Doodling my way through IBM

     Ever since I can remember, I have always been fascinated by art in all its forms, but more precisely, the visual arts. I can spend hours submerged in a museum, looking at paintings and imagining the artist and the kind of life surrounding him at the time he painted it. The concept of art prevailing through the history of human kind as a consistent source of delight has always been interesting for me.

     When I first visited Europe, I was mesmerized by the amount of talent compressed in thousands of museums, where I could easily spend entire days roaming around so many different styles and colours. My favourite artist´s name might sound very mainstream, but that does not make me like him any less: Vincent Van Gogh. 

      As a teenager I read a book about his life and it had extracts from letters to his brother. Many things he wrote there struck a chord in me. I can recognize many aspects of his life that are similar to mine. For instance, I have mentioned in other posts how I struggled with depression for a long time. The way he managed to channel his suffering into colours and light has always been inspirational for me. 

       Later on, my fascination moved to Illustration. When I first visited the Efteling I became curious as to who had been the mastermind behind all those buildings and I found out about Anton Pieck.

Drawing by Anton Pieck

      My interest for art grew a lot stronger in the last couple of years and around February 2015 I decided to try drawing for the first time - besides those horrid doodles you make as a child your mother so proudly hangs on the refrigerator. Drawing and painting was something I just assumed would never be good at, so I never tried.

     I decided I needed another hobby to take my mind off things, so I started drawing. My friends seemed to enjoy the first drawing, and the literary magazine I volunteered for sometimes in my university asked me for permission to post it on their next issue, among other short stories and poems I had already submitted.

This was the first time I decided to sit down and draw something as a hobby, in february 2015

    After that I kept drawing. Every time I felt down, every time I felt anxious, I just picked up a piece of paper and let my mind rest on the pen. I have had trouble for this in the last semester: one of our teachers called my attention for doodling in class. It may seem as if I am not paying attention when I am drawing, but the mind works in mysterious ways: I for instance actually pay more attention while doodling. It has to do with the fact that I can be a very anxious person at times and drawing helps me relax while still being able to listen to the lesson. I read in an article about psychology that it is actually scientifically proven that your mind is more attentive while drawing. In case anyone is interested on the study, I will leave the link here:

http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1882127,00.html

    After about a year of doodling, I started to share my drawings with friends and they have been enthusiastic about it. They have made me question lately whether I should have gone to art school instead of business, but I am not entirely sure if this would be a good idea. See, not even Van Gogh, one of the most influential artists of all times managed to sell one single painting. But my friends keep encouraging me to do more things related to art since they seem to enjoy my drawings. A couple of teachers at Artevelde have already suggested I should start selling them. But how?

Sketch we had to make in 20 minutes during one of the model sessions I joined this semester at Figure Drawing Ugent

    This brings me to the reason I am writing this post in what should be a "business" blog: Eventually I would love to find a way to combine business with art. I would love being able to work for an editorial that combines writing and illustration of books, or for a museum and eventually even start my own printing company. Ideally I would brand my designs in a way that people could buy merchandise with my designs.

      Lately I discovered a website called zazzle.com where you can upload your designs and if people like them, they can order the product and Zazzle will make and send the product for you. The earnings for the artist are very low, but considering all you have to do is uploading your design, I figured I would try uploading a couple of items. This is how one of the items with my design looks like on the website:

http://www.zazzle.com/old_city_s_sketch_mug-168042559219882138

     In order to make a business out of my passion for art, I would have to gain other skills related to graphic design, and that means I will have to decide whether I should follow night-school for illustration in Ghent, while at the same time combining a part time job and IBM studies or if I should leave it for some other time and focus on my studies in Artevelde. This is something I have been thinking about a lot lately...if you have any idea on how I could successfully juggle those three things at the same time, tips are very welcomed in the comment section!

     For now all I have to say is that if you have a lot of passion about a certain hobby, you should find a way to make a living out of it and combine it with your job. 

Life is too short not to do what you love!

Unexpected lessons on Networking

Antonio Banderas with his friend and author Antonio Soler

                                              

I would like to introduce today´s post with an anecdote: 

    When I was studying at Ghent University, we had a guest lecture for Spanish Literature by a reknown Spanish writer, Antonio Soler. At the moment of the lecture I must admit that I had no idea who he was, or that he was a well-known author. 

The lecture was about this novel concerning generation post-  Spanish Civil War

    However, during the lecture I found out the theme of his novels were mostly the Spanish Civil War and I remembered that year I had been to a guided tour through the buidling Vooruit in Ghent. In this building, now famous for its parties and events as well as the cosy atmosphere of its Cafe, there had taken place an event years ago that I thought would interest him.

The Vooruit, now known for its Cafe and parties, was once scenario to the tragedy of the Spanish children sent abroad

    After the lecture I came close to the professor of our subject and I told her what I had heard during that guided tour: during the Spanish Civil War, many Spanish families sent their children to Belgium to be adopted by Belgian families, so they could spare them from the horrors of the war.

    Around a hundred of those children were sent to Ghent, and in one of the big rooms in the Vooruit Belgian families could choose which children they could take for adoption, which resulted in divided families since many siblings did not get the same home. The guide also told us that about 30 years afterwards, someone managed to organize an event where all the children who were adopted could get together in the same room in the Vooruit. It was an emotional evening since many of the now adults recognized their long lost siblings. 

     I told the professor that, perhaps, she could tell the author to visit this place since I figured it would be something interesting for him.

    She replied I should actually tell him myself, and she asked me to join them for some "copas" (a very Spanish way of saying you want to have some wine with friends). We would go out after the lecture with the head of the Spanish and French Literature Department, some other professors, and the author. I was surprised at the invitation since I would be the only student joining, but thrilled nonetheless. 

    She told him about my advice to go to Vooruit some time, introduced him to me and later on decided it would be a good idea to have some drinks in the Vooruit itself. During that night I found out the author was actually a close friend to Antonio Banderas and had adapted one of his scripts to a movie with him. The movie was called Summer Rain. 

Antonio Soler wrote the script for this movie, directed by his friend Antonio Banderas

    Mr. Soler asked me a lot about Venezuela, its political situation and how it was for me to leave my country and move to Belgium. I asked him about what it was like to be a full-time writer, which had always been a dream of mine. He told me about his life in Malaga and his friendship and youth with Antonio Banderas, who had been a close friend of his for most of his life. 

   That evening will always be one of my most precious memories in Ghent. Not only did I have a fascinating night full of talks about literature and other subjects that interest me, but I also got to meet someone way more interesting than I had expected. And it was all possible because I genuinely just wanted to give him advice on something I thought would be interesting for him! I did not know who he was upon that moment, and I believe being genuine about my interest in him as a tourist rather than a well-known author was exactly what allowed it all to happen. 

    The reason I bring this up is because I want to talk to you about something that, as a now IBM student is constantly on our minds: Networking. It is a skill every IBM student wishes to cultivate. 

    The concept of networking is something I struggle with: it seems to me many people see networking as making connections with others because of their social status, their position in a certain company, and most of all, because of what they could eventually get from that person. That is not the way I perceive networking, let me tell you why:

    During this semester, we had to follow a manager for a day as one of the tasks for a subject called Talent Management. I asked him what advice he could give me when it came to networking. I was not expecting the answer he gave me:

"It's not about actively looking to make new contacts, it's about being human. Treat everyone you meet with kindness and empathy, and you are not only being a good person: you are also networking. "

    The advice comes from one of the most successful people I have ever met - he is a project manager in Evonik, a doctor in Process Engineering and a professor at a German university - which means I better listen to it. 

    What he said confirmed a mindset I have had for a long time. Networking shouldn´t be about actively looking for "contacts". It is, to me, the ability to create links with everyone you meet, and to establish genuine relationships based on shared values.  

                             

    The thing is, people are able to tell if you are looking for them with a purpose in your mind. The best way to truly network is by being authentic, just as I was back in my anecdote with the Spanish author. Don't meet people actively thinking of what you might get out of them in the future. It is about being genuinely interested in every individual you meet, their worth as a person and what value can you add up to their lives instead of what you could gain from them and their position in a company or their social status. 

                         

    Now, semantics aside, I do want to say that networking is easier than it seems. As long as you keep in mind that it isn't an activity on its own. It is a skill that ought to be cultivated every day in many aspects of your life. Every person you meet is an opportunity to network - as long as you are genuine about it.  

