Elena Melkumova was head of education at a contemporary art museum in Moscow when a 2016 conference trip persuaded her to study museology in Amsterdam. She came back in 2022 and, after three years in the lighting industry, now creates educational programmes for lighting designers while working as an independent curator. She finds Dutch directness a relief and recommends a 12km walk through the dunes to the sea. How did you end up in the Netherlands?