| 2
| Independent Skies Magazine
| Issue 42 2016
4. LONDON, I LOVE YOU, BUT
YOU’RE BRINGING ME DOWN BIANCA BARSAN
8. PARENTING IN THE
EARLY 20S UNCOVERED SHARON TIRADO
14. NOTES IN THE MARGINS MADISON MELTON
18. SPANISH ELECTIONS: DECEMBER DÉJÀ VU OR FINAL WAY OUT? EDGARDO SCHIENA
22. WHAT IT IS LIKE TO BE IN
MEDICAL SCHOOL ZENA ALHITI
| 4
| Independent Skies Magazine
| Issue 42 2016
London, I Love You, But You’re Bringing Me Down
LONDON, I LOVE YOU, BUT YOU’RE BRINGING ME DOWN |
I have lived in London for five years now and I have always been majorly in love with it: Its beautiful parks, sunny rooftops (yes, only in the summer, but still…), the wonderful people of Shoreditch -the last place I’ve lived in- its unlimited variety of craft beers, the arts and the -sometimes too crazynightlife... The list could go on and on. Last year in November I even found a place to live in, a small room I will not lie, but a place that felt like home in a way. I had the best flat mates I could possibly ask for and I was living in the heart of Hoxton, this little hipster area adjacent to Shoreditch and Dalston, and just off Hackney Road. Our neighbours even had two French bulldogs -and I, for one, am obsessed with these little ones!
BARSAN BIANCA
I thought I would be staying there for a while. The plan was to get a job after finishing my courses and start fully supporting myself, but to make your break in either the media or fashion industry, you would have to start with an internship I was told. So I started looking and found a few that I was interested in: it was great, all I had to do was apply and then wait. That’s when I noticed something I thought rather strange: they were unpaid. All of them. Around maybe 10 - 15 internships, in various areas and with different responsibilities and so on. Unpaid (sorry for the repetition, I guess I am still shocked and upset about this)! OK, now this may come as a surprise, but where I come from, internships are paid and you are under no circumstances expected to work for free -unless, of course, you are
BARSAN, BIANCA @biancaomikami
| 6
| Independent Skies Magazine
| Issue 42 2016
volunteering, working for an NGO or something of the like. They may not be paid that well, but they do pay enough for someone just starting off in Romania. Now, understand my disappointment when, after reading descriptions of, for instance, an ‘established luxury brand’, I see the pay is only a reimbursement for my Oyster card (a travel card for London). Again, do not get me wrong: I would totally be willing to undertake such an internship, provided it was only for a few months, but they are mostly for 6 or 12 months, and there
is no guarantee of a paid role once the internship stage is over. How can this be? Why are young people, mostly students who are already in debt, expected to work for free? Why do we pay so much for our education only to have big companies reap the seeds of our hard work and our time spent in university? I, of course, understand competition and I know there is high demand for positions in these two industries in particular; I also understand that smaller companies or start-ups cannot afford to pay much or at all,
LONDON, I LOVE YOU, BUT YOU’RE BRINGING ME DOWN |
but for a big company, which takes pride in its selected clientele and its luxury products, to not pay me, yet expect full time work‌ that I do not understand. Having said that, I like to think I am a really dedicated person and although lazy at times, I do the work and get everything done when I want it done. I also know I want to make it in media, be it through journalism, advertising or illustration, or fashion (yes, I still want this and I still work towards it). Yet to live in a city like London, one of
BARSAN BIANCA
the most expensive cities in Europe and the world, and work for free... well, I am not so sure I can make that sacrifice. Nor could my parents support me any longer; after all, I am now 24 and should be self-sufficient. So I moved back home, to Bucharest. I am still unsure whether this was the best move or not, but only time will tell. I am still looking for jobs in London - thanks LinkedIn! - and hopefully can get one real soon, but until then, I will be missing London. This is a sad love story, I tell you, but it is not over yet. Wish me luck!
BARSAN, BIANCA @biancaomikami
| 8
| Independent Skies Magazine
| Issue 42 2016
Parenting In The Early 20s Uncovered
TIRADO, SHARON @shatirado
PARENTING IN THE EARLY 20S UNCOVERED | TRIADO SHARON
Some of you, readers of this fantastic magazine, might be having the opportunity to be parents at a young age. For me, I am just a humble student, trying to survive my daily life without pondering too much about the future (just the necessary).
