Today is the day… My first story :)

It has been such a long time since I started thinking about sharing my stories with the world, yet it took forever to actually start… I guess it is a combination of working in the finance industry paired with the belief that may be no one would be interested, but well seems like when I tell my stories live people tend to get inspired and always want to know more about my journey so there it is… The start of a new chapter… An online awakening…

So who am I? Well I was born in Sofia, Bulgaria, in 1986, daughter of two relatively average people. Well, may be not so average as the perseverance of my parents has always been an inspiration to me. Some argue we are of the pure stubbornness kind, but well it did help all of us through the challenges we faced across our paths.

Long story short, when I was 13 years old I decided that Sofia (and Bulgaria) was too small for me. I wanted to explore the world, try new things, learn new languages and meet new people. I wanted to prove that anything was possible, that even little invisible (and irrelevant) me was able to make my dreams happen irrespective of the challenges ahead. It did take me a little while, try explaining my very protective mother that I want to leave the country and travel the world on my own, but at the age of 19 my foreign adventure began. I got a scholarship at Bocconi University in Milan, Italy and I went off to study economics and management. There I was, after being told a million times I will not make it… I was making it and many others who thought they had it “in the bag” were staying behind because they just took too many things for granted. As part of my studies I did a semester in Sweden (very interesting place to be) and then one day another curious opportunity knocked on my door. I could go to China for 3 months….

So, of course in my usual way of making “gut”-based decisions I applied to do an internship in China in a city I had never heard of before. One month later I was in Guangzhou with no place to live, not speaking Cantonese or knowing anyone. But nothing could stop me, because “What’s the worst that could happen?”. Luckily for me I was surrounded by amazing people. My usual strategy of being open to every one helped a lot as I just started asking around everyone whether they knew anyone looking for a flatmate or willing to sublet their place. Eventually I found someone whose lease I took over and it worked out great. I had an amazing time in China, met a lot of incredible people, my little happy heart was just busting with energy and love for adventure and all of the kind people that made my life there beautiful and thought me so much. More on that in another post later on (truly I think I can write a whole book about my experience there). My learning point: don’t be scared of people and just stay open and people will come to you. There are more good people out there than you might think.

After China, or more specifically right before I decided to drop everything in Italy and go do a Master’s program in Netherlands. I applied on the application deadline and I got on the plane to China without knowing where I will end up when I come back to Europe. A few “minor” details are relevant here: (1) I was already accepted to do a MSc in Italy which I had paid the 1st installment for (EUR 4K), (2) I had two days to cancel my registration in Italy or I lose my deposit, and (3) I did not know whether I will graduate on time to start a degree in Netherlands, because my last exam results were not available and being in China I wouldn’t able to re-do the exam. All those things didn’t matter to me because I saw an opportunity to try something new and I just went with it. I thought again “What’s the worst that can happen?” — I might lose a pile of money and I would stick with Italy, that’s not that bad of a deal… Luckily, the exam results were issued at the professor’s desk the day of my flight and one of my girlfriends called me to tell me I passed my last exam with a 19 (min you need to pass is an 18) just as I was boarding the plane to China. When I landed in Guangzhou 18 later (transfer flight, poor student times) I got the magic email that I was accepted in Netherlands so I managed to cancel my registration a few hours before the deadline and I didn’t lose my deposit. What I learned was to just take a “leap of faith” and go for it, don’t be scared, life is too short to stick to safety and comfort.

Now I live in Amsterdam, it’s 7,5 years later, I work in banking and finance and I make it my aim to prove each day that I have a place here. By here I mean in this male dominated industry, in this company and in this country. There are many people in my past, in my present and there will be even more in my future that will tell me I’m overreaching. That I will fail. That I’m silly to even try. You know what, if they want to limit themselves they are absolutely welcome, but I will not ever tell myself that something is out of my reach, that something is impossible. The only thing that we cannot “fix” is death for the rest you can at least put of a fight.