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I believe I´ve always wanted to go to college. In my family there was no other way. It wasn’t a dream, but something I had to do. I never doubt this decision for the 12 years it took me to finally get there. I knew what I needed to do; I knew where I wanted to go and true to be told it was a fairly easy path. 

For 12 years I didn’t have any other expectations: I wanted to know as much as possible, to read as much as possible and I wanted to play soccer. My job was to study and the only thing that was expected for me was getting A’s in school. No one told me I could do more. No one demanded more from me, I didn’t have any role models and now I know I didn’t have that any expectations.

Then I went to the University and suddenly I was in a complete different world. For the first time I was meeting people with higher expectations, people that were working hard on side-projects and very demanding of themselves. For them, studying was only a part of the bigger picture.  I meet people that were doing summer internships, working on international organizations, running their own companies, creating non-profits and doing more than they were expected to do. I desperate wanted to be part of this world.

In the first semester I felt in love by college. I was having good marks, working in a junior enterprise (company inside the university run only by students) and I was learning a lot. Everything was new and I felt very inspired by my colleagues. But after this first initial good impact I start realizing that in the classroom I wasn’t learning as much as I was supposed to.  Our main goal was to pass in the exams. Never in my 4 years of college degree had I heard the words: creativity, imagination, motivation and entrepreneurship. Suddenly I realize I was in what was supposed to be the best management college in Portugal, but I wasn’t learning anything I could use, I wasn’t preparing myself to think and I wasn’t feeling any joy or happiness in being a student.

Back then, I realized I had two choices. On one hand, I could give up on college and start working or, on the other hand, I could use the university as an excuse to experience different things and work on different projects. I decided to not give up, mainly because of peer pressure and family pressure. So, for three and a half years I used my college degree as an excused.

I did everything I could. I didn’t want to waste time so, I worked in my college’s junior enterprise, I did summer internships, I did part-time internships, I organized events, I attended international summer schools, I created my own organizations and so on. These were the best 4 years of my life and an amazing learning opportunity. However, I can’t say these were easy years. For months I struggled and I felt lost at times. I couldn’t understand the meaning and the reason things were the way they were and it felt I was always fighting against something and someone.

I truly believe that college is overrated. I don’t think college is for everyone and I don’t think that Universities are doing a good job preparing students for the job market. Lots need to be done, but I’m afraid that the problem is not only in college. From primary school till high school, teachers are not giving students the tools so they can create their own opportunities. Teachers have a syllabus they need to teach and there is no time for other activities and real world experiences. Students need mentors and need the opportunity to learn what they feel they need to. We need to give students the responsibility for their own learning path and the role of the teachers is to guide the students through his/her learning path.

I feel I need to do something. I can’t stand anymore watching kids lose their sense of creativity, losing their imagination and the joy for the learning process. I need to do something, so I’m working on an initiative to tackle the problem I’m seeing in K12 schools. I believe that having a good education system is one of the most important pillars of our society so, in the next years, this is a field I’ll be working on and I hope to have a positive impact in the world.

Hope to have great news soon! Get in touch with me if you want to discuss ideas on how to improve our education system. 

 

This blogpost was first published in the Uncollege Movement blog. 

My Jojo Shoes just arrived!! I felt in love by them a couple of weeks ago and now they are here;) Check their website: http://jojoproject.com/

I've never been a huge fan of eating. For me eating it's something I have to do to keep my body running. But, here in Zurich, I believe I'm in an eating phase. There are so many small and cosy restaurants around the city with delicious food that it's almost impossible to resist the temptation. 

Living in Zurich is making me appreciate the good things of life. For the first time in years I have time to think, to read, to walk for hours and I'm enjoying the opportunity to be alone.

I really liked the my life in Portugal, but my life here is completely different. Zurich is not London or New York. You don't have access to the events, the opportunities or the craziness that other cities can provide. But Zurich can give you the serenity and the peace that sometimes you need in your life. It's a city that makes you think, it's a city that gives you inspiration and allows you to live in peace.  

Today I've decided to put some ideas, concepts, inspirations and key words on paper. Most of this post-its have things that were in my mind for some time now and I decided to write them down and see what it looked like. 

To help me with this I'm reading "Making Ideas Happen" from Scott Belsky and it's really helping me find a more effective way to develop my creative process. 

 

Having lots of fun in Zurich with Nadia Laurinci! 

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”

By Steve Jobs

 

Usually it's not difficult to find what we love doing. Sometimes it's difficult to convince others that we want to pursuit an alternative path. Sometimes it is difficult to make money out of your passions, but doing what we love can do an amazing difference in the life we have. We only have one life, no rehearsals, no second changes, so instead of waiting for a better future we have to make our like work right now. There are no other chances. 

Christian Vanizette, Karin Schreier and I before the first ever MakeSense hold-up in Zurich!! It was an amazing experience and it was great to finally meet Christian in person;) 

Life in Zurich rocks!! 

 

This is my first experience living abroad. For the past 22 years I've been living in Portugal, country that I love and this year I decided it was time to have an international work experience. Now, after two months living abroad, I believe Sandbox was the right choice and Zurich is the perfect place for a first international work experience.

When I came here I had two ideas in mind. First I wanted to learn as much as possible. I wanted to discover what the most talented people in the world are doing, which projects they are working on and what are the future trends. Secondly, I wanted to grow. I was living a perfect life in Portugal. I was working a lot (meaning: having lot of fun) and I was part of an amazing network of people that understood my point of views and supported me. I thought it was time to leave my comfort zone, embrace the unknown and start from scratch. 

In the last 2 months I was successful in both my goals. I know much more than I knew before, I met a lot of very interesting people, my brain is full of new ideas and concepts, I have a much clear vision of what I want for my future and every day I fell I'm growing and I'm increasing more comfortable in the unknown. 

I'm going to stay here in the next 5 months and I can't wait to see what I'll learn and what the future has prepared for me. On my side, I'll continue to learn as much as possible and work harder and harder to fulfill my very high expectations.