This summer I decided to spend some time with my family due to the fact that lost time can never be recovered; We only live and experience things once and life keeps moving on. For this reason, I decided to take care of my nephew of five years old, and godson for almost one month by myself. This might sound “easy” to some; babysitting a kid for a month –a limited time responsibility so to speak- but it truly wasn’t. It is true when they tell you that kids don’t learn from adults but in fact the learning also takes place vice-versa. I have learnt so much about myself and I have started to understand the people that are parents during their early 20’s much more than ever before. I understand, now, why they might feel frustrated or tired, and many other not so obvious emotions. I would like to share these with you all:
| 10
| Independent Skies Magazine
| Issue 42 2016
1) You are going to get tired during the day and your kids won’t.
Literally, from where do they get so much energy?
PARENTING IN THE EARLY 20S UNCOVERED TRIADO SHARON
2) Why does that happen? And why? And why?
I almost didn’t remember how it felt to be a kid until I did babysit my nephew for so long. I had regularly spent time with him but for short periods only like one week or even just one weekend.
After being with him for so long I remembered how many doubts I had myself at the age of five. The world is completely new for you, you are fresh, you need explanations, you need to ask those questions. And that is what’s awesome about being five years old.
| 12
| Independent Skies Magazine
| Issue 42 2016
3) You realize how much you know about danger and what “could” happen to them, and they don’t have a clue. This had a strong impact on me. Every day there is various headlines on the news; I hear different things about “how a kid was kidnapped”, “pedophilia” and many more horror scenarios for parents. You realize how lucky you are having your nephew safe and happy by your side while taking every single protective measure you can for him not to get lost in the crowd or kidnapped by someone.
Being a mother and a father is definitely a never-ending journey of hard work. And I believe is even harder when you are a parent in your early 20’s when you are in need of so much help not only economically but also socially. Nevertheless, one last thing I learned is that, independently of the age of the parents, there is no love like the one the kids can give you.
TIRADO, SHARON @shatirado
“CHIARA FERRAGNI: THE ASTONISHING SUCCESS STORY OF A BLOG” | TRIADO SHARON
| 14
| Independent Skies Magazine
| Issue 42 2016
NOTES IN THE MARGINS As I come to the end of the book’s first chapter, I flip back to see the circles, underlines, and notes covering all available space between the lines and in the margins. It has taken me hours to get through nineteen pages of this Chinese memoir. Mentally exhausted, I reach for the English novel I started the day before. I’m already halfway through and I continue to make steady progress. My battle with the Chinese book still in mind, I am keenly aware of the complicated turns of phrase, the literary vocabulary I seldom use in everyday life, which spins itself into effortless meaning on the page.
When I was born, I don’t think the question of bilingualism was one that ever even occurred to my parents. Sure, they were pleased about the strong French programme advertised by my preschool and primary school. My mom had become more or less fluent in French in high school and my dad was at one time reasonably proficient in German, but neither of them had used either language since. As a family, we travelled thousands of miles domestically each year to visit family in all corners of the country. We made drives up into western Canada and once visited the Bahamas. Yet in all of these excursions I was never once in an environment when the crowd around me was speaking any language other than my own. What’s more, being a native English-speaker meant that
NOTES IN THE MARGINS |
I had access to more books in my mother tongue than speakers of any other language. And especially as an American, the media I consumed was not only in my first language but usually spoken with my accent and produced in my country and cultural context. Growing up in such an exclusively monolingual environment had its advantages. My parents are both committed bibliophiles and the walls and even closets of our home were cluttered with stacks upon stacks of books, probably greater in number than many small-town libraries. I lived and breathed English, and took for granted that there was rarely a situation when I encountered someone to whom I could not make myself understood. My first proper foray into second-language
MELTON MADISON
learning began when I was fourteen when I started studying Chinese at my American high school. I was immediately captured by the meaning woven through each written character. I moved to Beijing as an exchange student two years later where I took intensive language classes for several hours a day at school and lived with a Chinese host family who did not speak English. At the conclusion of the programme, I moved to Hong Kong where I spent the next two years finishing high school. Although not Mandarin speaking, I was still taking challenging Chinese classes at school, and
MELTON, MADISON @nomad_melton
| 16
| Independent Skies Magazine
| Issue 42 2016
language immersion was a short subway ride away across the border in mainland China, where I tried to make bi-weekly jaunts. I can watch movies, read newspapers and online articles in Chinese without much difficulty and conversation is -for the most part- very accessible as well. On good days, when I start speaking more Chinese than English from the time I wake up, I can get my brain to begin thinking and responding automatically in Chinese rather than English. Yet novels still thwart me. This now seems an unfair luxury. When I started school in Hong Kong, quite of few of my classmates from around the world could barely speak English. Less than two years later, many of them scored far higher than I did on our final high school exams. When I was studying in the Netherlands, my Dutch classmates explained that even in Dutch-speaking university courses, a strong command of English is often still necessary because only a limited amount of academic writing is published or translated into Dutch compared to the vast quantities of available English material. The fact that I was able to study in such a range of countries to begin with has only been possible because I am able to use English in academic spaces.
