A break from my travel posts! I still have a backlog of travel logs from Copenhagen to Rome...it's going to last me till next year haha.
Tonight we attended a networking event with alumni from a couple of industries: a full range of financial sector players as well as the accounting Big 4. I roamed about and spoke to many different personalities... (one of whom was drunk, haha!)
I wanted to jot down some of my after-thoughts. Firstly, i felt that i could observe the 'comfort circles' they have built for themselves. It shows pretty clearly, from the things they talk about, the attitudes they portray towards certain issues such as career choices and development paths. It appears that based on the values and mindsets you hold towards the world around you, the same environment can provide different insights and knowledge for different people. You even absorb information selectively, to support your pre-existing perceptions perhaps. It's very interesting. I acquired some very valuable AND different advice from different personalities.
Of course, it makes a difference that they are from different industries. Yet I feel that these people have actually drifted towards the place where they feel they belong. And once they fit in snugly in these comfort circles, it reinforces their attitudes and perceptions towards things. I guess this is probably necessary for a stable, happy life: to find somewhere you belong, and mould your environment as you see fit. The environment may be simply the decor of a home (this is big for my dad!) or the way you make out the world to be.
I cherish my student life now, because we have the time to explore our passions and interest, to forge and reforge ourselves in a continual journey of learning and growth. To constantly be able to throw ourselves into new, uncomfortable places. I am truly grateful for the opportunity to go on exchange in Europe, and to travel alone around the US and Europe. I just had the intuition that i could not find the next stage of self-development in Singapore. And i was right. I wish that i am able to convey the lessons learnt in my travel logs.
In the meanwhile, though, I will continue striving on, in this next phase of learning. Let me pray that i will never fall into a comfort circle - yet. It's just too early to stop learning, to stop failing and making mistakes, to stop doing what i love, to stop having fun...
It's too early to stop living life the way you want it. Differently.
... and farewell, Steve Jobs. Your life will be forever remembered as an inspiration to all.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Monday, October 3, 2011
Experience, Barcelona
The Media always gives you a distorted picture of the truth.
A brief snapshot, to be precise, of a long chain of events, bits and pieces that form up history. If you didn't know any better, you would probably come up with a perception shaped exactly by pictures, videos of the dramatic incidents shown by the Media. Yet the only way to feel and understand the present is to be there at that very moment.
The world, 2011, has seen the Arab Spring, and in Europe, a long summer of discontent arising from the financial crisis' still ongoing reverberations. I was there, ignorant and unaware of the historic Spanish protests recently. All over Madrid, and later Barcelona, young people demonstrated against high unemployment and the political establishment. What better way to feel the current situation than to live with my 20-ish host Joan, who is a university graduate and yet, like many of his peers, can't find a full-time job in one of the economic capitals of Spain! He had to accept a pay-less internship now for months, and survived on his own savings over the years.
With his friendly, happy-go-lucky predisposition, however, Joan isn't pressured into signing up for any of the protests - yet. But who knows how many disgruntled young adults facing the same predicament are readying themselves to take the streets. Spain's growth is lagging behind that of Central European countries and unemployment is at over 21 percent, the highest in the European Union. While unemployment under 25-year-olds in Spain is at a staggering 45 percent. 45 percent! That is a LOT of unhappy people, folks.
My first few days in Barcelona, I explored the city with a different slant. Walking down from the Arc de Triomf to Ciutadella Park, I witnessed a labor demonstration against the Catalan government, with blazing banners, loudhailing crowds, guards with tommyguns. Chatting up some of the protesters, I found out they were showing their discontent with some of the labor laws being proposed in Parliament today.
After all the MPs entered the building, they dispersed without any fanfare. Hum. So that's what a protest is about. It sure looks scary, but it really didn't feel so. In fact, just a few steps away, the protestors marched past a group of toddlers at play.
I feel that there is so much information lost, from being in the moment, to written and visual media. Even an accurately captured video footage cannot convey every nuance of the atmosphere, the tone, the feelings at play. There is never a substitute for personal experience, i guess.
Anyway. Back to Barcelona. I scurried through the city with the local walking tour groups, and was lucky enough to get to know a Spanish guy from Madrid, here on vacation! That's basically the first thing i do - grab someone who speaks the local tongue (well, sort of... Barca speaks a closely related Catalonian actually). It just makes it so much easier to explore and understand the city, the culture. We managed to get a great tip on a local food joint (from an old lady, no less!).
I still count it among my favourite food experiences...Especialidade de la Casa during lunch time, a completely crowded little shop that is absolutely hidden from the masses of tourists filling the streets of Barca! In fact, it doesn't even have a signboard outside. I ordered (well, my friend helped to order - ) a sandwich: Lomo, Serrano, y Pimientos, with some Morcilla and fruity rose wine to go with it. All less than SGD10, too.
