EPISODE II: 19 YEAR-OLD IN A BIG CITY

 

ORIGINAL SERIES

An ambitious young lady finding her way in a big city/Credit/Jonathan Alexis 

Episode II: 19-Year-Old in A City

My life in a big city is becoming better. I am now, understanding a lot of things. Things that I never thought were important to me. A lot of things happen in a big city. In addition to high traffic of people doing different things.  Life also happens. For example, police find criminals. And some other criminals run away from the police. Some businesses operate under established regulations in the city, while others cheat the system. Now that I am  transformed from my former self. My curiosity is fever pitch. I wanted to know a lot of things. And the city is offering me a great opportunity to know everything that I ever thought about. Throughout my education period at the University. I interacted with the Central Business District of the city. At the heart of the city. I could see a lot of different things taking place. A shoe shiner here. Fresh fruits market coming to life there. And committed hawkers creating awareness of their goods by shouting. It was a full life. Business was at the center of every activity at the Central Business District.     

Real people were out there trying to make a living. Commerce was taking place. The city was offering me a peek at what happens in a busy place. It was my first account coming that close to real happenings of a big city. And I loved the experience. I actually, loved the different combinations of events that occurred in the city. This was a new raw experience that was worth my attention. Juggling school, work, and teenage problems is not easy. I can say that I was lucky. My teenage adrenaline did not drive me into crazy stuff. I was not a problematic teen. I was the focused type. One that seemed to know what she wanted. I was engrossed in my own curiosities and interests. These curiosities and passions were generating enough excitement and joy to wander myself around. I could extract enough fun from what I was doing. And what was happening in the city. All these things captured my imagination. And I had to be present to witness each one of them. 

When I was not in class. I would be in the office. And while there, I had discovered the internet. I had heard that someone could do a lot of things with the internet. This was a good discovery. My life kept getting better in the city. Given the many goods things I heard the internet could people with, I had to add it up on the list of things I wanted to learn more about. I had an opportunity ahead of me. I was growing up in the streets of a big city. I surely could not pass this audacious moment to learn from the internet. I owed it to myself to understand what the internet does to real people. I was actively involved in the big city. I was actually doing activities that make people travel far and wide. To access a city. I was pursuing education on one hand. And on the other hand, I was working. These are some of the big goals that bring people in a big city based on my experience. I had interacted with the city long enough to know where to find a cyber café. My navigation skills in a big city were really good because I learned the hard way.

Finding things was not a challenge to me. I had invested in my lunch breaks very well. I used my lunch breaks to discover new places. I loved the idea of finding restaurants. Moving from one street to the next not only taught me where I could find delicious food but also what happens on those streets. I learned to use physical features to navigate. Building served an important role in my navigation. They were my focal point to knowing where I was or what to find. I was familiar with so many things in the city. Overall, I loved learning, working, and living in a big city. Those three frontiers connected very well with my teenage brain and energy. I like doing different things at the same time. And the city was giving me all of them under the same roof. To say that I was extremely excited is an understatement. I was really happy and grateful that I lived in a big city. The swiftness of moving from one thing to the next was the excitement.  When I was not in class for instance, I would explore the culture of the city. I could watch how people interacted with each other. I learned what they were eating and talking about.

 

A bright young lady thinking/Credit/Valeria Boltneva    

Politics, quality of life, and how the economy was doing were some of the common subjects people talked about in the city. My curiosity was not just about exploring the nuanced nature of society. It also allowed me to observe and learn. And talk of learning. I learned a lot in that short period. I was lucky to interact with different settings and people. In most occasions, I was the only teenager among adults. That opened up opportunities for me to observe how adults interacted with each other. I learned very early what I liked and what I did not like about doing business. I was by the book kind of person. And that means seeing things using the ethical lens. Therefore, watching people break the law or become greedy. Taught me what I should and should not do. These lessons from the street were real education to me.

In fact, I appreciated the fact that I was not starting university as an ordinary student. I loved the experience I had gained in the corporate market. And the training in entrepreneurship. These experiences not only kept me ahead but also formed my grounding point. I would go around the sphere but remain on the same focal point. I was happy that I escaped ordinary student problems as a result of these profound experiences. I lived as a sort of person who had insider information. About important things that my peers lacked. I was among the few wise people in that classroom. When everyone else would lose their focus and start doing foolish things. I knew what to do. I will work on my aside projects. The knowledge and side projects grounded me. I could not get lost in the big city. I had direction. A wonderful direction for that matter. I was not moving aimless. My eyes were fixed on something important.

I had my own things going on. My mind was pretty occupied. And I was busy quite literally. The desire to understand why adults in particular. Err was my first project after graduating from an entrepreneurship program. In the program, we were taught many things including how to write a business plan. This investigative idea towards adults was a good case. I thought it could form a wonderful business idea and that made it lovely to work on the project. While at the university and still working part-time at the engineering company, I could also carry out research. My limited escapades with the internet had taught me a few things about research. One of the lessons I gained. In my quest to understand technology was that I could learn almost anything on the internet. That was good news for my first project. I was finally going to uncover these adults. Apart from observing. The internet provided a wonderful basis to find more information.

