My Life in Words
|
Academic Profile:
*you can click on the bullet points to check out my accomplishments!
Skills |
Work Experience |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Introspection 101
also known as
what has shaped me into who I am?
"Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle." - Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
Defining myself will always be the hardest piece of writing I will ever attempt to do.
The sound of silence echoes in my mind. Today is Saturday. It is also midnight. Yet somehow, I am curled up under my blankets thinking to myself: Emma, what sets your soul on fire? My first week as a freshman at Bocconi has just ended. Shouldn't I be outside making friends? Well, the reason why I am not is not what you imagine. I am not the introverted, stay-at-home kind of writer (or well person because I am not even a writer, I just like to call myself one). The fact is that it's 2020. I think that is all I have to say in order for you to understand the point: Covid-19. The streets in Milan are empty, you can hear the leaves in the trees dancing to the sound of the wind. And social life has been put on hold. Or, to be honest, it feels as if life has frozen in time until further notice. But I want to prove to myself that my life does not depend on whether I can go outside and socialise. Which is why this question has been roaming through my mind for the past 6 months. And this "shower thought" has kept me up countless nights, so I have decided to emerge into writing in order to answer it.
I have always liked to question my surroundings and learn from new perspectives. I like the unknown, I am curious and I love spontaneity. I believe that, as the English philosopher John Locke said, we are born "Tabula Rasa". Every human being has a unique perspective worth sharing. So, I want to start my blog by sharing the experiences that have shaped me and my "shower thoughts". I usually don't like writing about myself. I feel like it is pretentious and overbearingly cliche. But I feel like it is important to analyse the events that have shaped me in order to have a better understanding of my writing. The first thing I do before reading a book is taking a look at the historical context of the time period and place where the author lived. So, I will write my historical context, which will obviously be told through my personal experiences.
Latin America- my roots, Spanish-my mother tongue. I am the outcome of colonialism, of mixed ethnicities, of diversity. I have always thought that I lack identity, yet not the personality-type of identity. In my opinion, and due to my privileged background, Latin America's higher class has a tendency to follow American and European culture. We have been taught since we were kids that we are part of the "third world", so we should seek adopting the traditions in the United States and Europe in order to belong to the "first world". I have always preferred foreign clothing brands, authors, food and even music. But now, as I've grown, I have come to the realisation that for trying so much to belong to the developed side of the world, I don't have a culture of my own. I am just starting to learn about my ancestors, heritage, rhythms and flavours.
Latin America has been undermined multiple times through the prefix of it being a "developing country". It wasn't just our land that was colonised, we were also imposed customs and beliefs, and our whole culture was wiped away. We have been forced to live under external standards that have limited our development. We have adopted external political systems that, even after years of evidence that show that they don't work in our countries, we keep insisting on them because our neighbour uses it, so we must implement it as well. We have adopted a "the grass is better on the other side" mentality. We have even modified our language. Spanish is one of the most beautiful and complex languages in the world, yet we have slowly replaced it with "Spanglish", where we commonly use words like man and cool to sound more "American". This once influenced me to a point where I did not even like Colombia anymore, I felt like it was not cool enough for me. But I have learned to fall in love with my country, and I am now re-connecting with my roots.
Cali, Colombia-my hometown. 2001-my birth year. Colombia has suffered for the past 50 years an interior conflict with guerrillas. On top of that, it has been recognised worldwide as the "drug producing, consuming and exporting country" since the 1970s. Cali was home of the Rodriguez's Cartel, a group who trafficked illegal drugs, money laundered and ended up destroying my city's reputation, peace and society. I was never allowed to walk the streets of Cali due to violence. Not even with friends. Not even with my parents. If you had to go somewhere, you had to go by car. I have always lived inside a bubble, my parents have done all that's in their power to protect me and achieve all my dreams. I have always been scared of kidnap, theft, rape. I have been shaped by violence, inequality, corruption and death.
Yet somehow, I love my country. But this should not be surprising. Colombia is home of magical realism, a literature movement that has awakened a flame inside of me. To me, magical realism is simply a way of living; managing to turn dreadful situations into something extraordinary has always played a key role in keeping me down to earth. I have seen how complete misery and utter discrimination have been overseen and ignored, but I have also seen pure joy and peace under the most inhumane conditions. Kids playing on the streets with plastic bottles as soccer balls and having the biggest smile on their face. This has made me realise that happiness is a decision -a mindset- that is independent from anything else. Colombia is the biggest paradox I will ever try to understand. But I will explore this further on another post.
Now, my experience in Shanghai shifted completely my view on life. On August of 2019, I embarked on a blindfolded adventure . As I was standing in front of the plane, I still couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that I was going to China. Being from Colombia, a country literally on the other side of the world, I could not quite picture how China was going to be like. And to be honest, after living in Shanghai for almost 6 months, I am still astounded by how life works there. During my short yet breathtaking experience in Shanghai, I managed to grasp the importance of combining the positive aspects of both the western and the eastern world. I believe that Colombia has so much to learn from China: from its culture, language, infrastructure and population. And I believe it is my mission to connect Colombia with the Chinese world.
The purpose of my experience in Shanghai, much more than learning the language (which was my main goal), ended up being a more in-depth analysis of what the western world is missing out on. At the same time, living in Shanghai helped strengthen my character and I definitely grew as a person. My perception regarding the world has changed, but I know I am still learning, growing and discovering the unknown. Even though my experience was supposed to last a year, but due to coronavirus I had to leave Shanghai earlier, I still feel like my relationship with China and its culture will keep on thriving. I will not expand that much on this as well because I will write about my adventures in China on further blog entries.
