Egresados

Dreaming in the time of covid: a refl ective experience

«I believe many of us had never imagined the eff ects of the great upheaval we have faced this year. But here I am, at 23 years old, realising life can change at any moment.»

Rodrigo Andrés Moreno López

Egresado Licenciatura en Lenguas Modernas con énfasis en inglés y francés

If you asked me, I could have never foreseen what 2020 would look like three years ago. In fact, I believe many of us had never imagined the effects of the great upheaval we have faced this year. But here I am, at 23 years old, realising life can change at any moment.

I used to plan everything, from the simplest to the most complex aspects of my own life. While looking back at it, it seems to me I should have had a more unstinting attitude to myself, working hard for my own passions and dreams. It is quite funny, for instance, how much time I wasted when neatly planning my graduation. I honestly wanted it to be very traditional, following all the protocols and attending the ceremony as planned. But as you may know, things never turn out exactly as one hopes.

A paramount thought comes therefore to mind with absolutely no agenda: I think we should stop planning our lives and start taking advantage of the experiences we are given as much as we can. When the ceremony was cancelled, I wrestled with myself, for I did not know what my attitude should be like. I was virtually confused because this probably had never happened before. I think most of the graduates in March shared the same feelings. A pandemic is a very recent issue we have been dealing with, and no one can completely take control of their emotions towards what happens today.

I then began reflecting upon my future, and whether the ceremony would be really the end of the process I started five years ago at Javeriana. I found my feet. This was not the end but rather the threshold. I am very grateful with my university. It has underpinned my ideas in ways that still surprise me. As a professional now, I feel very thankful for my teachers and their constant support, for my partners who have always had a word of kindness for me, and for the granted intercultural experiences during all these years.

We should not plan, but we must dream.

A part of myself has always been made up of dreams. And, as I said before, the beginning of our careers is drawn to a start when we finish the undergraduate course. So, this is a perfect moment to dream big and ‘fly high’, as one of my friends would say. However, we cannot ‘fly’ by our own. The support of our partners, teachers, family, and friends is always a key to success.

I personally understood over time that building up supportive relationships and strong partnerships while studying at Javeriana is important. This idea has always helped me move onwards in my process of self-discovery as a passionate researcher on language, culture, and films.

As many of you, probably, I have crumbled and felt scared. However, I once had the change of encountering a very kind teacher in one of my French classes who told me, “Work hard because I see your passion. And I think you have a prosperous future”. He possibly never grasped the power of such words in the painfully shy student I was at that time. But it

“I think we should stop planning our lives and start taking advantage of the experiences we are given as much as we can”

has been in fact one of the motors for my personal projects. First, becoming the Language Coeur’s reforming coordinator. Second, travelling to France as part of the university’s exchange program. Next, obtaining my certification as a Spanish Foreign Language teacher. Now, being the beneficiary of two different scholarships for studying my master’s degree program in London.

Undoubtedly, the continuous support of the Javeriana’s community has played a crucial role in my life. Now that I graduated, I plan to continue dreaming because I believe that those who do not dream cannot live thoroughly.

My efforts are currently focused on a Language and Cultural Diversity MA program at King’s College London. Studying in such a prestigious place entails many challenges. But it has been gratifying to see many people from all over the world sharing the same passions I have. And I feel excited to begin a new journey.

The pandemic and our dreams

I just can imagine how difficult it has been for many of you studying or even teaching under the current circumstances. Adapting to a new way of life is never an easy task. The shifts emerged

“Our nation, more than ever I guess, needs us to build up a better future as well as a more diverse and fairer environment”

A refl ective experience thinking about covid. Tomada de: https://co.pinterest.com/ pin/373517362849521239/?nic_v2=1a5TmIQuG during this pandemic are unprecedented. And all of this caught us earlier than expected. We first thought it was a Chinese issue. Then, we were under the idea that it was a European problem. But in the end the illness reached us.

Now, I must confess I am constantly trying to make sense of the situation. We live at the edge of an evolving historical moment, and we are uncertain about the end of this. I know isolation, silence and loneliness have been some of the most signifi cant consequences of the pandemic. These are hard times, indeed.

Nevertheless, I strongly believe that we all need a motor as the one I had. I want to invite you to build community and help others should they need it. This is, the way I see it, the only way to face the mentioned challenges the pandemic implies.

Continue dreaming big. In a country like ours, where discrimination, violence and state-sponsored terrorism is mostly ignored by a significant number of social actors, dreaming big is a way of transgressing the social norms of naturalisation. Our nation, more than ever I guess, needs us to build up a better future as well as a more diverse and fairer environment.