Busy life, good times

Quick update on things: yes, I am alive. I hardly have time for myself anymore, but I am doing well.
Illness-wise, I found this new doctor over Christmas, and after a couple of weeks full of desperation where everything seemed to be taking the wrong turn, things started looking bright and here I am. I hardly get attacks anymore, and I feel so much better. I need to be careful when I eat, and obviously I am not allowed to drink, but hey, this is to a pretty normal life!!
Academia-wise, results are not as great as they should have been, but given I had to write my essays during those weeks of desperation, and got mitigating circumstances, everyone is being fully supportive about it and hopefully I should crack May's exams. In addition, I got a solid First in the subject I love the most, so I've shown myself it can be done.
And then there's everything else!
I'm becoming more and more involved in Model United Nations. I am part of York's UNA committee, and I am increasingly involved in conferences. Just last weekend I attended LIMUN in London and this next May I will be chairing a committee at a conference in Barcelona. I am aware of its limitations, but it is so much fun, and hey, you don't get an encouraging letter from Ban Ki-moon as a LIMUN delegate everyday (yeah, we got that!).
I'm also involved in my uni's Spanish Society. By involved I mean, a friend and I founded it and are trying to promote it. Just tomorrow we'll be serving sangria and kalimotxo for 300 people and diverse Spanish food for 200 on Saturday. All paid for by our Students' Union!
To top this off, I have decided to do some volunteering to get some work experience, and in order for it to be fun and enjoyable, I have become actively involved in teaching. I am a French and Spanish language assistant at a secondary school for a few hours a week. Because this obviously was not enough, I am teaching some Spanish workshops at a local sixth form as well, as part of their enrichment programme (and yeah, I'm the actual teacher in this!). I will probably choose not to become a teacher, but working with kids (some of them 3 years my juniors!!) is giving me a set of skills, some of them I thought I did not have at all. I am learning to be patient, understanding, and to actually try and make a difference to these kids' language abilities. Who would have told me, I would enjoy teaching! But I do, and I seriously advise everyone who has a chance to do it to try and do it, it won't be easy but it sure will be an incredibly gratifying experience.

And that's... oh, wait. There's actually more. The most important single bit is missing from the picture altogether. I have started writing articles, like the ones I used to write in here, but actual people are reading them, applying a bit of editing to cut the rough edges, and publishing them elsewhere.
I am still writing for the website I told you about a few months ago, United Explanations. They recently published an interview I had the chance to make to the coordinator of my town's branch of Caritas, an important charity in Spain and many other countries doing an incredible job in such difficult times. Sorry it's only in Spanish for now, I am working on an English translation which should be available within a few weeks.
I'm also writing for one of my uni's two most important print newspapers, and a couple of articles have been published so far.
In addition, I wrote another piece for a student print magazine in London and will know more in forthcoming weeks!

I am also starting off a couple of projects for the summer, and have also started browsing for potential dissertation topics and potential masters I would like to take, but that's still in the early stages so I won't update you on that for now.

Finally, if you want to read my pieces, it'd mean a lot to me. You can also give me some feedback if you want (both good and bad will be appreciated as long as it's constructive!), and share them if you like them. Some are better than others, of course, but at the end of the day this is hopefully only the beginning, and I still have a lot to learn (and hopefully more to practice!):

- Entrevista a José Luís López de Càritas Premià, United Explanations.
- The Spanish Comparison, York Vision.
- The Rise of Gay Europe, York Vision.

Hope life's well for everyone. I may be very busy but I cannot complain!

Comments

  1. El Sergio, non stop as usual i ara també escrivint en aquest Yorkvision que m'has fet descobrir. Keep on having fun and learning... que segur que ho estàs fent!

    Grüße aus Berlin :-)

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  2. Hola Sergio!
    Escric en aquesta entrada perquè, de les més recents, és l'única que tracta sobre la teva estada i estudis al Regne Unit.
    Vaig trobar el teu bloc cercant informació sobre estudiants espanyols que havien decidit estudiar a Anglaterra, i vaig quedar impressionat per tot el procés que vas seguir – i del final tan satisfactori que va tenir. Realment em va donar una gran alegria conèixer algú que, havent passat per una situació similar a la meva, va poder aconseguir el seu objectiu.
    He pensat en resumir breument la situació en què em trobo, i tan de bo tenir una resposta de part teva, ja que em trobo amb una indecisió constant (que suposo que et serà familiar).
    En el meu cas, la decisió d’estudiar a l’estranger la vaig prendre més tard que tu - poc abans d'acabar el Batxillerat espanyol, aquest passat maig. Això significava que ja no podia enviar cap sol•licitud "regular" a través d'UCAS, i em presentava una sèrie de neguits: bàsicament, què fer durant el pròxim any acadèmic. Descartant començar una carrera aquí a Espanya, vaig considerar quines opcions hi havia. Per a mi no seria factible fer els A-Levels, i menys considerant que les meves qualificacions en el sistema espanyol han estat força bones, i són reconegudes per la majoria d'universitats britàniques. Per això dubto si fer el que s'anomena un "Foundation Year", un programa d'un any dirigit a estudiants internacionals, després del qual es pot accedir a la universitat que el proporciona si s'aprova el curs amb nota, o fer treball/voluntariat i altres mèrits que puguin augmentar les oportunitats d'entrar a una bona universitat. La primera opció és força cara i, segons els propis encarregats d'admissions dels centres que he contactat, innecessària (només ho seria si les qualificacions espanyoles no fossin reconegudes, però no és el cas). La segona opció pareix la més raonable, i de fet he començat la meva sol•licitud per fer el "Year in Industry", un programa en el què se’t cerca un lloc de treball per fer pràctiques durant un any abans de començar els estudis.
    Em sap greu deixar un comentari tan llarg i "off-topic", però realment m'han fascinat els teus assoliments i m'encantaria llegir els teus consells o opinions sobre la meva situació – suposo que, en part, deus haver passat pel mateix.
    Moltes gràcies!
    Albert

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  3. Per alguna raó havia escrit una resposta i s'ha esborrat! Ara mateix em trobo a París fent un curs durant unes setmanes i no puc estar molt per aquí, però serà un plaer ajudar-te! Envia'm un correu a sergiomz10 at gmail punt com i en parlem, serà més fàcil que parlar per aquí!

    I tranquil que tot i que sembla dur al principi, tot acaba per normalitzar-se!
    Sergio

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