online retail shop up and running. Sadly, George passed away in 2005.

Brian Scott Kahn (USA): Brian is a co-founder of Just Landed. He managed the legal paperwork to get us started and fought many valient battles with the insanity of Spanish bureaucracy. In addition, he wrote the first country guide on Spain.

Thierry Buné (the Netherlands): Thierry has worked in marketing and sales roles for several companies in the healthcare and tourism sectors. He holds a degree in International Business and Management from the Amsterdam School of Business and a Masters Degree in Economics from Amsterdam’s VU University. He has also studied at the Centre for Latin American Research and Documentation. Thierry is a Dutch national who has lived in Spain, the Netherlands, France, US and Argentina. He speaks seven languages.

Joe Wolf (UK): Joe was was one of the first programmers at Jobpartners in 1999. He later became lead Design Analyst, taking customer and business requirements. He has hands-on experience on the entire development cycle and the architecture of software systems and broad technical exposure to various languages and applications. He is currently completing a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and speaks English, Greek and some French. Joe is British and has travelled to many countries, including the Far-East and South Africa.

Andy Stephen (UK): A British national with a serious travel bug, Andy is working on the UK site for Just Landed. Having travelled extensively in Latin America, the South Pacific and South East Asia, Andy has varied experience of what moving countries is all about. Previously working in marketing roles in Thailand, Australia and the UK he brings some extra international experience to the team. Andy is using his time at Just Landed to add to his own language ability, and hopes to become fluent in Spanish.

Chiara Alejandra Di Buono (USA/Italy): Born in the United States, but has always lived in Italy where she is completing her degree in languages in the Information Society at TorVergata University. Her studies include Information technology and languages (English, Spanish and French). At just landed she is carrying out a 6 months Leonardo Da Vinci internship and at the moment her main tasks are the translation of Guides and customer service.

Michaela Eichhorn (Germany): Michaela wanted to get some experience abroad before starting her university studies. She also wanted to improve her Spanish, so applied to do a 6-month internship at Just Landed. She launched German-language country guides for China, Ireland and Hong Kong as well as the German version of the new community, improving both her Spanish and English skills in the process.

Jon-Anders Kindberg (Norway): Having lived and worked internationally for a number of years, Jon-Anders was the perfect candidate to translate the Just Landed community into his Norwegian mother tongue. Jon-Anders (or simply Jon, as he goes by in most English-speaking situations) holds a BA in Print Journalism from the University of Westminster in London and an MBA in International Marketing from the ESLSCA Graduate School of Business in Paris. He presently resides in Norway and runs an internationally oriented consultancy company, Melior Intercom.

Hale Erkoc (Turkey): Hale holds a BSc. Degree in Chemical Engineering from Middle East Technical University, Turkey. One of her biggest interests is learning new languages and she came across our translation job while looking for a job or internship in Spain to improve her Spanish. She is now packing her bags to go to Sweden to get her MSc. Degree in Sustainable Energy Systems from Malardalen University (2009-2010 terms) and to learn Swedish.

Eniko Blitzer (Hungary): Eniko holds a degree in Communication, specialising in Journalism. Until now she has worked for Manager Magazin and other online newspapers. Besides journalism she also studied History and is interested in Foreign Politics and Sports. After finishing Uni she came to Spain where she found our ad for a Hungarian translator. She was able to finish the work from home in Hungary but hopes to return to Spain in the future.

Suresh M.G. (India): Suresh has a degree in English Language and Literature and over 25 years of experience in translation. A native Malayalam speaker, he has helped us by translating the site into his native language. He can also speak Hindi and English fluently. Translation and literature are a passion of his, though he has spent a major part of his professional life in areas such as software development, taxation, accounts and administration. He is also associated with several leading linguistic firms in India, Europe and the US.

Rasha El-Gabry (UK): Rasha is a qualified and professional English Arabic translator with over 10 years of professional experience in English- Arabic translation and vice versa. She loves reading, travelling and translation; the latter she considers the art that gives a special taste to her life. She has lived in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and is settled now in the UK. Being an Expatriate herself, she loved the idea of Just Landed and how it helps render life easier for people like herself.

Michal Zugec (Slovakia): Michal is a former military fighter pilot. He is a Slovak native and has lived abroad in Libya, Canada and the Czech Republic. After retirement from military service he worked for Pepsi Cola for 10 years, on various managerial positions within the Czech and Slovak Republics. In 2004 he decided to quit business and moved from Prague, Czech Republic to Polomka, a mountainous village in Slovakia where he enjoys his hobby farm  and makes his living by sitting behind a PC and translating from English to Slovak/Czech and vice versa. His details can be found here .

Cathrine Grage (Denmark): Holds an MBA in international Business and is currently working as freelance translator and travelling around the world for speedskating. Cathrine translated the website from English to Danish. Apart from that, Cathrine is a native speaker of Danish and French and has a fair command of English, German, Dutch and Swedish. She works with translations from these languages into Danish on a daily basis.

Nick Lewandowski (USA): Nick arrived at Just Landed after completing BAs in both English (Writing) and German. He was looking for practical writing experience, and found it in spades. Nick wrote and edited the Japan and Turkey Guides in English, and made significant additions and adjustments to the Hong Kong and Oman Guides. Nick is a native speaker of English and a (relatively) fluent German speaker. He devotes much of his time to a variety of freelance writing projects and struggling to finish The Next Great American Novel.

