Daisy felt unsettled like something was still missing in her life to make that perfect recipe. She felt that Networking was an integral part of Business and she then decided to set her foot out in the world to network on her own. Having interacted with a bunch of people from the industrial sector, Daisy felt she did not have much content to interact with people. Daisy thought to herself, as she wrote in one of her sketchbooks about the previous day's experience, maybe having understood the innovation of business could help her figure out what the world was looking forward to. It was in no time, that Daisy turned up to the University Website to understand what other co-circular activities she could be part of.
That's when Daisy was surprised to find out about the Romanian Innovation Council that University was jointly working with the government to boost innovation and entrepreneurship in the country. Daisy decided to apply for the student associate position. Having lived in Pitești, Daisy was faced with the challenge which again involved compromising the lectures. The Romanian Innovation Council was situated in Bucharest, 118 Km away from her hometown. Daisy was zealous, she wanted to find out the truth about how people amassed so much money, as for her father George he was never interested to do anything new and even if he did, he gave up even before it started. Daisy had one thing set in her mind, she didn't want to make the same mistakes as her father did. Daisy went on with the selection process of the Innovation Council. Daisy had never travelled on her own, alone apart from her town. It was a challenge that Daisy took on, knowing that she had to manage between the Innovation Council and attending those boring lectures to attain a degree.
Daisy thought to herself, "Degree is just a piece of paper, based on that you can never judge a person's ability to achieve success in life or how educated one is! Like my father has done his Bachelor's in forestry, seems to do no good in life apart from barely making ends meet". Daisy's heart was beating fast and got harder and harder when the time came for her to depart from Pitești. George had dropped Daisy at the Bus Station, and she was waiting for the bus to come. "Will the bus reach on time, what if I caught the wrong bus, what if the bus got stranded in the middle of the highway?"….and all sorts of random questions came tumbling down her mind. Before she could calm her nerves, the bus arrived. Daisy closed her eyes and took a deep breath and stepped onto the bus. Daisy reached Bucharest and stepped down from the bus. Horrified she was, however, did not lose faith and reached the council. Daisy was greeted by Prof. Elena who asked her to wait until other students could join her. Daisy having compromised her lectures since morning waited one more hour before all of them arrived. Daisy saw new faces to interact with, and the understanding of networking came in handy. There were about 40-50 students who were divided into 3 groups, each led by a professor. Daisy felt shy, not knowing what the topic will be and whether would she be able to speak on the given topic. Daisy started having second thoughts. Well, that was a lucky day for Daisy, when God decided to bless her, she did well in the group discussion and got selected for the Romanian Innovation Council.
Several months went by, and Daisy juggled between Pitești and Bucharest. This is reflected in her semester score when she failed in three of the subjects. Daisy felt devasted and frustrated as the decision of Joining the Romanian Innovation Council seemed like a waste of time, she learned some new things in the early stage of her joining, and later she ended up doing the same old thing that she already knew, report writing. Moreover, it also cost her quite a fortune for Daisy to travel back and forth to Bucharest and gain nothing fruitful. Daisy decided to take a hard stop with the innovation council considering the low return value that she gained before the end - leaving her still unsatisfied.
She cried silently, all the way on the bus that evening while returning to her hometown Pitești. " My heart aches from the bottom of my soul knowing, I had so many things to learn, but I cannot do due to my financial condition and it's affecting my grade points. Had I only lived in Bucharest, my life would have been simple and would have been able to interact with more Govt. VIPs that could help gain the essential knowledge through their experiences and indeed create a dent in the world of education and revolutionize it", she thought to herself. That night Daisy could not sleep and cried all night only to find her eyes swollen and felt sober like she needed a break from all that she was trying to control but never reaching anywhere.
Daisy felt that it was time to let loose, and introspect, again she stepped in front of the mirror to reflect on where she was taking her life to! Daisy looked at her curled brown hair tied like a messy bun and soggy eyes, and asked herself, "What am I doing, Daisy? Are you satisfied with whatever you have done so far? Then stop trying to control things that you are still doing, it is only going to hurt you and do you no good. I think I should turn myself towards what I love the most, Music and Dance and rather focus on improving my grade points for the university exams this time.
