My Experience in the U.S.

“Before coming to the United States, my cousin, who had been previously living there for a year, told me to write a letter for myself, with all my thoughts after the first weeks of living my new life. Then, after the whole year, I would compare the feelings described in that letter with my thoughts after all this crazy experience.

Well, unfortunately I never wrote that letter.

But the good thing is that I still strongly remember how I felt during the first months. And I could never imagine that, after all I have been through, I could feel that I have grown so much and feel this proud of myself at the end of the experience.

I first arrived to visit New York and those days were all a dream.

I was really excited to start my new adventure. After that, I arrived in San Francisco and started my days working at the office. Things started to get harder, I had to travel for more than an hour to get to the office, I was not living in San Francisco city, so I needed a car to do everything (supermarket, restaurants, sports…) and I was by myself after work, since I couldn’t speak to anyone back at home because of the time difference and I didn’t know anyone on that side of the world.

Then is when my mind starts to think about going back home. But I couldn’t surrender that easily. Thought things would change when I started traveling to all the projects, and they did.
Once on the road, I started to meet a lot of people. Working with all the other workers made me feel good. I had someone to share my experiences with, but on the weekends, all of them were going back home with their families. So, I had some people with me, but when I wanted to do something fun, I was alone again. Week after week, same story. Also, I was always on small installations and we were not finding a good fit for me for the engineering QA/QC project we were trying to develop. Nothing of this new life was making sense and at the same time, I watched every weekend when I was alone, all my friends having fun back at home while I was losing my time, or that is how I was feeling. But I was so wrong. Every time I said, “I will overcome this”, I was strengthening my mind. Every time I said, “I will succeed”, I was building a new person. And by the time I realized, I met the opportunity I was waiting for.

A new project, way bigger than I was used to.

With a new supervisor, who gave me authority and a lot of responsibility. Also, another important thing, my teammates stayed on the weekends and they became friends. And then, out of the blue, things changed. I was really enjoying the process, at work and also after work. Seneca says “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity” and I cannot agree more with that statement. I started feeling lucky, but all that came because I resisted and believed in the process.
After that, everything started to make sense, and started to grow professionally. I began to work with some workers above me, who taught me a lot of valuable things. Started new projects inside and outside the jobsite, and I felt true appreciation for my work. Finally, it came to the point where the company and myself would have been really happy to keep working together, but because of the VISA we couldn’t make it happen. Anyways, a new job was waiting for me back at home even before coming back.

But more than that, I experienced a personal growth way bigger than I ever could imagine.

When I think about that boy who went to America with a dream, a lot of fears and questions about his future, I can only feel proud and in peace that he made it. That I made it. Now, I feel capable of achieving all my dreams, my mind thinks in a way that it never did and now that I know all the opportunities that exist out there, I’m not going to wait for them to come. I cannot say that it has been the best year of my life, because I can’t even compare it with all the others. But I can say it was the one that taught me the most valuable lessons, the most painful and at the same time the most gratifying and the one that forged me into the most valuable version of myself.

P.S.: I wrote this letter focusing on the personal aspect, but none of this would be possible without Sunstall and all the people that compose the team, from the CEO to the laborers. They have been supporting me since day 1 and shared all this process with me. Thank you for the best experience of my life!! ”

SUNSTALL :

Thank you Miquel for being part of our journey and for being so open minded and willing to adapt and learn – all the best for your future endeavors and we will see each other again!

Special shoutout to Heiko, Sabine, Chris and Richard who supported Miquel during the year – thank you!