Sonia Zavaleta: septiembre 2015

miércoles, 23 de septiembre de 2015

Youth Goodwill Ambassador in Denmark

Hi everyone, I wanted to share that I was selected as Youth Godwill Ambassador in Denmark, an initiative of Copenhagen Capacity, which is the entity that makes this possible. I feel so honoured to represent Aalborg University as well as share my life experience in Denmark so far!

I am also pending my blog about the differences between Danish and Salvadoran education systems. I will do that later, though, I am too tired to write jajaja

martes, 8 de septiembre de 2015

My new life

2015 was a year full of ups and downs regarding both professional and personal aspects; it has taught me so much about my country and how we strive to get ahead everyday, and therefore, now I value three times more what I had in my previous life back home and what I have now, in my new life stage. It makes me sad and impotent to know what we have become as a country and the rest yet to come, it makes me sad I was never able to go cycling or swimming because of fear of ending up in the wrong place/time and therefore, expose myself in the middle of cross-fire struggle between police and gang members, it makes me sad my parents cannot go to work because public transportation is paralyzed, It makes me sad to remember waking up by shot guns outside the neighbourhood, but it also makes me sadder millions of people (including my family) are still under the same conditions.

I have always believed that hard work and determination pays off, regardless where you live. I am from a country stormed by the huge issue of violence and insecurity; even riding the bus to go to work was something I used to fear everyday. My former job was never my favourite, honestly, I threaded it; however, I will never regret about former experiences because those shaped me as a professional. I now know the real face of private companies and what private sector workers can go through, because I lived it! On the bright side, though, private sector companies are sources of jobs for many young Salvadorans, so at least I had a job, and even though it was such a painful 6 months working within horrible conditions, I am aware that you can also reach further opportunities if you know where to look and how to do it.

It has been a month since I moved to Denmark, and it has been such a wonderful experience. How did I end up here?I was awarded a scholarship to study my masters degree in Aalborg University; I look back 4 months ago and I still cannot believe it !! it is amazing to be given this opportunities after 3 attempts, and even though there is so much work to do, it is quite nice to be a student after 3 years =)

I am fully motivated and look forward to thrive, and I think this is the evidence that you can achieve what you want if you truly desire it. I must highlight that Danish educational system is very different and challenging, however, I strongly believe that I will somehow manage to get through it. I will be talking about it in a separate post since there are INMENSE differences between El Salvador and Denmark´s educational/working systems (mostly about differences regarding education).

Hugs from Denmark

Some fotos of 2015