En una hora me toca hablar en publico en una recepcion de estudiantes graduados en la The New School. Voy a cerrar el acto y estoy: acojonado! Este es el discurso.
Dear Nicole, thank you for your kind words. I was very happy when I received your e-mail asking me to give this little talk. Again: Thank you so much. Or as we say in Spain, Muchas Gracias, or as we say in Catalunya, my country: Moltes gràcies.
This is the second "Speech" I have given in my life, though this one makes it special because it is the first one in English, so I apologize for any mistakes that I make. I will try to overcome all of these grammatical errors, using my passion because today I'm so happy. Muy contento. Molt content.
And why I'm extremely happy? Because I have achieved my dream: the dream of studying in New York City, the dream of leaving my little town in Spain and working in Media. The dream of this little kid that saw on the television screen the best way to explain stories. The dream of a child that when he was only eight years old told his mum that "Mum, I want to be a journalist".
Maybe my life has not been easy but I don't blame anybody. Some people did not understand my passion and called me naïve. I dont think anyone is naïve when they are following the tiny light that we all have in our interior: the light of our passion. The light that makes us fight for achieving what we want and what I want is to be happy.
Stephen Spielberg in his groundbreaking movie "Artificial Intelligence" defined New York as the place where "the Dreams are Born". New York has been the city were part of my dreams were re-born and I hope that this city has also played this role in your lives. Talking about movies, I think that most of us we also felt at the beginning a little bit of “lost in translation”. However, if I have to choose, I don’t want to be neither Scarlet Johanson, nor Bill Murray because both of them looked depressed all the time… and the movie was not short!!!!
As an International Student, I must say that life here in the beginning was not easy. I think that most of you will agree with this.
Starting a new life in New York City is not an easy dream, I mean, an easy "job". Getting to know the city, for example, it's not as easy as it seems. I still remember walking up back and forth on Fourteenth Street and asking "Where the hell is thirteen street". I don't know if do you want to remember the moments of opening a bank account, of understanding what is a social security number, of thinking about: is Verizon better than Sprint? Or is AT&T better than anyone else because they are going to have the iPhone?
There's another funny moment, funny or painful. No…, I'm not thinking about trying to imitate the Sex and The City kind of life. I'm talking about the apartment hunting, which is one of the basic things needed to imitate Carry Bradshaw. Without a bed, the sex and the City does not work. The problem is that life is better than fiction. As a result, instead of living in the Upper East Side one sees himself sleeping on a couch for four months. But you know, because we are living in New York, even sleeping in a couch is cool. Even the rats in the subway are authentic. And even the bedbugs… hey! Wait a moment… are the bedbugs cool?
Although everything seems almost impossible to achieve in the beginning, there's a moment when everything starts to work. When the city starts to circulate through your veins, when you start learning new things, getting to know amazing people: a moment when this initial pain becomes, as the Rolling Stones said it best, SATISFACTION.
I think there's another thing all of you are going to agree with: the days of being a student have passed by so fast… and the world outside school, the real world, is a pretty scary thought. However, I don't want to forget my days as a student at The New School. The City, the School has changed my life. The Xavi who entered the school is pretty different than the one who is going to graduate in 3 days. New York has opened my brain to new experiences. Moreover, New York helped my parents to understand who I am and who I want to be. That's why I'm so happy of delivering this speech. There's anything more beautiful that being understood and supported by your parents.
U2 defined New York as "The City of Blinding Lights". So yes, in this city I met my best friends and here I realized that friends are the most important thing in someone's live.
Frank Sinatra said that he wanted to wake up in the City That Never Sleeps. As a Spaniard I have to disagree with this. You know how Spaniards love our little siesta, the little afternoon's nap. However, I want to enjoy more nights in this city that never sleeps. Today I'm happy because I had all the paperwork needed to apply for the Academic Training. On June 2nd I start working and I can't wait to start a new adventure, a new Dream.
Talking about sleeping and dreaming, Billy Wilder once said that ”You have to have a dream so you can get up in the morning." With this final quote I would like to end the speech. However I want to mention that there are two things that are free. One is dreaming. Keep on dreaming. It's free. The second is saying "thanks". Thanks to all the people who have helped me to pursue this dream: from "La Caixa" my Spanish sponsor, to my parents, friends, professors, people from international student services, etc. Ah! I forgot, there's another thing, which is free, and this is the word: Congratulations. I want to congratulate to all the international Students that are graduating this month. Congratulations. Felicidades or, as we say in Catalunya, Felicitats
Thank you and best of luck out there
xavi
