Who are you?

My name is Marijke de Vries (29) and I am a journalist from the Netherlands. Recently my boyfriend and I have moved to Brussels (that is : Molenbeek).

On which project are you currently working on?

I have just started as a freelance correspondent on Belgium/Brussels for Dutch media, so it’s an ongoing project. If you have any interesting stories, feel free to share them 🙂

What do you like to do when you are not working?

I like cooking with friends, reading, surfing, exploring my new city and growing flowers and vegetables on our rooftop terrace (or at least trying to).

Song you would like to make us discover?

Maybe something Dutch. Any song of Spinvis. Maybe start with “Bagagedrager” or “Voor ik vergeet” or “Oostende”

A quote, a poem, an advice, which follows you everywhere?

“Angst is mar veur eben, spiet is veur altied”. It’s a quote from a song of my favourite chansonnier Daniël Lohues which means: fear is just temporary, regret is forever. Lohues grew up in the same Dutch region as I did (Drenthe) and all his songs (in “Drents”, our dialect) are extremely true.

How do you feel at Le Phare?

Very good ! As a freelancer it is the best “office” I could wish for.

To know more about Marijke’s work: I should definitely do CPR on my website (mgdevries.nl), which is nearly death. So, if there’s a webdesigner around that would like to help ? In the meantime my twitter account

To contact Marijke : mgdevries@gmail.com