Taking Advantage of Every Opportunity!

I was interviewing a friend, or rather big sister Ebube ^-^, on Monday for my first radio broadcast -that will be put up as soon as possible- when this question came up: 

"If you had the choice between staying here in Austria and moving back to Nigeria, what would you choose?"

Before then, I had always criticized this actually beautiful country I am privileged to be a part of, saying the Austrians...

1.  are so hostile and unfriendly;

2.  are never contented with what they have and take what they have for granted;

3.  were born with a silver in their mouths and don't know what it's like to have gone through hardship;

Courtesy of The Zimbabwean

Courtesy of National Geographic

4.  will see these picture in textbooks or in documentaries and the first thing to come to their minds will be: Africa is sooo poor! They will probably never know how much fun it actually is, especially when you've got your friends or family at your side.


However, her answer made me stop and think. I could either see it like this:

I have had to move to a country thousands of miles way from home leaving behind a part of my family and ALL my friends. I have had to learn a language that I hadn't even known of it's existence. I have had to get used to a foreign culture and blanket mine whenever I went outside my door. I have had to forget my African way of thinking and adapt to the European. POOR ME!

                                                             OR

I may have had to face some difficulties in the first few years of my stay here, but it's about time I stopped asking, "Why did my dad have to choose Austria of all places?!" and started asking,"How do I make the best out of my stay here and take advantage of EVERY opportunity, no matter how little or irrelevant it might seem to be?" 


So right now, I plan to accept and appreciate things as they are, make the best of everything I can, enjoy life and all the doors it opens and respect the fact that some doors are just meant to remain closed! 


All these and more have just been a few minutes from where I live, but instead of noticing and appreciating them, I have spent the past few years mourning and asking "Why?!"

Courtesy of Olympus Fotoforum
Grazer Murinsel. A plattform afloat the sea Mur.

Courtesy of Wikipedia
Schlossberg.
 An arms museum and clocktower at the top of a huge, beautiful  mountain.

Courtesy of  Deutsches-Architektur-Forum
The Graz Art Museum. An extravagant architectural artwork in the middle of the city. 

Courtesy of  Das Wirthaus
Schloss Eggenberg. A beautiful palace built in the 17th century, just 15 minutes away!

So in this manner, I want to say a big thank you to my big sister Ebube for changing my perspective of seeing everything around me, with this answer:

"[...] Here in Austria you have a huge gap of chances to choose what you want to be, but in Nigeria, even if you studied, you could stay unemployed [...] Everybody is important here, but in Nigeria it's difficult. I would like to stay in Austria, but on the other side, Nigeria is my HOME"

Nur im Krieg und in der Liebe ist alles erlaubt!