   You are more likely to become close to someone you appreciate for what they are and the values they share with you, rather than what you can get out of them. People who like you will be more inclined to do things for you, regardless of your social status or their position. The thing is, networking is closer to friendship than it is to business in my opinion. 

    I have always had trouble separating the concept of networking with making friends, and perhaps that is a good thing. In the end of the day, friendship will get you a lot further along the way than having "good contacts".

The Human Side of Failure

When I was younger, I used to be a straight A student. I graduated valedictorian in high school, with an average grade of 18/20. Later on, I started studying full-time at University while working 36 hours a week.

I would wake up at around 5:30 am, grab a quick breakfast if I had the time, get the lunch my mother would have already prepared for me, and get to school at 8 am. I would ask for permission to my linguistics professor to leave one hour earlier from our seminars, because I had to be at work at 3 pm. Then I took phone calls as help-desk in a call center until 9 at night. I woulld get home at around 10 pm, and spend around 3 more hours writing essays and reading articles for school. Saturdays were the lighter days of the week, having to "only" work for 6 hours. 

All of this while keeping an average grade of 17/20 at school. Of which, I must admit, I was very proud. I was never one of those students that would spend hours studying, though: I simply didn't have the time. I just remember genuinely loving what I did, and what I studied. In retrospective, this is a habit I wish I hadn't lost.

I was the kind of person that thought other people should be able to do the same. If I worked, and studied at the same time for so many hours, and still managed to accomplish so much, why couldn't other people? Why didn't others accomplish the same things I did? It only took some effort!

Life would prove me wrong. Oh, so wrong.  

Once I moved to Europe the pressure to perform was so big I started worrying a lot more about the outcome and focus less on the journey (I had come here to study, if I failed at that, what was I doing here at all?). I became so afraid to fail, that fear took over me. 

And the thing about fear is that it paralyzing. It throws you into a pithole out of which it is very hard to crawl. 

While it may seem my "success" (I have a very different definition for that word nowadays) was due to a huge amount of work, that is debatable:

Ever since I can remember, I've had a very good memory, which always helped in school. In high school, my friends always accused me of lying to them when I told them I hadn't studied for an exam and still got good grades. I really hadn't. I just had the capacity of remembering exactly what the teacher had said in class, weeks afterwards, even without having to open a book. Some people have good memory, I happened to be one of them. You can't really take pride in something you are born with. 

So, when I started working and studying at university at the same time, it seemed like a titanic workload. But, was it really? 

Sure, the political situation in Venezuela wasn't ideal: tear-gas on the way to university due to protests, crime taking over the streets to the point where going out of your house meant risking your life every day, a very hard economical situation, etc. Still. I had a loving family. I had no real responsibilities pulling me back. I had a back up, people who would step up for me If I failed. There was a roof on my head. I was healthy, both physically and mentally. 

One of the many protests you would encounter on your way to school back in my country

If I had a hard day at work or at school, there was a home waiting for me, people I could talk to, people who loved me. The friends I grew up with weren't miles away from me as they are now. I could have coffee with them whenever I missed them. I had my pets, which have always been a big deal to me.

I was in a country where everyone spoke my language. When I worked, I didn't have to fear my language was not going to be good enough and that they would fire me for that. All of these are things so many people take for granted, as I did back then. 

I had all the conditions to succeed back then. How would I not?

When I moved to Europe, leaving my family behind in South America, my conditions changed drastically: The problems back in my country got even bigger. I was constantly worried about my family back at home. Solitude took its toll on my mind. To top it all off, three days before I started University in Ghent, I fell off my bike and hit my head pretty badly on the sidewalk. I had a brain concussion and I dealt with headaches that wouldn't allow me to study for the rest of the year.

Add to that the fact that when you move into a new country, and your knowledge of the language isnt very good, your self-esteem is prone to suffer too. You don't feel as a very useful member of society anymore. The things you could have excelled at back in your country, you can't anymore until you fully adapt. And that process takes some years. 

Maybe stronger minds would have dealt with all of this without breaking. But my mind got tired of trying so hard for so many years and I developed clinical depression. I simply couldn't do the things I used to do before, no matter how much I tried. My body and mind plotted together so I would be forced to slow down. And after a long time of fighting it, that's exactly what I did.