Timothy Gribaudi (Italy/UK/France): After obtaining a First Honours degree in History and Politics at the University of York, Tim came to Madrid and joined the Just Landed team in September 2009. Tim was responsible of the Just Landed Blog, the editing of articles and wrote the Sweden expat guide. He was also responsible for the Telephone helpline and greatly contributed with the translations of the website into French and Italian.

Indira Wulftange (Germany/Serbia): Indira started experiencing expatriate life at the age of 15 when she moved from Belgrade to Germany. Since she speaks German, English, Serbian and Russian (and a little bit of Spanish...) - it was a natural choice for her to study International Business Communication in Munich. At Just Landed, Indira launched the expatriate guide to Thailand, translated the Hungary Guide into German and translated the whole website into Serbian. She was also responsible for moderating the community and taking care of user questions.

Monika Buha (Germany/Croatia): Monika managed her first international relocation at the age of 9 when she moved from Croatia to Germany. Ok - let's admit she rather got moved - but since then she's kept moving on her own. She has also lived in the UK and speaks Croatian, German, English, French and Spanish. She has launched the Just Landed expat guides to Brazila and Malaysia, translated existing guides into German and translated the site navigation into Croatian.

Fernando Martinez (Spain): Fernando is a developer from Madrid interested in information architecture, and agile development. He studied Computer Science at the UAM. Fernando has traveled through Italy, France and Portugal and lived in Massachusetts (USA), Oxford and Hastings (UK). At Just Landed, he has implemented the multicurrency feature that allows you to easily convert prices into your local currency.

Fernando Diaz (Spain): Fernando has traveled around Europe and North America has lived in Canada for more than a year. Before coming back to his hometown Madrid and joining Just Landed, he worked in web development for Electronic Arts, the University of New Brunswick, Science Tools and personal projects. He holds a computer science degree from UAH. At Just Landed, he developed large parts of the admin interfaces.

Annabel Pletinck (Netherlands): Annabel is from Belgium and studying Office Management, specialization Human Ressources. At Just Landed in Madrid she saw the opportunity of improving her language skills and she translated many guides from English tot Dutch. She speaks four languages: Dutch, English, French and Spanish.

Elizabeth Lyon (U.S.): On a summer break from academic studies, Elizabeth decided to try her writing in a professional business environment. She wanted to write in a business setting and she had never lived abroad before, so she took the opportunity to come to Madrid. At Just Landed, she launched an expat guide to Israel and wrote various property guides to the Middle East.

Emilie Aoustin (France): Emilie studied in IESEG Lille, a french school of management. She joined our team for a three month internship to develop her translation, writing and marketing skills and to learn Spanish. After spending a year in Lithuania for her studies, she wanted to work in a multicultural environment and found the perfect fit with Just Landed. She translated various guides into French and updated many existing country guides.

Giorgia Manno (Italy): Giorgia studied Foreign Languages at the “Università del Salento” in Italy. At Just Landed, she was responsible for editorial tasks and translation. She joined our team for a four months internship for four months and loved our multicultural environment that allows her to speak in a number of different languages on a daily basis.

Jeanette Holyoak (UK): Jeanette has graduated from the University of Edinburgh in Spanish and Russian Studies and has lived in Malaga, St. Petersburg and Moscow. Preferring the Spanish sun to the Russian snow, Jeanette decided to move to Madrid in order to start her post-university adventure. She's interested in journalism and publishing, speaks English, Spanish, Russian and can also get by in Italian.

Lenka Stodůlková (Czech Republic): Before joining Just Landed, Lenka worked as a volunteer for an organization helping university exchange students to integrate in the local community. She studied Public Economy and International Relations at Masaryk University. During her studies she spent one semester in the Netherlands and wanted to continue her international experience by moving abroad again, this time to Madrid. She speaks fluently English and Czech and works on improving her German, Dutch, French and Spanish.

Piotr Zaręba (Poland): Piotr studied journalism and social communication and spent part of his studies in Istanbul, Turkey. After his different newspaper experiences, he decided to seek a new challenge in new media and joined Just Landed. He speaks Polish and English and is currently learning German, Turkish and Spanish. At Just Landed, he launched the UK guide in Polish and enhance the content coverage of our Poland portal.

Marine Bourgeois (France): Marine's studies took her to the US, UK and Tokyo, Japan as part of her course in Politics and International Relations at the University of Kent. She decided to move to Madrid to brush up her Spanish and to continue the international experience, whilst exploring possible careers. She speaks French and English fluently, and does her best in Japanese and Spanish. Marine contributed to making Just Landed viable in French and provided information on Japan.

Alžbĕta Plevová (Czech Republic): While still studying, Alžbĕta has travelled and experienced living in different countries – Europe and the other part of the world - Mexico and Ecuador. When she came to Spain, she was surprised how strongly the Mexican accent got stuck with her. Working and living in Madrid was sort of Alžbĕta's dream, so she was happy to enjoy it when working in Just Landed. Her work was focused on the guides for the Czech Republic.

Jessica da Silveira (Uruguay): Jessica has a Communications degree from Universidad de la República (Uruguay) and has been living in Spain since 2008. From a multicultural family, she speaks fluently Spanish and English, plans to improve her Portuguese and Italian (she learnt them as a kid) and is currently learning French. Her goal is to speak fluently at least five languages, since she enjoys travelling and the experience of living in different countries.

Sonia Niedradzik (Poland): Sonia as a graduate in International Economics & Marketing helped us to further prospect and develop the Polish and Eastern European Markets. With her outgoing and energetic personality she made a great addition to our sales team. Sonia loves languages and travelling and enjoyed the international environment in Just Landed.