Laurene Desclaux is a 23-year-old field engineer with a manufacturing company based in Cikarang, Bekasi. She completed her engineering undergraduate in Paris, her master's thesis in Brazil and is the only female field engineer with PT Welltekindo Nusantara. She spends weeks at a time hidden away in Kalimantan, working on and testing new innovations for the oil and gas industry. She comes to Jakarta whenever she can because she says it's the only way she can feel normal again.

When I first arrived here in February 2006, I felt I didn't belong anywhere.

This city is such a big mess and as I watched things go by from the car, I didn't want to close my eyes. There is so much to see.

The French community here is very closed. And because we don't always have such good English at home, language is a barrier.

I do not have much interest in being with the French here, I prefer to meet other people and because of this my English is getting much better.

Jakarta is very international and that's one of the things I love. I've learned that there is not just a community made up of Western and Asian people. There's so much more to it.

I'm learning more about socializing with others and I'm learning about cultural differences. My friends at home are different to me now. I've learned a lot more than I would have at home.

It was much easier in Brazil, I learned Portuguese quickly and it's a very Western culture there, not like here.

As expats, we do tend to hang out together I suppose, and money does bind us together, but sometimes this city is hard to cope with, all the attention we get on the street is hard, having people constantly stare at you, and sometimes the only way to feel normal again is to be with other expatriates.

This is a great chance to open up your mind though, and my job is so much more fun than if I had stayed at home.

It's been intense, but once you get through that - it's always the most difficult situations that are the most rewarding.

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