In the evening, I got to meet and know Yana's two Barca local friends, Eduard, an archaelogist, and his girlfriend, a singer. They treated me to an evening at the Poble Espanyol, admiring the musical fountain performance, Font Magica, and having an amazing Tapas dinner (at a cheap joint for students of course!), with dishes like Jamon Iberico, Tortilla espanola, Morro del Cerdo, and of course Sangria for drinks. A perfect way to spend a comfortable evening with new friends, local food and simmer in the culture. Oh, and they reminded me to grab some preserved ham for Yana, and to send their regards to her back in Munich!
Sometimes I wonder why all these european friends I've met seem to hold such interesting jobs and interests. I mean, archaeologist? Singer? Not to mention: DJ, Madagascar teacher, etc, etc... Singapore's career choices seem dismally woeful by comparison. I'm pretty certain a standard of living should be measured not just by economic well-being and freedom, but also socio-cultural freedom, personal freedom. Just by being here and talking to people, I feel like i'm slowly being weaned off on my ignorance of the wider range of choices out there, be it in work or personal aspects. It's a liberating feeling... and I feel happier just by this knowledge that I can live out my life in so many, different ways.
Well, to sum up the rest of my Barca trip...i went to the beach with a couple of female couchsurfers (pictures censored), caught Messi in action at Camp Nou, hanged out with leather-clad tough bikers at the Harley Days exhibition, then took the train to Reus to meet a very, very interesting host...
But that's another story, for another time :)
A brief snapshot, to be precise, of a long chain of events, bits and pieces that form up history. If you didn't know any better, you would probably come up with a perception shaped exactly by pictures, videos of the dramatic incidents shown by the Media. Yet the only way to feel and understand the present is to be there at that very moment.
The world, 2011, has seen the Arab Spring, and in Europe, a long summer of discontent arising from the financial crisis' still ongoing reverberations. I was there, ignorant and unaware of the historic Spanish protests recently. All over Madrid, and later Barcelona, young people demonstrated against high unemployment and the political establishment. What better way to feel the current situation than to live with my 20-ish host Joan, who is a university graduate and yet, like many of his peers, can't find a full-time job in one of the economic capitals of Spain! He had to accept a pay-less internship now for months, and survived on his own savings over the years.
With his friendly, happy-go-lucky predisposition, however, Joan isn't pressured into signing up for any of the protests - yet. But who knows how many disgruntled young adults facing the same predicament are readying themselves to take the streets. Spain's growth is lagging behind that of Central European countries and unemployment is at over 21 percent, the highest in the European Union. While unemployment under 25-year-olds in Spain is at a staggering 45 percent. 45 percent! That is a LOT of unhappy people, folks.
My first few days in Barcelona, I explored the city with a different slant. Walking down from the Arc de Triomf to Ciutadella Park, I witnessed a labor demonstration against the Catalan government, with blazing banners, loudhailing crowds, guards with tommyguns. Chatting up some of the protesters, I found out they were showing their discontent with some of the labor laws being proposed in Parliament today.
Scarryyy.. maybe not.
Cute!
I feel that there is so much information lost, from being in the moment, to written and visual media. Even an accurately captured video footage cannot convey every nuance of the atmosphere, the tone, the feelings at play. There is never a substitute for personal experience, i guess.
Anyway. Back to Barcelona. I scurried through the city with the local walking tour groups, and was lucky enough to get to know a Spanish guy from Madrid, here on vacation! That's basically the first thing i do - grab someone who speaks the local tongue (well, sort of... Barca speaks a closely related Catalonian actually). It just makes it so much easier to explore and understand the city, the culture. We managed to get a great tip on a local food joint (from an old lady, no less!).
I still count it among my favourite food experiences...Especialidade de la Casa during lunch time, a completely crowded little shop that is absolutely hidden from the masses of tourists filling the streets of Barca! In fact, it doesn't even have a signboard outside. I ordered (well, my friend helped to order - ) a sandwich: Lomo, Serrano, y Pimientos, with some Morcilla and fruity rose wine to go with it. All less than SGD10, too.
Self-shot Fail.
Sometimes I wonder why all these european friends I've met seem to hold such interesting jobs and interests. I mean, archaeologist? Singer? Not to mention: DJ, Madagascar teacher, etc, etc... Singapore's career choices seem dismally woeful by comparison. I'm pretty certain a standard of living should be measured not just by economic well-being and freedom, but also socio-cultural freedom, personal freedom. Just by being here and talking to people, I feel like i'm slowly being weaned off on my ignorance of the wider range of choices out there, be it in work or personal aspects. It's a liberating feeling... and I feel happier just by this knowledge that I can live out my life in so many, different ways.
Well, to sum up the rest of my Barca trip...i went to the beach with a couple of female couchsurfers (pictures censored), caught Messi in action at Camp Nou, hanged out with leather-clad tough bikers at the Harley Days exhibition, then took the train to Reus to meet a very, very interesting host...
But that's another story, for another time :)
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