Episode 10: Class of 2020 - Daniel, MSc Signal Processing and Communications

In episode 10 we speak to Daniel about following your heart, lockdown employment and having a superhero sister. 

Each episode is a snapshot, a moment, a sneak inside the minds of our graduates. Season one talks to our 2020 graduates about how things are going, or not going, for them. 

Subscribe now and find out what everyone is up to and how they feel about this weird and unpredictable time.

All opinions expressed are those of the individual and do not necessarily reflect those of the University of Edinburgh. 

Multi Story Edinburgh has been created and produced by the Alumni Relations team at the University of Edinburgh. If you are interested in telling your story, please get in touch and let's talk.

Music: Since When by Mise Darling. 

Transcript

Sonia Mullineux (Host)  0:05  
This is a snapshot, a moment, a sneak inside the minds of our graduates. This is Season One, Class of 2020.

Daniel Granja  0:15  
My name is Daniel. I come from Ecuador in South America. And I did my Masters here in Edinburgh in Signal Processing and Communications. So some engineering stuff. And I did four years of engineering at Manchester. So for me, it was more like a new place in the UK. So from here, my girlfriend was here in Edinburgh, and she was going to, after I finished my undergraduate, she was going to do another year here, so I could not miss the, the chance to live with her here in this beautiful city. 

Daniel Granja  0:53  
So I finished my Masters, I found a job. Of course, it was not easy like that. I could say I had like an interview in March and stuff and after the quarantine happened, like basically, I was receiving emails saying like, okay, you have to wait because we're sorting things out, of course, like everybody sorting things out. And I was like, okay, I also need to sort my stuff and, and it was kind of a rush, because like, last minute, I get a got a reply from them and I, luckily, I could stay here. 

Daniel Granja  1:29  
When the pandemic started in March, I was still doing my Masters. So it's not like, in the only way that affected me. I didn't do that well in the first semester, during my exams. Then second semester, for me, was like, okay, like, this semester has to focus on studying do really well. And then March came, in a way I thought, okay, I'm having more time to spend here at home, it's going to help me. But to be honest, it was kind of a little bit of worrying, like, every, like, day after day having thinking about this, I was like, distracting myself and looking for news and reading like stuff. And it wasn't as easy as I thought. 

Daniel Granja  2:18  
I think what helped me a lot was that I was with my girlfriend, of course, I could lean on her, she could also look for help. in me. We're living also with a friend, like the three of us. Like the three of us were studying. Our friend was doing his dissertation for his undergraduate, I was doing my exams then my dissertation. So it was like a whole camp in the in the living room, because that was our common place we try to make make it as comfortable and as ours as possible. 

Daniel Granja  2:50  
The three of us are from Ecuador, so we understood or our situation, we also like, try to give ourselves sometimes to go to room and call to family. And I think because we already were away from home the previous four years, we kind of were used to talk to our families once a week, maybe or twice a week. But it was it was nice, because from both sides, funnily enough, we're looking for, for the like joy in each other, I think. 

Daniel Granja  3:29  
My older sister is with them. So during the during those hard times when the quarantine I realise how superhero she was like she was taking care of them in every sense. So I took out something from that time was that how amazing she was, I think I felt safe during that time, like more worrying about me that having to worry about them. I think because because of her. 

Daniel Granja  3:59  
When I had the interview I went to the offices. At the end, they showed me like, okay, this is where like people that programme do this, and the people work here. So like I was trying to make her mind, okay, how I was going to be the normal job and specifically, particularly because this is my, I could say, my first formal job. So I was like, try to imagine how this new routine was going to be, but of course, it's really different. But, but yeah, like during, during the summer, I was thinking, okay, like I'm, if I'm with a laptop in the living room the whole day, still is going is going to be good because I'll have something to do during during the day.

Daniel Granja  4:46  
Most of the things I'm doing are programming, so like it on the computer software, or mainly. Oh, or maybe that's the main thing I'm doing because of the way work is doing and maybe if I were at the office some things would be a little bit different. And I think I would have had a little bit more of fieldwork because my work is related with some technology that is using in court. So a lot of the times I've heard like, oh, if this were like normal times, we would go to the court and displays or to this court in London. Yeah, because I think I didn't, I didn't have the job before. I wouldn't know how it was, but it feels like it's, it's, it's been like, an internship that has been accommodated to this time. So it's been mainly programming. 

Daniel Granja  5:37  
I've been told that I, I always look calm, not only in this situation, but in in all aspects of, I don't know, life can be very challenging. And I don't know, like, my way of seeing those things is like, I don't know, like rolling a dice. Like, you don't know what is going to happen, but we know that there are these certain number of possibilities. So you can like, I know, make up your mind, okay, some of these things are going to happen. So what am I? How am I going to react? If this happens, or how I would react, this happens. So for example, I thought that when I was when I was excited, because of the I had the interview,  I thought it went well, after March, I was just being put in the waiting list. So it's like, okay, like, my other option was, okay, if I have to wait, I might as well apply to some other things. Even if I sound calm now at that time, because I wasn't, I didn't know what was going to happen. I was kind of freaking out, like, trying to apply to some different things. 

Daniel Granja  6:40  
It's like at this moment, I think I'm, I can be relaxed in this situation, because I know what's going to happen a few months, few next months, and I don't have to take a decision. At this moment I'm the calm Daniel. 

Daniel Granja  6:54  
It looks or it feels like I had my my life plan or like everything is going well. Like if you're putting the paper, like you started this and then you start to work in and blah, blah. And even if that that's how it looks. I think I'm and with more people in this feeling is that I felt that I was not going to be the one that I was going to, like, grab these these things. And especially like, during, when the pandemic started, like my only focus was, I want to survive the Masters and I don't know, they just just pass. I don't know, I think a lot of people feel that in university.

Sonia Mullineux (Host)  7:32  
We also asked our graduates to share a place. Somewhere special, somewhere we can get together when all this has finished.

Daniel Granja  7:41  
For this part of the podcast, I heard a lot of the other ones and so I really felt I I travelled to these places for a few minutes. Like through their descriptions, like the few images they they gave me. 

Daniel Granja  7:55  
The place I chose was this kind of holiday cottage in the rural area of Chile. This is where my family meet. And because my mom is from Chile, she went to work while a very young worker, all my family grew up there but like all her dad, mom, her brothers and sisters are all in Chile. She has, there are 12 brothers, so yeah, so a lot of uncles, a lot cousins. This place means a lot to me because in the place I grew up was a very urban place, so like the only way to move around was by car so you didn't have this like movie movie like childhood where you go outside and play with with a ball with your friends. 

Daniel Granja  8:39  
So like during the summers we went there, and I think I had that like the dream childhood that place. We still there and because of course because of like these few years that I have been studying here I haven't gone in a long time. So maybe this is why I still describe it as this childhood place, because like the last time I went there, I was like I don't know 17 or 18. And now that I was thinking back I remember that it's it feels really welcoming because all that time our family we're bringing some friends of them or like some cousins were bringing, I don't know, partners and stuff. So I remember all the time even if it was like a family place we're always meeting new people or having people from all sides. So I think was nice to to have this time like to share with our people and if even like for a few minutes, it's a place that people from all over the world can be there and feel welcome there.

Sonia Mullineux (Host)  9:37  
Thank you for listening. Join us next time for another graduate and another story. 

Kirsten Roche  9:50  
Wherever you are with planning for your future, the Career Service is here to support you. As a recent graduate you can continue to use all of our services including full access to MyCareerHub, online appointments with our careers consultants, our full calendar of employer events and support with the application process. Find out more at ed.ac.uk/careers.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai