Strangely, but life-changing decisions are often the ones that we take relatively fast and without giving it a second thought. This is what happened to Joel, a student from France whose life is totally different now.
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I met him in China through his brother. Actually I met him twice, as last year he came to China second time, but not for travelling purposes this time. His older brother introduced us, the former has been living here for quite a while, working as a designer. Joel had just completed his first year of university where he studied law and politics, that is why we easily fell into conversation (I studied law and politics as well). In 2010 - his first time in China - he just travelled around, got to know a bit Chinese culture and local people. He liked the country but was not sure whether he would be there second time.
Second time did happen in the summer of 2011, and that came as a surprise to both him and us - friends he made in Beijing. Though studying law at that time Joel had a passion for drawing - not simply sketches, but almost professional schemes and plans of buildings and installations. He later confessed that being 17, he produced a drawing on how to reconstruct the house his family lives in so that there would be more space inside and better view outside. Several years later the reconstruction did happen. Anyways, eager to combine his skills and hobby he thought of a summer internship. And that was the decision that changed a lot...
It turned out that to find an internship in China (where his brother lived) was not at all difficult. After googling and some inquiries he found an internship in China through «Get in2 China Group» - a student organization in Beijing and by late June of 2011 was back to Beijing. I was utterly surprised to learn that he was doing an internship in China in an architecture company. For someone who studies politics sketches, measuring and drawing are totally strange things. But he was really happy to do what he did; moreover, the project manager he worked for was more than satisfied with Joel’s work. As far as I remember, it was a development project in Shenyang city of China, and the project team’s task was to create the whole new urbanized area with office buildings, shops, schools, living compounds, parks and etc. That was something new to him, but he was really excited of what he was doing. It was a bit difficult though, since he never studied architecture. With no knowledge at hand, he actually took a practical course of architectural science. After two months of working as a young architect he realized that he chose the wrong professional path.
We used to talk a lot about international politics. For two people coming from two different countries we had a lot to argue. But once, days before he was supposed to leave, we were having dinner and he surprised all of his friends and his brother by saying that he decided to quit university and law studies and devote himself fully to architecture.
Joel is quite young - he is only 21 years old. So, we did not take his words seriously at that time. It is only a month after we realized how serious he actually was. In early September he completed his internship in China and went back to France. But he never returned to the university in Paris he studied in. Instead, he went to Belgium. He took a course in architecture in the Université libre de Bruxelles (French-speaking university in Brussels), which he is expected to finish in 2015.
Not so long ago I chatted with him over Internet. He seems to be really happy to study architecture; he does not skip lectures anymore and has some part-time job in one of the architecture studios in Brussels. Despite his young age, the studio owners accepted him for the job due to his summer internship experience.
Some decisions really change people’s lives. I am not sure if I have already taken one, may be, but I still do not know about it. Joel also has not yet realized how his quick decision to practice his architect skills professionally changed the whole career path.
Ana, Joel's friend.
