Life Diary – A Dream Wanderer

What I Really Learned from Working in Real Estate

When I look back on my time as a sales and leasing consultant, I realize I took away so much more than just how to sell property or close a deal. That chapter taught me a lot about people — how they think, what they care about — and also helped me understand the kind of person I want to be at work. I learned about patience, communication, and what it means to stay true to yourself when things get tough.

Here are some of the lessons that really stayed with me:

Đọc tiếp

[Recap] Good things come to those who visit Museum

As a person who loves learning, especially learning about things of the past, it is easy to understand why I am naturally attracted to museums. Most of the time they are at the top of my list of destinations to explore in a city. Also, by visiting museums on my own, I was able to make friends with some amazing people, which makes the whole visiting experience even more magical.

With all that said, I would like to dedicate this post to review some of the most impressive museums that I had a chance to visit. It would be nice to walk down memory lane and relive all the fond memories I shared with those places.

England Museums

You would be surprised to know that almost all of the best pieces of artwork and ancient artifacts are being kept in England, not in their country of origin. Also, most of the major museums in London are open to the public for free, which is a major bonus as you can frequent them as much as you wish.

1. British Museum: This is the first museum that I had a chance to visit in London, and I was completely mesmerized by its grandeur. Looking at the vast collection of artifacts that span thousands of years makes me feel like I was traveling back in time. Some of my favorite collections in the museum include the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon at Athens, the Rosetta Stone, Egyptian monuments, Assyrian relics, and other Greek sculptures from the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus and from the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. Besides those, there is another feature of the museum that is extremely enchanting, and that is the giant glass roof that covers the Great Court. The roof gives the whole space a sense of ethereal lightness, which also helps to elevate your entire visiting experience.

2. The National Gallery, London: For an art enthusiast like me, this place is literally heaven. With free admission, you can enjoy the most representative sampling of European paintings ranging from the 13th to the 19th century. It holds an extensive collection of Renaissance and Baroque paintings, including works of Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, Rubens, Rembrandt to name a few. A small collection of notable French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings is also there for display. I literally can spend my whole day in this place, just to admire the beauty of these magnificent works. Besides, the building is a work of art in itself. I was impressed right from the entrance by the exquisite mosaic floor and beautiful decorative details on the pediment. This is also the place where I got to meet the scientist who later became my friend and local tour guide. It was such a lucky encounter as I didn’t expect anyone to initiate a conversation with me while I was just browsing through the museum bookstore. Thus, this museum always holds a special place in my heart.

Đọc tiếp

[Note] 2014 – You have been good to me!

befearless

2014 is definitely one of the most memorable years in my life. Words cannot describe how grateful I am to the things that happened to me and the people that I have met throughout this year.

This year, I shared an amazing term with my best friends at UBC, and I won’t forget the days I spent at this beautiful campus.

This year, my wish 6 years ago came true. I visited London, again and on my own. It’s funny that after so many changes in my summer plan, I still ended up in London – the city in my dream.

This year, I made friends with some random people in the most unexpected ways, and I’m truly thankful for the things they taught me.

This year, I ended up at a job in an industry that I have never thought of before. Yes, I’m talking about being a sales person in a real estate company. But that’s a necessary step I need to take to achieve a goal far more ambitious.

This year, I returned to my hometown, and I stick to my decision. Saigon is a lovely place, and I still don’t understand why people would ever want to leave this city. I love being surrounded by my family and friends. I love speaking in my mother tongue language. I love riding my motorbike at night and see glimmering street lights. I love eating Vietnamese food. I love helping Vietnamese people. I love the weather of Saigon. It’s true that not everything about Saigon is great, but I have been a child of Saigon for 22 years, and I can say for sure that the city has improved a lot. Everything takes time, and I want share the burden with the people in my country.

Still, there are many things I haven’t accomplished this year. As of now, I can say that my reading goal totally failed. In 2015, I will make sure that I finish my reading list and take time to read newspaper everyday.

2015 comes with many challenges, and may God give me strength, courage and patience to overcome those challenges.

Happy New Year everyone, and may the odds be ever in your favor 🙂

[Note] The last term at UBC

gratitude-quotes-12

So I’m back, trying to record all those crazy things that happened to me in the last three and a half months. This semester gave me so many up and down, so many excitement as wells as disappointment. But I’m thankful for all experiences, even the bad ones, as they did help me become more aware of who I am and my limitations. Đọc tiếp “[Note] The last term at UBC”

[Note] Inspiring speech about self-confidence

I post these clips to remind myself why I’m doing what I do. It has been a difficult journey for me for the last 4 years because I started losing my self confidence. Despite all the good grades and feedbacks I got, deep down I couldn’t convince myself I am good at Marketing. I chose Marketing because that’s what I love and because I want to train my communication skills, even though my strengths aligned more with accounting or finance. I am really good with number, logic and research, but not so much with creativity. Anyway, I always choose to follow my passion, but it’s painful sometimes to see that I am not able to excel Marketing the way I did with other things related to Math and pure logic. But to keep going with what I chose, I know that I need to rebuild my self-confidence as fast as possible, and to learn to appreciate who I am.

Talking about the matter of introversion, I really love Susan’s speech – “The power of introverts” – because it really resonates with me. I would recommend it to anyone who is struggling with society’s favouritism of extrovert. I am myself a loner at heart and always enjoy solitude. I took philosophy courses partly because I wanted to have time to think for myself, to get what life is, rather than just solely focus on doing things to earn money. That’s why sometimes I don’t feel like I belong to my college community because as you know, most business schools are fond of people who can talk smoothly and do a lot of activities. I know some people are great at public speaking and have great brains at the same time. But most often I encounter people who just talk, even though what they say makes no sense whatsoever. Those people are admirable in some sense too because I can never bullshit while looking so confident like them. Listening to Susan’s speech definitely helped me to re-appreciate the introvert in me.

[Tâm sự] Đối diện nỗi sợ

Gần đây trong khi chuẩn bị cho phỏng vấn xin việc, tôi bắt gặp một câu hỏi: “Thành công lớn nhất trong đời bạn là gì?” Một câu hỏi khá hay vì nó cho phép tôi nhìn lại bản thân trong suốt những năm quá. Thú thật tới giờ tôi vẫn không biết cách trả lời câu hỏi này sao cho hợp ý nhà tuyển dụng. Họ muốn tôi kể ra một thành tích mà tôi đã đạt được và những khó khăn mà tôi đã vượt qua sao? Hay họ muốn biết tôi coi trọng những giá trị sống nào? Tuy nhiên, nếu cho tôi trả lời một cách thành thực, có lẽ thành công lớn nhất mà tôi có được, chính là việc tôi luôn dám đương đầu với những nỗi sợ của bản thân, cốt để theo đuổi thứ mà tôi thích.

Đọc tiếp “[Tâm sự] Đối diện nỗi sợ”