Day 194 of 365 "The Journey"

Meet Hessam originally from Iran, now living in San Diego CA.

The one word that best describes Hessam's life today is "Accomplished."

If Hessam could change one thing in the world, he would "Place less importance on what you have or what you do or who you know."  The way he would go about making this change would be to meet people and get to know them for who they are and not for what they have.

One year from today, Hessam would like to have visited family in Iran for one month and return to San Diego with a new job as a faculty member at UCSD.

If Hessam's life were a movie, it would be about deciding to emigrate from Iran and move the the U.S. to pursue his PHD.  The title of his movie would be called "The Journey."

We met Hessam and his friend as they were sitting on the rocks watching the sunset.

I overheard their accent and was curious to know where they were from.  They both moved from Iran to Milwaukee to pursue their education.

Hessam is on a journey of discovery as he pursues his dreams and goals.  We talked about how networking can be challenging to meet the "right" people who can help with your career.  We all agreed that it seems like more so now than ever before, when looking for a job it's not about what you know but who you know.

I can only imagine what it must be like moving to a different country and trying to build a network to land your dream job.  We encouraged Hessam to meet one new person a day and perhaps that person will lead to a connection he would not have had otherwise.

Hessam seems like a person who will step out of his comfort zone and meet new people.  Hopefully our encounter has given him a positive impression of Americans and more specifically, Californians.