I began to fail subjects I had been great at my whole life. My will diminished in a way I lacked all the motivation that used to drive me in the past. I became acquainted with something I had never encountered before: Failure. 

And the most terrifying part of failure is being blamed for it once you have done your best. Some people would tell me my problem was an attitude problem, instead of a health issue. Only I knew what I was going through, but the problem with mental illness is that many people fail to treat them for what they are: health issues. 

I encountered people who were "trying to help" by telling me to just get over it and get working. I understand they were coming from a good place, but that's not really how depression works. Or how failure works, for that matter. We put so much emphasis on success nowadays that we forget everyone comes from a different starting point and cannot be expected to achieve the same results. 

In a career like International Business Management you may find yourself in a similar situation as the one I lived: you will be far away from your home, your country, the people you love. And I just wanted to let you know that it is ok if at some point you feel you simply can't do what used to be your best.

 It is ok if sometimes in life you feel everyone else is going faster than you, and you feel stuck. Life is not a race. As long as you do your very best with the resources available, you'll get there.

 Maybe when you are far away you will turn into a completely different person than the one you used to be. You will face many problems on your own. Sometimes you will feel tired, lonely and hopeless. But if at that point, you go out and do your best in the morning, you are still winning. Don't ever let anyone tell you you aren't "doing enough".

Through IBM you will also encounter people from many different backgrounds, coming from all kinds of situations in life that you could never imagine going through. Don't judge them based on results. I used to do that. Life has taught me to value people based on what they do despite their conditions, because that's where you can find their true value and how much they can contribute to your life, your company, you name it. 

In his TED-talk "A kinder, gentler philosophy of success", Alain de Botton talks about how our society defines what we are based on what we do and discusses whether failure is truly earned or not. He defines snobbery: "A snob is anybody who takes a small part of you and uses that to form a complete vision of who you are". 

It is easy to tell people who have problems (personal, mental, economical ones) that they should just stop complaining and do their best. The problem is that when you do that, you are assuming they are not. And if you truly want to succeed in an intercultural-oriented career, becoming aware of others' limitations is vital. Empathy is key to deal with people. 

After all, a manager's most important resource is his employees. Who all happen to be human. (At least for now...)

Socializing as an Expat

Like me, some International Business Management students live away from home. Others might be preparing for studies abroad. You will probably end up moving somewhere else after graduating. That is why I decided to share a few things I've learned from my time abroad.

I have been away from my home country for the last 5 years of my life. Most psychologists agree it takes someone about 2 years to adapt to a new culture.

I think in my case, the process took a lot longer. I made several mistakes I wouldn't want you to make. For that reason, I have decided to fill the next few posts with advice on how to overcome the expat struggle as fast as you can.

For the next weeks I would like to give you a few tips on adapting to a new culture. There's no better way than trial and error, but someone else's experience might help:  

1. Don't be afraid to approach people

If you are shy, this is one of the first things you need to work on. When you leave your country, you also leave an entire support system behind: friends, family and even your pets! Any functioning human being needs this support system, especially when living abroad.

If you suffer from social anxiety, consider yourself a shy person or if you are an introvert, overcoming your fear to talk to strangers is one of the challenges you need to work on as soon as possible. It will surely pay off when you have a bunch of like-minded friends to support you and have fun with.

I'm no expert on overcoming social anxiety - it's something I myself struggle with - but I often watch youtube tutorials or ted talks and read how-to articles on beating shyness. You could get started with a video like this one:

2. Start NOW!

At home, you had your entire life to build that support system: you were born in a family - if you are lucky, a supportive one! - and as you grew up you met a bunch of people that ended up becoming your friends through the years.

When you move into a new country, you need to make friends ASAP. Be friendly and talk to everyone you meet. The chance that you end up being good friends with someone you just met is very small, which only means you have to increase those chances by meeting as many people as you can.

Friends are those incredible creatures that make us feel home no matter where we are. After all, friends are the family we get to choose.

Use any chance you get to make new friends: at school, at the bus stop, in the gym, or why not, even in the supermarket. There's always an opportunity to meet interesting people. (It is true that in order to meet such people you need to do interesting things, but that's another tip I'll save for the next post)

3. Keep up to date with the local culture

If you are updated about what is going on in your host country, you will never run out of things to talk about. Try to learn the language of your host culture as quickly as you can. I cannot emphasize enough how important this is: the faster you speak the language, the smoother cultural immersion will be for you. 

