Shape your journey

Life is made up of a series of journeys, many of which are unexpected, some forced by the course of life, others happened by surprise, others instead planned in detail. I left from a small town in the north of Italy with a degree in Economics and Management still rolled up in its prestigious tube, two years of experience as a Marketing Assistant, a minimum of self-esteem (conferred by the university professors who said "you guys are the future ruling class") and the dream of working in marketing and advertising. I arrived in London with two suitcases: little is the space in which one can enclose the necessary goods and the reassuring objects, for those who leave for a new country. A lump in your throat until you arrive and see that then in the end, it is not scary as it seemed. Victoria Station- two suitcases – ten hours of wait. This is my debut in London. Never accept help from friends of friends: lesson learnt. The 10 days that followed were marked by packages of Pringles for lunch, going and coming from one neighbourhood to another to view filthy places to rent. I kept going, a dream is not abandoned for so little. Two more weeks to find a job that paid the bills and here I am at Mc Donald’s, I am a cashier... Never heard many of their burgers before, first experience with pound coins, neither I was ready to understand that "Wo-a" in London is water and that Tango it’s not a dance but just a Fanta. Then, from hearing negative comments towards myself as foreigner, a job in a posh Chelsea retail store great appreciation by high class customers. Then finally a job in marketing.

The city raised me and taught me that it doesn’t matter how deep "you fall down" in the hierarchy of job roles, to the eyes of those who came up high without rolling up their sleeves or without the sweat on their foreheads. All the jobs are worthy of respect and teach you the value of work, bringing you back to the essential value of life. No degree gives you that. Then Scotland, new chapter and new challenges related to occupancy and occupation. Exhausting schedules at work and dreams, once again muddied by the harsh reality of a life that still gave me lemons. I could not wait still to see the time pass, I enrolled in a MSc in Creative Advertising. A new reason to wake up in the morning and feel that everything still has to be decided. Every morning we can reshape our journey, continuously and with our own hands.