2011 was truly one of the best years of my life, so I’m gonna try to summarise the most important events, you know, those things that made this year unbelievable, this is not any glamorous thing, I wrote it, because I wanted to remember, to remember so many things that I had learnt, and maybe something come back to this post and be encouraged to have one more year like this! =P
February
So it begins… I enrolled in Master of Technology and Innovation Management at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
I just got here, and most of the things are kinda new, quite similar to US though. The first week was little bit hard cause I have to deal with the Jet-lag and the time difference (15 hours), but it doesn’t matter I was determined to make this happen and enjoy this new journey as much as I can!! =D
Orientation Week!
Yes! I got an internship as a Business Analyst!!!
What I’ve learnt:
- Due diligence
- Prior Art Search
- Market Research and Analysis
- Intellectual Property Analysis
- Business Case
March
Chinese food!
Surprisingly, Australia has a really big asian population, therefore most of the food that you find around are Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, etc.
Yes! I learnt to use chocksticks!! =D and yes, the food sometimes is not good for my latin-american-stomach =(
However, I manage to get used to the spicy, to the “special” sea food, to the flavours, to that little something is the food :=P. Now, my favorite among all of them is indian food! yummy!.
April
My Friends and brothers!!
You wouldn’t believe this, but at this time, most of my friends are from Malaysia and Singapore, all of them are beautiful people, very loving, caring, supportive and very very funny!!. I met them in church, yep!, in church, joining to Hope Church was actually one of the best decisions that I ever made since I’m here in brisbane.
Baptism
Somehow, when I was in Colombia, I didn’t manage to be very a good christian, it was kinda hard to stay focused in God’s ways, but one of my goals of this journey was to grow spiritually, avoiding being mediocre with myself and the Lord. And there you go, I step up and get baptised! it was a touching experience, cause it’s an act of obedience in which you made a commitment with God!
It’s actually very simple: Are you serious of what you are doing? if you do, just go for it! if not, then you’re just wasting your time!
Oceania Convention 2011 (OC2011)
Love going to the Oceania Convention, Love waking up every morning at 5am to pray with my brothers and sisters from Church, it was a amazing and bonding experience, for the very first time I felt like I was part of something really greater than myself (yes, I totally notice the cliche too, but it’s true!! duh) This tree is very special, I meditate in the Lord for a while steering it! : )
I never said this before, but I left Colombia, very very scared, the violence and insecurity are very high; daily murders and thefts, and not being able to walk calm in the streets is very annoying and discouraging. Yet one of the things that OC2011 help me (God) was realising that God has my back, that He would protect me wherever that I go, that I need to learn to trust in Him, and He would honor that trust by taking care of me!
I know that is quite obvious, but what really happend there, it’s that I had the starting point of a break of paradigm or change of belief system, that I’m not going to be scared anymore! that I not going to be a victim anymore, because the Lord walks with me! yeah!.
May
With my Colombian friend Alfredo Rojas, I was so happy to see a familiar face here!
My mom sent me my favorite chocolates straight from Colombia!
June
Best Team ever!
Only with them I would gladly start a company and be confident that we would go great!.
July
Church Camp
Yeap, Church Camp!! who knew that it was so much fun!!!, I ran everywhere, I laugh so much, fellowship with my brothers and sisters and met so many new people, and more importantly, I got a little bit more closer to God! : )
Jump Picture at UQ!
August
Saxophone Playing!
I bought my saxophone years ago, and since then I havent even started to learn how to play, only today I have decided to come back and give it another try, and guess what, amazing!! just amazing! So after a 3 weeks of learning almost from cero to play this instrument, I was challenged to play the Happy-birthday song to one of our sisters in church!!!, so me and another friend that was learning too, both accepted and play in from of at least 60 or 80 people!! It was really really scary since we still were trying to manage the sound; anyhow, I made so many mistakes that day, a few people noticed it, most of them didn’t, however the main objective was accomplished to give that beautiful feeling to the birthday girl of how special she is!. : )
Indeed, it is so important to get out of the confort zone and try new things, even if it is scary, it doest matter, God is there to have your back!
Psalm 150:3-4
September
10km Race! “Bridge to Brisbane”
Yeah!, I joined this charity event, in which thousands of people run together throughout brisbane in a beautiful day!, I never never being in one of these before, woah another item to write on my list of things that gets me out of my confort zone!
I saw running athletes, kids, old people, crazy Aussies, nice!
It’s not just about the race:
- Fellowship and bonding with friends
- Charity, this money is going to help… yea someone!
- Pushing the body! making the body to achieve its best!!, dont stop running!!
- Doing something different!!
Scuba diving
First time Scuba diving at Gold Coast, this is most uncomfortable experience ever, I had to be worry about breathing every second, carefully not taking deep breaths cause my lungs could explote, my gums hurt so much because the air pipe made so much pressure in my mouth!, and of course that slightly thought of a pretty shark swimming close to us! lol
Not cool!, and yet, with the aim of paradigm breaking and trying new things, worth it, Wont repeat it though!
3 days Trip to Sydney!!!
I just couldn’t believe it, I was actually there looking at it, I felt so blessed, so lucky.
So I went to Sydney for the very first time, come on, if you are in australia you MUST go to see the famous Opera House!!
I stayed with two wonderful colombian friends Jaime and Vicky Victoria, they showed me the city around, offered me a nice place to sleep, a delicious colombian coffee (OMG!), the University of Technology of Sydney (UTS) wow!, I couldn’t be more grateful with them!
One thing that I found shocking was the very first time that I saw the Opera House; just that tiny second in which I saw it, woah, I was very amaze of being right there, I mean, come on!, we all grow up watching it on TV and movies, but not the real thing!!.
October
Birthday!!
This is by far one of the best birthdays that I ever had, spite of having my family far far away, God manage to make this day truly special.
“He is jealous for me
Love’s like a hurricane, I am a tree
Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy
When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory
and I realize just how beautiful You are and how great your affections are for me.
Oh, how He loves us…”
Oh wait my 3 housemates sang Happybday at 12am and gave me 3 bubble teas each one of them!! so sweet!!
That day I realised how God loves me and takes care of me, I cried a lot, with tears of joy and sadness at the same time, it was totally curious that my birthday was on a sunday!, so I spend most of the day in church and with my brothers and sisters.
My love language is hugging!, guess what! Everybody hug me that day!
November
Uniquest Lunch
By this time, I’m not only spiritually strengthen, but also professionally, I had the opportunity to learn more about what really really Innovation is, now I’m more closer to my dream of becoming an Innovation Consultant!
Innovation is so exciting, there are so many key things that I learnt, such as the Patenting System, Licenses, Intellectual Property, Market Research and Analysis, Business Plans, Innovation processes and Business model innovation!!! the last one, maybe what that I enjoy most.
December
I’m happy to say that I’m in the pathway of a full and complete life, empowered by God in every area, Business knowledgeable by my studies and work, Passionated by my saxophone playing, innovation, entrepreneurship.
Love embracing every situation, every new person that I meet, every moment just the way it is, it doesnt have to be perfect and I dont want to try to make it perfect, just accept it and embrace it the way it is.
My main conclusion of this year, it’s that I totally manage to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity, of course there are so many more thing to do, but I’m very satisfied and happy. Definitely God is the catalyst of everything, without Him I wouldnt be able to do all the things that I mentioned before. Praise the Lord for His plans are even greater than mine! =D
Be Joyful always, Embrace yourself and life the way it is! Trust me, that way you would be able to truly live everyday!
