I suppose it can be quite difficult (and lengthy) to fully describe one’s self.
Thus, in order to make things easier this ‘definition’ will be written as a more current biography of sorts.
You can also skip towards the end if you’re more curious as to how (I think) certain aspects of my personality are.
I was born and grew up close to Fort Worth, Texas. I graduated high school a bit early so that I could work full-time at a simple job to save up money to take a gap semester of studying abroad to Russia. The country and its language had interested me starting around my first year of high school and I eventually convinced my parents to let me go to Russia for such a study abroad program. I also had to convince my school to let me take higher course loads in order to graduate early since they wouldn’t accept credits from foreign schools if I studied abroad. The potential alternative of going for a gap semester after completing high school on a normal time-line would have been impossible as I would have been above the age-limit for the program. So graduating early it was. I left for Russia in January of 2014 and stayed in a small town called Lukhovitsy (Луховицы) until June. The months I spent there were some of the best I’ve ever lived and the whole experience was quite illuminative. Seeing how people are different on the other side of the world and yet at the same time so much the same has made me see everyone I know and get to know in a different light.
Before I left for Russia I did apply to universities and colleges in the USA as I presumably would start a program in the fall semester after my gap semester. While I already had a good idea of where to apply, I happened to look through the bookmarks in my browser for potential universities I had considered interesting in the past (and thus bookmarked their website). I noticed an international business program from a certain Hanze University of Applied Sciences (Hanzehogeschool) in the Netherlands which I had apparently totally forgotten I was interested in. Reading about how the program was, especially with regards to having to do an internship during the study quickly re-aroused my interest. An internship as an integrated part of one’s study program is quite an uncommon thing in the US tertiary school system. The price was also rather attractive, especially in relative terms since tertiary education in the US is quite frankly stupidly expensive. It’s hard for me at this point to believe that my family was really considering trying to pay the price tag of the colleges/universities in US I had applied/been accepted to. This because I now currently attend Hanze and live in Groningen. I am largely satisfied with the program and do like that our classes are often practically focused. We are allowed to select from a few ‘specializations’ for our program and I am choosing for finance.
Finance in general interests me as seeing and learning how capital internationally flows across borders as well as how it functions in the day to day workings of a business seems fascinating. In hand with this, anything to do with analyzing data has also been an area of interest for me because there’s so much that can be done with it. Optimizing processes, learning who your potential customers are, how to save money on your supply chain or increase its robustness; all of this I find interesting.
I feel now that I’ve written enough about what I’ve done or want to do, so now I will attempt to describe my personality.
I mainly prefer to socialize with people in small groups. Partying with a lot of people is quite alright once in a while, but the things I remember the most are the conversations I have in a smaller and closer setting. I suppose that I like ‘deeper’ conversations; not necessarily metaphysical things but simply conversations which go beyond ‘nice weather, heh’ or ‘did you see ‘x’ about ‘x celebrity’???”. Let’s talk instead about…you? I want to learn about the other person, their experiences, and their opinions on (less superficial) subjects. Economics, Finance, and political impacts thereupon are of course interesting to talk about too, at least in my opinion.
I generally am placid and pragmatic. In a crisis situation, I do feel an adrenaline rush, but my emotions are rarely (if ever) hysterical. It is difficult for me to get ‘freaked-out’ but also difficult for me to become excited about things. As far as pragmatism goes, it is often difficult for me to see value in something (within a business/academic context) unless I can see its usefulness. In my personal life this pragmatism still exists and influences things like my purchasing habits but the pragmatic aspect exists to a lesser degree. Still, in a business context such a thing as making sure my desk is made of ‘x’ wood with an ‘x’ stain is really a ridiculous and foreign concept to me. May I please just have a durable desk in ‘x’ color within ‘x’ price range? The aesthetics (color, shape) would actually matter to me, but not something such as the year built, or something (which in my opinion is totally irrelevant) like the brand.
If there is something which interests me and which I truly want to do, I do not easily take ‘no’ or ‘it cannot be done’ as an answer even if this comes from somebody with greater experience and/or knowledge than me. I can still accept ‘no’ as an answer, but I first need to at least partially understand why ‘no’ is the answer and why it cannot be done another way. I often take my study abroad to Russia as an indication of my ‘drive’ to do something if I truly want to as my school basically told me it would be impossible to study abroad and still complete my secondary school program on time. It took some pushing and asking questions but eventually I worked with what I could do to make my own solution to this dilemma and just graduate early instead. In short, I believe that just because a solution does not exist, does NOT mean that a solution absolutely cannot be created.
I hope I didn’t make this page too boring. If you have any questions (be they from ‘Why do you not care about desk brands?!’ or ‘What other aspects of finance interest you?’ to ‘What kind of camera was used for ‘x’ picture’), please do drop me an email at