I am now in Milan, the third chapter in my life. Stay tuned in order to see how this new adventure unveils!
Defining myself will always be the hardest piece of writing I will ever attempt to do.
The sound of silence echoes in my mind. Today is Saturday. It is also midnight. Yet somehow, I am curled up under my blankets thinking to myself: Emma, what sets your soul on fire? My first week as a freshman at Bocconi has just ended. Shouldn't I be outside making friends? Well, the reason why I am not is not what you imagine. I am not the introverted, stay-at-home kind of writer (or well person because I am not even a writer, I just like to call myself one). The fact is that it's 2020. I think that is all I have to say in order for you to understand the point: Covid-19. The streets in Milan are empty, you can hear the leaves in the trees dancing to the sound of the wind. And social life has been put on hold. Or, to be honest, it feels as if life has frozen in time until further notice. But I want to prove to myself that my life does not depend on whether I can go outside and socialise. Which is why this question has been roaming through my mind for the past 6 months. And this "shower thought" has kept me up countless nights, so I have decided to emerge into writing in order to answer it.
I have always liked to question my surroundings and learn from new perspectives. I like the unknown, I am curious and I love spontaneity. I believe that, as the English philosopher John Locke said, we are born "Tabula Rasa". Every human being has a unique perspective worth sharing. So, I want to start my blog by sharing the experiences that have shaped me and my "shower thoughts". I usually don't like writing about myself. I feel like it is pretentious and overbearingly cliche. But I feel like it is important to analyse the events that have shaped me in order to have a better understanding of my writing. The first thing I do before reading a book is taking a look at the historical context of the time period and place where the author lived. So, I will write my historical context, which will obviously be told through my personal experiences.
Latin America- my roots, Spanish-my mother tongue. I am the outcome of colonialism, of mixed ethnicities, of diversity. I have always thought that I lack identity, yet not the personality-type of identity. In my opinion, and due to my privileged background, Latin America's higher class has a tendency to follow American and European culture. We have been taught since we were kids that we are part of the "third world", so we should seek adopting the traditions in the United States and Europe in order to belong to the "first world". I have always preferred foreign clothing brands, authors, food and even music. But now, as I've grown, I have come to the realisation that for trying so much to belong to the developed side of the world, I don't have a culture of my own. I am just starting to learn about my ancestors, heritage, rhythms and flavours.
Latin America has been undermined multiple times through the prefix of it being a "developing country". It wasn't just our land that was colonised, we were also imposed customs and beliefs, and our whole culture was wiped away. We have been forced to live under external standards that have limited our development. We have adopted external political systems that, even after years of evidence that show that they don't work in our countries, we keep insisting on them because our neighbour uses it, so we must implement it as well. We have adopted a "the grass is better on the other side" mentality. We have even modified our language. Spanish is one of the most beautiful and complex languages in the world, yet we have slowly replaced it with "Spanglish", where we commonly use words like man and cool to sound more "American". This once influenced me to a point where I did not even like Colombia anymore, I felt like it was not cool enough for me. But I have learned to fall in love with my country, and I am now re-connecting with my roots.
Cali, Colombia-my hometown. 2001-my birth year. Colombia has suffered for the past 50 years an interior conflict with guerrillas. On top of that, it has been recognised worldwide as the "drug producing, consuming and exporting country" since the 1970s. Cali was home of the Rodriguez's Cartel, a group who trafficked illegal drugs, money laundered and ended up destroying my city's reputation, peace and society. I was never allowed to walk the streets of Cali due to violence. Not even with friends. Not even with my parents. If you had to go somewhere, you had to go by car. I have always lived inside a bubble, my parents have done all that's in their power to protect me and achieve all my dreams. I have always been scared of kidnap, theft, rape. I have been shaped by violence, inequality, corruption and death.
Yet somehow, I love my country. But this should not be surprising. Colombia is home of magical realism, a literature movement that has awakened a flame inside of me. To me, magical realism is simply a way of living; managing to turn dreadful situations into something extraordinary has always played a key role in keeping me down to earth. I have seen how complete misery and utter discrimination have been overseen and ignored, but I have also seen pure joy and peace under the most inhumane conditions. Kids playing on the streets with plastic bottles as soccer balls and having the biggest smile on their face. This has made me realise that happiness is a decision -a mindset- that is independent from anything else. Colombia is the biggest paradox I will ever try to understand. But I will explore this further on another post.
Now, my experience in Shanghai shifted completely my view on life. On August of 2019, I embarked on a blindfolded adventure . As I was standing in front of the plane, I still couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that I was going to China. Being from Colombia, a country literally on the other side of the world, I could not quite picture how China was going to be like. And to be honest, after living in Shanghai for almost 6 months, I am still astounded by how life works there. During my short yet breathtaking experience in Shanghai, I managed to grasp the importance of combining the positive aspects of both the western and the eastern world. I believe that Colombia has so much to learn from China: from its culture, language, infrastructure and population. And I believe it is my mission to connect Colombia with the Chinese world.
The purpose of my experience in Shanghai, much more than learning the language (which was my main goal), ended up being a more in-depth analysis of what the western world is missing out on. At the same time, living in Shanghai helped strengthen my character and I definitely grew as a person. My perception regarding the world has changed, but I know I am still learning, growing and discovering the unknown. Even though my experience was supposed to last a year, but due to coronavirus I had to leave Shanghai earlier, I still feel like my relationship with China and its culture will keep on thriving. I will not expand that much on this as well because I will write about my adventures in China on further blog entries.
I am now in Milan, the third chapter in my life. Stay tuned in order to see how this new adventure unveils!