Reflective Review about Myself - Essay Example

REFLECTIVE ESSAY By Location REFLECTIVE ESSAY Though the word love has been described by many people towards others, I cannot find the right words to describe my passion for electronics; which cannot be understood by many. Having grown in Malta, an island where our home was next to the beach, swimming was more of a duty together with my small brother and my loving father who was also a professional gym instructor. Swimming exercise was a hobby we would not forget. Malta, being an island, summer is busy and would interact with tourist until the age of eight we travelled together with family to Germany my dad’s country. It is here that my passion for electronics was triggered. Learning a new language was also fun, and then joined school in International school of Frankfurt. Oh! What more could I ask life was fun. After school, I would rush home for music training. I knew how to play piano and play chess with my mum who was and is still a great fan of Manny Pacquio; and they coincidentally share the nationality of Philippines. She could teach me if I did not know how to lose, I would know how to win. After winning a few games, my interest grew for chess as it did for electronics. My mother would beat me in the game of chess and in my early days, I would get very frustrated. But after winning a few games, my interest grew and I became a pro. In school, my interest for electronics would not stop, having met my best friend Odonkor. Later, I would travel to Berlin to visit Volkswagen, and there is where I knew that technology would be part of me because my heart would always be at peace. At home, I would dismantle an electronic only to rebuild again. It would always trigger me in doing it more and more, and in the end I lost count of how many times I would do this. I took this behavior to school where together with one of my friend, Odonkor who became my best friend, would compete to see who would repair a phone or a laptop faster than the other. Oh, how I loved beating him in assembling. I was a great admirer of the Play station games and this was also one reason that I always treasured school holidays, as I would play from morning to dusk; as they say childhood dreams are made of this. My performance in class was awesome as I was always among the top five students in class and would always top in science and mathematics though I did not like languages. I found the subjects boring but I had no choice but to study them. I remember group discussion in class was not my interest and I preferred individual assignment. Though back at home, my parents encouraged me that team work was a very skill, yet I did not understand it. During my school holiday in the 4th grade, I was enrolled to a football academy and it is from this that I learnt how important teamwork was. It built my confidence and I also made friends. One evening, my school team needed a substitute goalkeeper for a match with our rival school but I could not make to go as my interest an electronic show at the store with my dad. I wanted to understand how a play station is made and how I could make one. It really fascinated me as this was one thing that I also liked playing, yet I could not understand how I would make one. After this occasion, I decided to focus my energy on the electronics and became more of a football fan rather than a player. After all chess, had taught how to calculate moves and make the right ones. I joined science club at my fifth grade and would not hesitate to ask our team patron any question. There is when I got my first laptop as a present from my mother. I treasured the laptop and would carry it to bed because I feared anything could happen to it. I started to learn more about electronics and would complete most of my projects assignment on time. During my sixth grade holidays, my parents decided to take me for holiday to Philippines, where my mother would also visit her people. It was one fascinating area and i interacted with my relatives. Though we had a language barrier, we were able to connect and this was one defining moment in my life. From the different foods to the culture, everything was new. I found very many people that were very religious, not like it was the way it was back at home. My mother took me to where she schooled and also I interacted with her friends. It is here that I found new friends and within the three week period, we had become fond of each other that I agreed to give him a present of my laptop it was hard for me, but I really appreciated his friendship. After travelling back to Germany, I concentrated more on my interested for electronics in our group team. In my seventh grade, I was appointed the chairman for my role and also led our team to be the most organized and improved in the school. We won prize money of 10000 euros as a team and 400 each. It is with this that I bought myself another laptop and an i-pod. The feeling was awesome. I continued with my interests and also stayed in touch with my friend from the Philippines. I would listen also fantasize about becoming a sailor so that I could tour the world. Having travelled to the Philippines, I realized that there is a lot in this world to see and this made me curious. During my free time, I would research on other continents and what they had to offer. I remember learning that Australia has more than 10000 beaches; enough for one to visit one every day for nearly twenty seven years. This became a part time hobby trying to learn something new about different areas every day. Then I later realized that I did not need to become a sailor to achieve this. One of my treasured childhood memory happened when I was fourteen and my parents took us to watch a semi-final match played by Germany and Italy. It was in that tense moment that the host team lost during extra time, this really reminded me of what my mother taught me while playing chess; to win you have to know how to lose. We left very sad but I vividly