NOTES IN THE MARGINS |
Language-learning as a hobby, rather than a necessary means for success and survival, is a particular privilege of native English speakers. One of my classmates from Brazil, who struggled significantly with English when she arrived in Hong Kong, was not only fluent within two or three months but had also simultaneously become fluent in Spanish to better be able to socialise with the other Latinos. I wonder, if placed in a similar ‘sink or swim’ Chinese environment, if I could make the same progress. Yet in contrast to the highly concentrated monolingual environment where I grew up, a university classmate of mine was born to Peruvian parents in Aruba and grew up speaking Spanish at home, Dutch at school, and Papiamento socially. He also, somewhere in this mix, managed to learn English. Yet he said because his exposure to these languages was all so context specific, although he’s fluent in all four he doesn’t feel quite like a native speaker in any. I stepped into my first Chinese class almost eight years ago. Although I hope to be able to pick up books and poetry in either Chinese or English without a second thought
MELTON MADISON
one day, I nonetheless anticipate that my commitment to learning Chinese will be one that must last throughout the rest of my life, and even then, there’s nothing quite like speaking a language from birth. I’m grateful for the way English and I grew up together, the way it swims through my brain as if carried along in my blood cells like oxygen. From nearly the first day I started studying Chinese I knew it was the language I wanted to find myself in, but as bilingual as I am and will one day be, I wonder if there is a difference between proficiency and feeling a language in the deepest synapses of my brain and the most fundamental muscle memory in the curve of my tongue forming letters against my teeth. I only have one language piggybacking on every cell, but what a gift it would be to have, two, three, more.
MELTON, MADISON @nomad_melton
| 18
| Independent Skies Magazine
| Issue 42 2016
Spanish Elect December Déj Or Final Way SCHIENAS, EDGARDO @Eschienas
tions: jà Vu Out?
SPANISH ELECTIONS: DECEMBER DÉJÀ VU OR FINAL WAY OUT? | SCHIENAS EDGARDO
For many people politics have been a taboo if not a dark topic. They might not feel like talking about their political position, which party they stand for or just politics in general. The entire world in the past few years has undergone harsh times in its political spectrum, with governments tearing apart entire countries, revolutions bursting everywhere to overthrow current authorities and people escaping from their violent and oppressive presidents, especially in the Middle East and South America. Similarly, Europe currently finds itself under dangerous political pressure, with elections happening all over the Mediterranean countries especially in Spain and Italy. The attention is centered on the Iberian Peninsula, where Spanish citizens are being called for the second time to decide their new Prime Minister to rule their country. The past four years the Spanish government was led by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, of the center- right wing party Partido Popular (PP), who clearly demonstrated some huge downfalls during his mandate. As in the past 20 years, its direct competitor, the center-left wing party Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE) which is led by Pedro Sanchez, and currently covering the second position in the Spanish congress, is always trying to criticize and overthrow Prime Minister Rajoy.
| 20
| Independent Skies Magazine
| Issue 42 2016
Recently, two additional parties have emerged in the fight for the control of the government; Ciudadanos, a liberalist party led by young Albert Rivera Díaz and extreme left-wing party Unidos Podemos, led by Pablo Iglesias. The results of the December elections of 2015 clearly demonstrated that these four parties were and will fight for a ruling position in the country. The two newcomers grew due to the discontent of the Spanish citizens, which are desperately trying to find an alternative to PP and PSOE. On the other hand, instead of improving the situation, it created even more confusion in the Spanish political spectrum. In order for a party to rule it has to hold the majority of seats in the Congress. In Spain this majority should be a minimum of 170 seats. PP currently holds 123 seats in the congress, followed by PSOE with 90 seats, Podemos with 69 and Ciudadanos with 40 seats. As the data shows, in the last elections, none of the four parties managed to reach complete majority, and threw Spain into a fragmented vortex of discontent and confusion.