I was growing up at an interesting time. New things were emerging to the market. And I was at the center of it all. And one of those things I witness was how technology was changing things and people. And what it was going to do to the market. I heard that people could talk to each other. Regardless of their geographical locations. And that the internet was going to be the epicenter of all these new inventions. I was beaming with joy at every mention of the capabilities of the internet. This new information had catapulted my life to a whole new level. I was paying extreme attention to every detail. I did not want to miss anything important. In fact this revelation now gave me all the reasons mark internet as a priority. And move its rank up on my list of things to learn. The idea of people talking to each other was mind blowing. I imagined that if I went about very well with understanding the internet. I would not only carry out a successful research for my project but also potentially launch a career on the internet. Those thoughts were excitingly super crazy. I loved them. Despite the fact that I did not know anyone who had successfully started a career on the internet. However, despite lack of proof. The information I had stumbled upon was incredible to my ear. I saw a world full of possibilities. And I knew I was going to be a successful person. The internet showed a lot of potential. And that is what made it interesting.

 

A Beautiful well lit city/Josh Hild

Anything could happen. I only needed to keep an open mind. And I had kept an open mind since I arrived in the big city. The thought of having a career on the internet was a demonstration of widest dream. I was using every opportunity to my advantage. And things were looking up. My years at the university were amazing. I was having a lot of fun learning a new course. A course that was not law. The awakening that I experienced while in the entrepreneurship program had convinced me otherwise. My purpose in life was not to become a lawyer. I had a different path. A path that could intersect with law but not law proper. I was going to have a causal relationship with law. But I was not going to be a lawyer. And the most interesting thing that added vanilla icing. On my classes was the discovery that I would have a whole unit covering law.

The law part made my entire course thrilling. Classes became sweeter each day. I loved almost everything in that course except One unit. That I found too simplified for my understanding. I don’t know how I am wired. Sometimes, I struggle to understand simplified materials. Perhaps my brain is used to cracking complex things. That is the only viable conclusion I can find. Beyond that unit, my life was finally progressing. I could visualize a lot of things. Things that my peers could not wrap their heads around. And it was fascinating how my knowledge could come handy during group projects. I was crushing it. I was getting a lot of things right. And that kept my momentum high. I had this one characteristic reality. I was not struggling to prepare for my tests. I knew how to prepare and that knowledge alone. Helped to sustain my grades up every semester.  Education to me is not just about passing exams. I was much more interested acquiring the skills and putting those skills to work.

I had business knowledge and I lived in a big city. Taking risks was one of my natural realities I loved indulging into sometimes. Taking risks was synonymous to integrating my world. I had no problem making mistakes. I was willing to risk and learn the hard way. Rather than play safe and miss out on a learning opportunity. I had survival skills. And I had to test them. And my experience with the corporate world kept me ahead of my peers. I could see most of my peers playing around. They were wasting a lot of time in irrelevant things. Some were discovering themselves. And I could see the girls’ and boys’ crazy ones. And there were some who were struggling to live in a big city. I was alive. And life was happening in front of me. And I had to make decisions. My grounding in business had carried me past peer pressure. I was not worried about peer pressure at all. In fact, the word peer pressure was not in my mind.

I was preparing myself for something bigger. There is no way I would allow myself to be carried away by peer pressure. However, peer pressure is real. And some people were struggling with it. But I knew my purpose. And nothing like peer pressure was going to spoil my party. I had goals. And one of them was very clear. I knew from the beginning was that I was not going to be an employee after graduation. I wanted something bigger. And I was not the only one. Some peers in the course also disliked the idea of being employees. They could not wrap their heads around employment. And it was good to see guys thinking that way. In my case, I did not see myself as an employee because I wanted to test my skills. And I wanted to use my knowledge to start something and watching it grow. My mind was stuck there. And I stayed focused. I was focused enough to finish my investigative project. And the findings formed a third layer of another learning opportunity.

As a child, I knew that adults were supposed to know better. I don’t know where I got that revelation from. But I knew adults needed to do better. And I was determined as a young adult to do better. So you can imagine the surprise I got from my findings. That adults too make very illustrious mistakes. And the thesis of my project focused on why adults make mistakes in the first place. I loved the feeling of discovering a brand new truth by myself. The truth not only taught me precautions but also responsibility. I saw the threats of irresponsibility and I never wanted anything to do with them.  I learned from my findings that one of the biggest challenges adults struggle with is being responsible human beings. Doing the right thing at the right time. My investigations taught me being responsible was not that simple. People were struggling and I could see those struggles in a big city. People were doing different things. Things that they thought could help them make progress. However, most of them were struggling to get it right.