remember the crowd at the stadium people from all corners of the world cheering. Though they could not speak one language, you could see from their faces that they were enjoying. This sparked my longtime dream to tour the world I promised myself to start saving and fulfill my dream. I will always be grateful to my parents for that opportunity. Back home, I became a freshman and books became part of me. The peer pressure from my friends to join the football team could not break me as I started becoming a true fan of Steve Jobs. The Apple CEO and his company’s innovation kept me waiting for the next and it is during one of the summer holidays that I started my first business, though I did not tell my parents. As a teenage student, I needed to make an extra dollar to be at par with my friends and with my experience as a good swimmer, I would train on Saturday I ended up making little cash. I remember this was the money I took my first girlfriend for a movie date. I was able to find someone whom we both shared the interesting electronics together. It was a wonderful experience though it ended fast. Even before, I realized I was back single and very full of hope. I would go back to my hustle of training and I also started a business where I would lease swimming costumes. With this, I aimed to save enough to visit my Australia in my end of high school. I was much disciplined and my parents had taught me that procrastination was the greatest threat to one achieving his dream with this in my mind I focused on the things that matter and that was my family, electronics and technology and my favorite looking for new destinations. Finally after my high school, with the support of my parents, we travelled back to the Philippines. This time I was not in a hurry as I was waiting to join university and maybe enroll in International Business. I secured a job in Philippines in a resort in Oliolo. I was an administrator and though my dream to travel the world had not come true, the one opportunity that I got there was the exposure to interact with many visitors from all the parts of the world. It is in this environment that I treasured the spirit of teamwork, because in the morning before we started we would unite and speak encouraging words in the morning. Then we would go to work. During the evening, we would meet again and ask ourselves what we did and didn’t like during the day. We would then look for ways of how to make the next day better. Our manager was from Africa and he taught us how to share this was a life changing period. I got to learn their language and I got to share my expertise in electronics. Working there also taught me to learn to listen to other people’s opinion as this meant working with people from different cultures and also people who shared different beliefs. On one occasion I remember having a conversation with a guest who told me it was a crime to disagree with an elder and that this could be a sign of bad things to happen. There were many different opinions but one thing that I had learnt from my parents was that to always respect others opinion and to not give into what I believed, as long as I was not interfering with anyone’s opinion. Finally, my time in Philippines came to an end and I had to go back to Frankfurt and prepare to join university. I had missed being home my family, friends and my neighborhood. It was a good feeling being home and just after a few weeks I got bored and decided to do something as I wait for my admission in university. I applied in an online payment company, Rc2, and got a job. Finally, I would be able to play with electronics and still get paid. The first few days it was fun as I interacted with programmers and tech savvy guys who were my age. Everyone was talking about the startups and how young people would make an impact in the world today through social media. One thing I like about the company was how they would involve each and every member’s opinion when making decisions. The boss was one of the most humble people I have ever met in life and one great quote I learned from him was that complacency was the enemy of achievement and one had to trust the journey in life even when you did not understand. Those words have greatly helped me to where I am today I will forever be grateful. Finally, my admission letter to university was here and I had to plan for my travel to London, a city with enough history. It was time to meet other people with different culture and I was ready. I came here and I remembered the first thing I wanted to visit was river Yates. I had seen enough of it in the movies it was time to see it. Having travelled for most of my life, the currency issue was not a challenge though my first friend to meet was grateful helped sort everything out. There and then, I had a friend from Asia and I recall that truly the world was a global village and anything done anywhere could have its impact to any corner in the world. During my first holiday, I decided to go for team building in Regents. It was a two week training where team building and the art of communication was emphasized. One thing I learnt in that team building that most arguments were caused by poor communication and the wrong tone while addressing someone. The trainers insisted that for one to make in any career whether corporate or business, one had to learn how to be a good communicator and also a great listener. I also learnt of viewing life as a choice one had to make whether the circumstances or not one could choose to be happy. As I reflect on the journey of life I have found out that one needs to understand that challenges will always be there and life should be lived. It is only in taking risks that will also increase his chance of getting what he wants. One’s happiness comes from within and not from what he has but what he knows. I would like to join my parents in running the family business after completing my studies. It is with persistence that I would able to achieve this. Read More