Elena Esteve

I think my success comes from myself, because I have been trying to find this place for studying here for a lot of years, trying to have my best grades to come here. We are only four people that can come here to study and end our degree, so I think my hard work during these years during this degree has been crucial. And obviously my family has always encouraged me to do more, to study, and they have provided me with a lot of resources to come here and to study. For example, I have not been working so I could focus on having all my best marks to come here. So I would say that my family and me, my hard work, are what I attribute my success to.

I think it would be believing in yourself. I have been really insecure during my life, and I've had to improve a lot, but I think that we can do more than we think. We are better than we think, so I think it's really important to trust yourself, to say, okay, I can do this. If I'm here, I can do more. When I arrived here, I was like, oh my god, I'm not going to be good enough, I'm not going to be good in the language, and they're not going to understand, and I'm not going to have good marks. But I tried to convince myself that if I have this place, if I can be here, I can do everything. So I would say that, believe in yourself.

I would say that sometimes it's more important what you do with your life out of school than what you do in the current subjects. For example, I usually take a lot of time working on my assignments, homework, exams, but I think it's so important to work on yourself, too - to spend time trying to have networking, trying to learn about other things, public speaking, communication skills, some things that you maybe don't learn at school, at high school, at the university. These things are normally more important than exams and the marks, so I would say focus on that, being an experienced person, not just in subjects or something that you are taking, but in life - going places, knowing more people, doing everything, trying to develop a new activity, a new ability, a new skill. For example, for me, I had English in my classes, but I wanted to be really fluent and really good in English to come here, so I developed that skill. For that reason, I can be here, but the people that didn't know any English or are not fluent cannot be here. So it was another communication skill, another skill that I learned out of the university, out of school.

I think my biggest challenge has passed, because it was when I arrived to that position, because I didn't have someone to teach me all the steps. I had to try to find information on the internet, try to talk with people, try to find some solution by myself. My principal tasks were trying to find some fundraising for the fraternity, trying to tackle the payment dues, trying to talk to everyone to make sure they have enough money and a good budget for the project. So I think that I passed my biggest challenge, but I will say that the first step, to start with your role, is the hardest because normally you have someone that can guide you a little, but you have to start on your own and try to do your best. So I think that would be my biggest challenge.

I would say, as I mentioned, being secure and being confident with yourself, because if you are confident with yourself, you are going to project that. That, I think, is the most important. And I would say, too, being able to listen to and hear what others are saying to you, because a lot of times we try to respond as soon as possible, as quick as possible, and sometimes it's better to just hear, to ask questions to know more about the other side, the other person that is talking with you, the other person that is questioning you, than just talking by yourself. So I would say trying to learn and hear others, and also being confident. Those are two values I would say.