After almost 6 years of classes, books and exams, I finally graduated last month. Now I have a master's degree in "Industrial Engineering and Management" and now.. what?
I spent half of this time at my hometown university, "Università di Bologna", and the other half at the "University of California Berkeley". Studying at Berkeley definitely changed my life. I had very good professors, I realized that education can be efficient and easy, something that I don't feel about the Italian education system, I lived in the Bay Area, probably the best place in the world for its incredible variety of cultures, people, natural resources, and its open-mindedness. And I met some people that opened my eyes to a whole new world of possibilities for a different and exciting life.
These years in the San Francisco Bay Area were the best of my life, I often find myself thinking about all the memories I have from that place. Going to UC Berkeley for a year was such an amazing experience. Not only I feel like I learned more that year than during my whole time at the University of Bologna, but I also had a really amazing time making friends from all over the world, special people that inspired me to become a more interesting person and get involved with many projects that I had never though about.
The next year I took classes at UC Berkeley Extension to get my "International Diploma" in "Project Management". It was another great time of learning, this time with a focus on all the practical aspects of projects. I have particularly good memories of my professors and, especially, my classmates, who were international people from all over the world, with different backgrounds and work experiences. My favorite class was "Risk Management" that gave me a good perspective on all the different aspects of risks. I decided to write my Master's Thesis on "Data Mining Techniques applied to Risk Management" and worked with my Professor at Berkeley on a research project about risk management approaches in the San Francisco Bay Area.
In 2010 I worked for an International Trade company based in downtown San Francisco. It was my first real work experience and it was the best I could hope for. My coworkers were very professional and nice at the same time. They were always trying to teach me something new. After only a few weeks with them I was already in charge of the shipments to their main customer located in another country. This gave me a lot of responsibility and required me to speak different languages. It was a great experience that inspired my interest for International Trade for the first time.
Now I came back to Bologna, Italy, to take my last exams and finish my Master's Thesis. This gave me the opportunity to spend time with my family and my high school friends after all this time that I spent on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. I also worked as a barista at a cafe' at the University of Bologna, where I had so much fun and was able to keep meeting international people and practice my languages.
The 24th of March I graduated and officially stopped being a student. Now it's time to decide what I want to do for the rest of my life..
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