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She sometimes jokingly calls herself a 'boomerang Zeeuw’. Freelance journalist and copywriter Elodie Kint (29) from Heikant keeps coming back. After her studies, for instance, after a tropical adventure in Curaçao and who knows, maybe in the future. "Living in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen is much cheaper than in the Randstad", she mentions as a possible argument. And she says there are plenty of nice jobs.

After your studies, you came back to live in Zeeland. What do you think of that?

"That's right. Less than five days after I graduated, I got a call from the PZC asking if I wanted to join them. They had a traineeship programme especially for budding journalists and immediately offered me a full-time contract for two years. I wouldn't have dared to imagine that even in my wildest dreams, because during my journalism studies I was always told that the jobs didn’t grow on trees.

So, I didn't take me long to think about it and I moved back to Heikant from the students’ city of Tilburg to accept the offer. That turned out to be a great choice. I loved my job as a regional reporter. Every day, I scoured the province to report. I went to the nicest places and could always ask anyone anything. And I also had really nice colleagues: it really felt like one big family."

Yet it came to an end after those two years. Why did you leave?

"There were some open internal vacancies, but there wasn't one that really made my heart beat faster. I was only 22 and didn't feel like applying for a job that didn't make me happy. So, when my traineeship ended, I decided to seek refuge somewhere completely different: Curaçao. I worked for a year and a half there as a journalist with the Antilliaans Dagblad before eventually coming back to the Netherlands." Initially back to Heikant, but not for long.

Where do you live now?

"To be precise, I was back in the Netherlands for one day when I bumped into my current boyfriend during carnival in Hulst - yes, of course, a real Zeeuws-Vlaming too, haha. At that time, I didn't have my own place to live, and he had a nice flat in Rotterdam, where he had stayed after his studies. So, when things got serious between us, I moved in with him. We have now been living together in 'the Randstad' for three years."

Do you still come back to Zeeuws-Vlaanderen often? 

"Yes, definitely. Because we both still have family and friends in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, we definitely come back once a month and then we stay for a whole weekend. Then we try to go and see as many acquaintances as possible and otherwise mainly enjoy the peace and space around us.

At those moments, I invariably take a stroll through the city centre of Hulst, passing the Hema, Kruidvat, Xenos and Action, for example. We also have those shops in Rotterdam, but somehow, I like them better in Hulst, haha. And you can park your car cheaply or even for free. Amazing!

When we stay for a longer while, we often go to the coast. Nowhere do I find it as beautiful as in Zeeland. We prefer to go to Breskens. Then we park the car at the boarding point for the ferry to Vlissingen and walk along the coast to Loods Tien, one of my favourite beach bars. You can eat well here, sit on the terrace nicely out of the wind and the scenery of the North Sea really is priceless as far as I'm concerned!" 

Do you ever miss Zeeuws-Vlaanderen? If so, what are the things you miss the most?

"In my opinion, Zeeuws-Vlaanderen is never far away and since we still come there regularly, I don't have to miss it in that sense. But if I have to mention something, it's mainly the food: Belgian rolls and prepare (steak tartare spread), for example. But also shrimp croquettes, Flemish fries and, of course, in summer, mussels from Zeeland. Those somehow always taste better in Zeeland itself, haha!

I also miss a bit of living enjoyment in Rotterdam that I do see with friends and family in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen. You just get so much more space for your money. Bigger houses, larger gardens and more nature around you. I have a north-facing balcony in a flat block, where all I can see is a pile of stones. Well, of course, I do prefer a nice garden with the sun on my head!"
 

Would you ever consider living in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen again?

"I certainly don't rule that out. I used to sometimes think there wouldn't be enough work for me in Zeeland. But I have since found out that the opposite is true. Because there are not many competitors in Zeeland, as a freelance journalist and copywriter I get a lot of nice assignments from the region. For instance, I still write for the PZC, but also regularly for the Province of Zeeland, Zeeland Business Magazine and Reham Makelaars. I have also done projects for Scalda, Rijkswaterstaat Zee en Delta and a few local entrepreneurs. A lot of fun!

Another argument that may be important for me to ever come back is the low housing prices. A semi-detached house in a village near Rotterdam costs around 550.000 to 600.000 euros these days. In Hulst or Sint Jansteen, you pay over 200.000 euros less for that. This would leave us a lot of financial space for things we find important too: like travelling, for instance. My boyfriend and I now regularly work as digital nomads from abroad and I think it would be great to be able to continue doing that in the future.

Whether I could find my niche in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen again? I'm sure I would! I managed to do so last time, and I have always kept the relations alive. You can always find me at events, such as carnival, Vestrock and the Trappist beer weekend. And last weekend, for instance, I was at the flea market during the Vesting festivities with my mother. But my world will definitely stay a bit bigger than just Hulst and its surroundings. If I want to go somewhere else, I just get in the car and drive there, because Zeeuws-Vlaanderen really isn't the end of the world."