During the past five months, each and one of the four parties “tried” to build alliances and constructive agreements in order to nominate one leader to guide the country. Despite infinite numbers of meetings, assemblies and promises on national TV no one was able to find the successful formula. Even the King’s interference failed to instill peace among the four parties to. As of now, Spain has no government at all, which is why a second round of elections which will be hold shortly this June. A country without leader is a country without direction. To my mind, every single country needs a leader who
SPANISH ELECTIONS: DECEMBER DÉJÀ VU OR FINAL WAY OUT? | SCHIENAS EDGARDO
inspires people to follow democracy and embrace it in their everyday lives. As a consequence, more and more parties will enter the political scene because people have the desire to escape from monotony and hope to find somebody better suited to rule their country. Even if I am a foreigner living in this country, it is clear to me that none of the four parties have what it takes to rule this country, not even been able to find an agreement for the good of their country. In a certain way it reminds me of Italy, where the political spectrum always has been synonym of corruption, discontent and inefficiency. My message to the leaders of these four parties would be to put aside their pride, ideologies and beliefs and unite together to escape from this crisis and rebuild a strong Spain build upon employment and education. The key word to escape from this crisis is “unity”, but it seems to me that none of the four party leaders understand this concept. I am just a 22 year-old Italian student that currently lives on the Iberian Peninsula,
and many people would think that I should be the last person to speak. Due to this fragmented situation, I grew a certain sympathy towards Spanish people and have started to follow the political situation closely. I just really hope that after thousands of words and promises made throughout national newspapers and TV the elections in June will finally determine a leader to guide this amazing country. I hope that the leaders of the running parties will come to understand that we are talking about 40 million people, an entire nation that is desperate to find a leader that will rise again this country in the place she deserves. Spanish people deserve more, and let’s all hope that these June elections will have a positive outcome, sending a clear message that the political spectrum in Europe is still alive and pulsing.
SCHIENAS, EDGARDO @Eschienas
| 22
| Independent Skies Magazine
| Issue 42 2016
What It Is Like To Be In Medical School ALHITI, ZENA @zenaalhiti
WHAT IT IS LIKE TO BE IN MEDICAL SCHOOL |
ZENA ALHITI
What a beautiful thing when a career and a passion come together. It often begins with a common question; ‘Hi Zena, what are you studying?!” This everyday life question sounds simple in but for me it is not quite straightforward to answer. The reason being that some people find my answer extraordinary at first glance. I got all sort of different reactions when I answer that I study in medical school. Some will comment “Wow so you’re a genius girl” or “You must have your reading specs around because you read a lot” and others simply have an amazed look on their faces! Studying in a medical school, like in any other college, has its own ups and downs. The journey starts on day one, when one celebrates the White Coat ceremony as a welcome to the faculty. Later on the the ceremony concludes with the swearing of the famous Hippocratic Oath. With tons of textbooks to read or learn by heart, long teaching hours, tutorials, practice and lab sessions and finally the extensive clinical training the journey stretches a felt thousand
| 24
| Independent Skies Magazine
| Issue 42 2016
miles seeming nearly suicidal for a bystander! Despite all this, for me it is my passion and caring for mankind is what drives me to pursue this respected profession. Since I was young, I have always been ambitious to help and lessen the suffering of people. Apart from the academic knowledge, I have learned a lot of essential lessons and skills along the way. Being a Doctor-to-be requires many special soft skills that need to be planted and implemented in everyday tasks. I learned to listen with logic, to be patient, modest, hearty, trust in myself and present myself confidently. I have learned to be humble, kind and appreciative of every second. Most importantly I learnt how to genuinely respect and care for people in need who seek for help. Despite my packed schedule I still manage my time well and carry on my normal life. I spend good times with
my family and friends just like any other ordinary girl. Having said that, during my free time, I play music, enjoy my hobbies like sewing, handcrafts or cooking and sometimes I go jogging to breathe pure air and refresh my soul. All in all, the success factors are planning ahead while still being flexible and avoiding procrastination. This is not possible at all times, but I always push myself to the limit. Handling crammed weekly schedules, assignments, researches, clinical duties and night shifts in addition to commitments to family, friends and social relationships as well as extracurricular activities such as volunteering can pile up to a mountain of responsibilities that seems insurmountable. Even more so given the short semester breaks in between. At many times I feel down and want to quit. But I always tell myself – whenever I feel like giving up: “Remember why you held on for so long in the first place.�
WHAT IT IS LIKE TO BE IN MEDICAL SCHOOL | ZENA ALHITI
| 26
| Independent Skies Magazine
| Issue 42 2016