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 criminals run away from the police. Some businesses operate using regulations laid down in the city, while others cheat the system. Now that I am  transformed from my old self. My curiosity is fever pitch. I wanted to know a lot of things. And the city was 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 different things taking place. A shoe shiner here. Fresh fruits market coming to life there. And hawkers creating awareness of their goods by shouting. It was a full life. Business was at the center of every activity at the CBD.     

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 city. It was my first account coming that close to real happenings in a big city. And I loved the experience. I actually, loved the different combinations I encountered along the way. This was a new thing 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 teenager. 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 fun and joy to wander myself around. I could drive enough excitement from what I was doing and what was happening in the city. Those interests captured my imagination.

When I was not in class I would be in the office. In my gatherings, I had learned about the internet. I had heard that people could learn things from it. Out of excitement, I added internet on the lists 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 the chance to learn about the internet. I owed 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 front. And on the other front I was working. These are activities that bring people in a big city in most occasions based on my experience. I had interacted with the city enough to know where to find a cyber café. My navigation skills in a big city were on point because I learned the hard way.

Finding things was not a challenge for me. I had invested in my lunch breaks very well. I used my lunch breaks to discover new places or things. 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 a big 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 fronts connected very well with my brains and energies. I like doing different things at the same time. And the city was offering all of them under the same roof. When I was not in class, 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. The curiosity 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 would be 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 a law and order 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 to me were real education.

In fact, I appreciated the fact that I was not starting my University as an ordinary student. I loved the experience I had gained in the corporate market and 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 due to these experiences. I sort of 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. So I was not lost in a big city. I had direction. A wonderful direction for that matter. I was not moving aimless in a big city. My eyes were fixed on something.

I had my own things going on. My mind was busy. 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 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 by understanding the technological world 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 place to find more information.

I was growing up at interesting times. New things were coming to the market. One of those things was the changes in technology. And what this technology was going to do to the market. I heard that people could talk to each other regardless of their geographical locations. And the internet was going to be the epicenter of all these things. My life has never been that interesting. I now had all the reasons to understand how the internet works and connects people. I imagined that if I went about very well with my interest on the internet, I would not only do research for my project but also start a career on the internet. Those thoughts were crazy. Leave alone that I did not know anyone who had started a career on the internet. However, that kind of information was incredible to hear. I was moving towards a world of possibilities.

 

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 my excitement living in a big city. I was using every opportunity to my advantage. And things were looking up. My years at the University were great. I was having a lot of fun learning a new course, which 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 is 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 a certain unit, which I found to be too simplified for my understanding. I don’t know how I am wired. Sometimes, I have problems understanding simplified materials. Perhaps my brain is used to cracking complex things. 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 interesting how my knowledge could come handy during group projects. I was crushing it. There were a lot of things that I was getting right and that kept my momentum high. For example, I was not struggling to prepare for my tests. I knew how to prepare and that kept my grades high. For me, education is not just about passing exams. I was much more interested in putting my skills to work.

I had business knowledge and I lived in a city. Taking risks was one of the natural things I could also indulge into sometimes. I was just trying to integrate my world. I had no problem making mistakes. I was willing to risk to understand what the city was getting wrong. And at the same time, use my experience in the corporate world to stay ahead of my peers. I could see some 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. I would also see some who were struggling to live in a big city. Life was happening in front of me. I had to choose what was right for me. My grounding in business had carried me past peer pressure. I was not worried about peer pressure. In fact, I never thought about something like that.

I was preparing myself for something bigger. There is no way I could be carried away by peer pressure. However, some people were struggling with it. But I knew my purpose. And I was not going to let anything like peer pressure get in the way. One of the things I knew from the beginning is that I was not going to be an employee after graduation. I wanted something bigger. There were other peers in the course who thought that way. They could not wrap their heads around employment. And 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 another learning opportunity.

As a child, I knew that adults were supposed to know better. I don’t know where I got this knowledge 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 experience 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 it.  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 that it 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.