However, Daisy was keen on letting her professors know that she was here in this world to revolutionize the Education System. Daisy, still gazing at the mirror in front of her talked to her reflection, "What about my purpose, by being a good student and obeying the current norms will never help me revolutionize it. Daisy was eccentric and had pumped up her confidence and gathered the courage to try another gig of travelling abroad through the International Exchange Program. Daisy had recently heard from her friend, Maria stating that those students who have GPAs of more than 7 can apply for this International Program. Daisy was delighted but started wondering, "How can I possibly manage to pay the fees it requires?", Well, young Daisy was not a force you could reckon with. She told herself, "Where there is a will, there is always a way!" and went away to university and applied for the International Program at Kansas State University, USA.
"Having an understanding of how America's culture boosts the qualitative education and effective business environment, will help me figure out the education gaps in Romania and make the necessary changes in future, once I return – I shall work jointly with Government to make Romania's Education system more human friendly, where people are taught about life and wisdom instead of facts and knowledge, which is just readily available everywhere you go in the world. Daisy was determined to achieve the finances she required to get going to the USA, so she approached the Dean at the University, to help her guide and arrange the finance. Having liquidity of money in your business helps you survive in the market, another essential ability she thought was her need to learn before she could amass that huge wealth she had always dreamed of for her family through the business she was willing to create.
Dean had provided certain contacts, whom she could approach and help with her finances, she started with the CEO and Managing Director of one of the richest industry leaders. Daisy approached humbly and asked for financing for her studies. Likewise approached other two contacts that Dean had shared who could probably finance her studies. Daisy waited for 3-4 days but did not receive a reply. Daisy had to show financial backup for her abroad studies otherwise she would be eliminated from the process of studying in a foreign country. The heartbreak from the Innovation council was still raw, and this setback in studying in a foreign country made it worst for Daisy. Her grades at the university exams were still deteriorating and George was called to the University for the same so that Daisy could focus more on her semester scores other than loitering here and there. Daisy right from childhood was an obedient student and always with a learning attitude. This was the first time when George was called to University for Daisy's complaints. Daisy had completely lost her will to go above and beyond and decided to stop everything all at once.
George was facing issues with money at that time and having heard of Daisy Complains just did not make him feel better. George had wasted his life-long earned money in a lusty scheme, which he thought would get doubled. He was already tense with the lost money and Daisy's complaint made it even worse. Daisy locked herself inside the room and started shedding tears on the table set beside the window. Her mother, Danielle heard her cry and couldn't help herself, as Daisy had locked herself inside the room. Danielle pleaded with Daisy to open the door, and upon many requests and pampering, Daisy opened the Door. Danielle asked, "Daisy why are you crying, what has happened to you? Did anyone behave wrongly with you?" Unaware of what was happening with Daisy, Danielle couldn't see Daisy cry anymore. Daisy replied, " I could not get selected further for Studies in the US, I could not stick for one more month when I was just going to be awarded for work well done at the Innovation Council. And now my father had to hear complaints about me from the University. What is happening to me mom, I am such a loser." Danielle explained by rubbing her hand over Daisy's head, " Daisy, so what you could not achieve what you wanted, at least you learned the other way. We all make mistakes and it's a part of life. Maybe something better has been written for you in the stars. Now stop crying and be a brave girl, you have nothing to lose. You are more blessed than you can think of." Daisy was still taken aback by two heartbreaks. Daisy decided to think, I am not getting the right set of people to be around, maybe I should turn to books. People say, books are your best friend, they don't demand or expect anything from you.
And then when, Daisy decided to gift herself a book, on her upcoming Birthday when she turned 20. The book she bought was Think and Grow Rick, which changed her life forever. Daisy started introspecting about what she did and why did she do it... if at all she decided to do something. Having learnt from her past experiences, she decided to turn her life toward sports. Daisy had learnt swimming right from her childhood when she was in 4th grade. Daisy's passion for swimming never died and she thought, the best way to recover yourself, is by turning inwards, by doing what you love doing. In no time, she joined the Pitești Swimming Club, near to her home. She made new friends at the swimming pool. The year was almost to an end when the winter season was about to begin soon.