 If, however, you have just arrived and haven't had the chance to learn the language, make sure to learn just a few phrases. Natives love it when you show interest in their culture.

Speaking of interest: don't be afraid to ask a lot of questions. Locals will love it if you are curious about their customs, history or language. They might even ask you about your own culture in return. You will then engage in a conversation that could end up making you a new friend!

4. Talk to many, speak to few

Meeting as many people as you can and getting to know them is a good start for making friends. However, this doesn't mean you should befriend absolutely everyone you meet.  

Since you have a lifetime of making friends to catch up in a limited time, you need to be selective with whom you befriend. 

As a general rule, I like to surround myself with people who have my same interests and common goals.


                           

Having fun with random people can be good - especially if you are feeling down or lonely -, but the best kind of friendships are those who help you become a better version of yourself. 

It's not about making a lot of friends, it is mostly about making good friends. In Spanish we have a saying, " you get the shadow of the tree you get close to". It means that you are a reflection of those you surround yourself with. 

(This guy had a lot to say about friendship besides writing Narnia)

That is why choosing carefully who you spend your time with is so important. Keeping people who inspire you and push you to be better will make your experience abroad a lot richer.

These are some tips for today. Thanks for reading!  

Nos vemos!

Elvira

Great Expectations

Hi Everyone!

I am a foreign student living in Belgium. I study International Business Management in Artevelde University College. In this blog I'll revisit some of the highlights of the journey I embarked upon when I first decided to study in another country. I’ll give some insight and tips on:

• Living as a foreign student on your own in Belgium

• Making friends as an introvert in an unknown country, in a different language

• The limitations of being a student from a developing country

• Creativity in the “business world”

• Going to college in your 20s

That being said… here we go!

I was born and raised in Venezuela. The first time I travelled to Germany I was 18 years old (the country my grandparents were originally from before migrating to Venezuela in the 1930s). This was also the first time I had been to Europe. When I turned 21 and went back to Europe for the summer , I also visited The Netherlands and Belgium. It was then when I realized I wanted to study in another language, in another continent.

One of the things I miss the most about my country: the Caribbean

At first it seemed outrageously challenging: the possibilities for a student exchange in Venezuela are quite limited. So I figured applying for a full bachelor program in another country was the logical thing to do.

After a year of working 36 hours a week plus handling university while still trying to keep good grades back in Venezuela, I saved up enough money to come to The Netherlands - first to study Dutch for a year, and later to register at Ghent University in Belgium. I studied Linguistics and Literature there for some years.

However, I decided to switch to International Business Management in 2015. It was a decision driven mostly by a habit I have been trying to fight off my entire life: impulsiveness. Being in Belgium already for a couple of years and feeling stuck in what I had been doing so far I decided my life needed -yet another - 180 degree turn.

I heard from a friend there was this new business program in a school called "Artevelde" - I recognized the name Artevelde from that rusty statue in the “Vrijdagmarkt”  and from taking up an elective course in my first year of University here (history and culture of the Low Countries).

Jacob van Artevelde's statue at the "Friday's Market" in Ghent

If you have ever lived for a while in a foreign country, you will know how extremely satisfying it feels to recognize a tiny piece of culture or history or something (anything!). It gives you a temporary sense of victory: "yes! I get you, I am now part of your people!" - even though the feeling goes away quite rapidly when they start speaking in dialect.

My B2 level Dutch Certificate isn't of much use for understanding "West Vlaams"

After taking a look at the subjects and the focus of the bachelor programme, I did what most people do after long deliberation when it comes to the difficult task of choosing what to do with your life and said: "err... why not?". The  programme was entirely in English and I had the feeling I would be able to relate more to my classmates if other students were also expats.

And here I am now, in the beginning of my second semester, writing the first post for a blog we have to make for one of the subjects. It is a task that doesn’t really feel as such given writing is one of my hobbies. However, the title of this post was supposed to remind you of a Dickensian novel because of its content and not its length. So, with that I'll wrap up. See you again in two weeks. 

Hasta entonces!

Elvira