My Very Own American Dream - Campus Life, Milestones, and Artfuse

Blog Post Three

Exactly two weeks ago I started my new blog series. I do hope you enjoyed reading the previous posts! In case you have some original ideas or suggestions, I'm always interested to get your feedback. I am a lifelong learner, and I like to think of myself as a sponge that absorbs all kinds of experiences and bits of knowledge everywhere I go. The past week went by quickly; it was a rather hectic, but very enjoyable week!

Since we are all busy people, I will do my best to keep them as brief and to the point as possible and not to waste anyone's time. I decided to center every blog post in this series around three different topics: Campus Life, Milestones, and Artfuse. And I'll always end with two quotes that inspired me. I hope you'll enjoy reading it!

Campus Life

Yesterday the entire country celebrated Halloween. For many Americans it is one of the most exciting holidays of the year. Last year I celebrated it in New York City, which was really amazing! But Halloween on a U.S. campus is something entirely different. Since many students and organizations have parties, I received quite a few invitations for parties all around campus. Most of the students were all dressed up, some had the craziest costumes one could imagine. Not to forget the famous Trick or Treat, where children go around to collect candy and chocolate; I even saw (drunk) students go from door to door, asking for candy - or for booze.. The atmosphere on Halloween is best to be compared with Carnaval in Maastricht, my hometown. Pure craziness.

On November 8, in only 6 days, the entire nation is going to cast their vote on Election Day. It for sure is an interesting time for me -or for any foreigner- to be here. It's one thing to observe and follow it through news channels, but it is another to witness and experience is from inside the country, the way locals do. For many Americans, it tends to feel like a social dilemma: both candidates seem unfit for office, for very different but apparent reasons. One cannot possibly become president, but that doesn't mean that the other can.

But let's go back to my own little life: is very clear to me that midterms are over this week. The atmosphere loosened up a bit and I personally noticed that I suddenly have more time to get all my things reorganized for the next couple weeks. No break after the exams; it will be intense. Thanksgiving Holiday is coming up, only 2.5 weeks away, and then I'm flying home!

Milestones

A big milestone this week is the fact that I purchased a used car on Friday. This is a big step forward, since it offers many more possibilities, as opposed to walking, taking the bus, or riding my bike. Buying a car in Syracuse, and many other cities in the United States, is like buying freedom, flexibility and accessibility. But as it often goes with milestones, the process of getting a car came with a long story; don't worry, I'll give you the summary. Like I said, I bought the car on Friday, from a fellow student through Facebook's new market place. I managed to negotiate an exceptional deal for a price that nobody here could believe; a price for which you would normally get a car only for its parts. And this car, a Honda Civic, runs great. And it has automatic gears and cruise control. I saw an opportunity, I was persistent, I was lucky, I conquered.

My fantastic landlord and friend Don always reminds me to "trust but verify", so I decided to take the car for a quick checkup through someone in my professional network. Just to make sure I didn't buy trouble. The mechanic told me: if you don't buy this car, I will! But that's not the story. The big story happened on Monday, when I went to register my newly purchased vehicle at the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles). Now, I am used to the Dutch bureaucracy and all of its flaws, but I have never.. never witnessed something like this. It literally took me and my landlord an entire 5 hour morning to get it sorted out, since the DMV let us come back not one, not two, but three times. If it were my fault, this would be the time for me to admit it. But no, this was entirely on them. Their very unprofessional employees gave the wrong information, asked for new documents each time, and didn't even seem to understand how inconvenient it all was. All because of bad information distribution, which made it impossible for anyone to get it sorted out in a homerun. I'm sure that this was no good publicity for the United States of America. What a mess. But on the bright side: I am happy that it all turned out ok and that the car will provide me with that extra flexibility for the next months. All moments in life, especially the harder parts, are potential learning curves, and you better take advantage of it while you live through them.

Artfuse

Last Thursday I was given the opportunity to pitch about the Artfuse platform during the E-meetup at the Blackstone LaunchPad in Bird Library. It was a nice moment, and I am grateful for all the feedback and advice that I have received. For me it is crucial to constantly try out new things and get the word out. It is sometimes even better to not present something entirely rehearsed and polished because it opens new opportunities for the audience to give their take on it. I am learning every day, but on moments like the one on Thursday, I felt that the learning got a lot more intense. I also met several new, really amazing people who were interested to join the Artfuse team, so we will see how that turns out!

For those who do not yet know what Artfuse is: no problem! Here we go again: Artfuse is a young startup that aims to support emerging and professional artists of all disciplines. It strives to become an interactive, recommendation based interface; a social media platform and market place for artists. Although this might sound heavy, it all boils down to a collaborative community in the creative industries, with the ultimate goal to strengthen the arts by supporting artists and creatives, all to make the world a better place.

On Friday afternoon, I am heading down to Boston again for the weekend, to attend the SPARK Entrepreneurship Conference at Harvard Business Club. Since I have a car now, a road trip there is one of the opportunities that opened up. My fellow entrepreneur and French friend Quentin will join me. I think that it will become a very enjoyable and productive weekend. We booked an apartment through Airbnb. I guess that it is the best way to travel, both being entrepreneurs in the process of setting up a new startups.

We are currently assembling a strong, small team of designers, developers, business researchers and artists in order to build our first prototype. It is an exciting time!

Someone back home told me a while ago, right before I came to Syracuse, that for the near future, my life would be an "all rise". You know, if I think about it.. without trying to be pretentious.. it has been a blast; it truly has been "all rise" since I have been here. Thanks to my girlfriend, my family, my dear friends and everyone else in my life. I'm living the dream.. My very own American Dream.

Inspirational quotes of the week:

“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity."

Albert Einstein, Theoretical Physicist; developed the Relativity Theory

"The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."

Steve Jobs, Tech Entrepreneur and Inventor; co-founded and ran Apple, Inc.

Please check out my story on Syracuse University News, and like Artfuse on Facebook. 

See you next week!