One fine day, Daisy was doing her 20-meter lapse across the pool, when she ended, she noticed a person coming right after she completes the lapse when he found out that he missed his time-lapse just by a fraction of seconds, and couldn't help but react to himself, "Oh Shit Man!" Daisy did not notice much until he came out of the pool to make a dive. Daisy was instantly thrilled by his big-armed tattoo carved on one of his biceps. Daisy was even more surprised to see his perfect body build, with beautiful muscle cutouts and abs. Daisy had an eye on him ever after. She started noticing when he came or not. One fine day, Daisy finally mustered up the courage to ask his friend, "Where, is your friend? He (tattoed guy) did not show up at the pool today?" that is how Daisy got to know that man with a beautiful tattoo was no other than Sebastian.
Daisy managed to get his contact by finding him on Facebook. The King of social media back then. As always, Daisy wanted what she wanted, and this time it was Sebastian. Daisy started interacting with him and met each other more often. The stroke of luck had just set in when Sebastian invited Daisy over to his house. Daisy had never been to a stranger's house before, there was no one in his house, just two of them! Daisy realized; that his motives were not as pure as they seemed to be. Sebastian was more interested to sleep with Daisy, instead of being in love with her, he chose to make love to her. However, Daisy was blind-sighted for a while and was drawn to this beautiful beast called Sebastian. She even joined the same Gym, where Sebastian used to go for his body-building exercise. Young Daisy had perhaps fallen in love with Sebastian. However, Daisy did not realize, until his friend at the swimming told her, that he already has a girlfriend. Daisy was heartbroken again, how a man can cheat someone when he is already in a relationship with someone else? It was against Daisy's willpower, but she had to back out the moment she knew she was getting in the way of Sebastian's Girlfriend. Agonized by pain from several heartbreaks, young Daisy was shattered to see all parts of her life getting shattered. Daisy couldn't take it all in at once. She realized somewhere that she had been unhappy lately, with everything that was happening around her. Even if, she was surrounded by loving people, there were a lot of things going inside her head, which only made it worse for her.
Meanwhile, all this was going on, Daisy was detected with many allergies and a severe cold that lasted many months – the impact on her health took a toll on Daisy's Family. Meanwhile, one of Daisy's friends who was selected for the International Program by this time had already reached the USA, the land of dreams. However, the University of Pitești was visited by one of the most Prestigious Automobile industries from Slatina for recruiting the most talented students. Daisy was one of the lucky girls who got recruited out of 120+eligible candidates. Maria is of the top scorers in Mechanical Engineering, but she did not get selected. Daisy felt disheartened knowing Maria could not join her on this journey. However, it was one of the ways - Daisy proved her professors wrong that obeying the old rules wouldn't get a person very far.
Daisy believed that the world is changing very fast, and one should adapt themselves to the changes to attract lucky chances in life. Daisy was happy from the bottom of her heart after a long time. She made Danielle and George happy, knowing that their little girl would soon start earning money and situations at home would improve. Daisy wouldn't let this happiness slip away from her hands this time. Daisy in the past few years realized that she had been finding happiness in other activities, other people, and other places without wanting to find out what would make her happy. Daisy felt that it was something that she had to do, to keep herself happy. While trying to find out what could make her happy, she came across a silly drawing of Noddy, that she had sketched on the bed during the early years of her childhood. This gave a broad smile on Daisy's face lighting up like thousand stars in her eyes. She knew exactly what she needed to keep herself happy by keeping all the chaos at arm's length.
Had one the memorable interactions with her professor, who told Daisy once, that she had that fire in her belly, and never let it die. With this concept in mind, Daisy started sketching on one of her room walls, wanting to re-decorate and make it more personalized. Yellow, red and blue strokes of paint turned the wall of her room into a gigantic flame emerging from a tiny candle that was about to die. The flame carried the essence of being ferocious like a lion, perseverance and the never giving up attitude like a phoenix to rise from ashes and a closed fist that could hold the world in her fist through determination. She drew a flame that helped her look at the brightness of flame in case she had to face any dark days in future that lay ahead. Daisy cleverly used her past and poured all her energy into creating something very artistic.