The Non-Immigrant Student
The Non-Immigrant Student podcast is an audio journal of my grad-school (and now corporate) journey in the United States of America.
It is an inspirational podcast that seeks to encourage and provide guidance to other non-immigrant students across the globe on how to live their best lives while fulfilling their Study/Work Abroad dreams or living far away home!
My stories reveal all the lessons I'm learning on this journey, and I honestly believe that ''If I can do it, you can do it too!''
So excited to have you with me on this journey, Welcome!
The Non-Immigrant Student
S4 E1 - So Far So Good
Hey guys,
Season 4 is finally here!!! And I'm back with a surprise for you....I'm on a new mic!💃🏾
Definitely feeling excited, elated, exhilarated about the new year but at the same time - anxious, worried and tippy-toed!
My hope is to capture all of these feelings in this new season, and share how I will be embracing and navigating the perceived changes in this new year.
I'm all set, are you? Let's go! 🚀
See you in the airwaves,
Tolu
Please rate the podcast and leave a review wherever you listen; it helps me reach other people like you. Also, follow here for more :) Thank you!
So far, so good. Guys, welcome back to singing for. Oh my god, I'm trying to sound as excited as I really am. Honestly, I'm so happy to be back. Today is sunday, march 10 2024. I know cue is almost over and I'm just coming back, but the whole point is that I'm bad and I'm so excited. Guys, how are you doing? How have you been Well, don't worry, there'll be a lot of time to catch up. You know I'll catch you up on my own side and please feel free to catch me up in comments on Instagram. Yeah, podcast feedback form, but truly I hope you guys have been doing well.
Speaker 1:Happy new year. Oh my god, how can I forget? Happy, happy, happy new year. I hope your year has been off to a great, great, great start. And for me, I think he has, and I think that's when finally back, because I just needed to get some docs in a row before I came back, honestly, and I'll tell you all about it just in a minute, but you know, I'm just so excited to be back and I don't know if you guys can hear I'm wanting you. Let me blow into it so you know. Can you hear testing? I want a new microphone. Finally, I decided to invest in your mic. I've had this bookmarked on my laptop for a while, but I guess, like Buying a new mic for me would have signified like deciding to take this like very seriously, and I wasn't really sure yet. You know, of course I was sure, but you know I wasn't just ready mentally. But finally I did it. I got the mic and I hope that to me, that that definitely tells me a lot. You know that this is definitely a new season. I don't know if you can feel it, but on my end here, I'm feeling and I'm so excited. And for those of you who are returning guests of this or returning this mass of this podcast, I'd like to say thank you again for being here. And if you're new here, um, let me give you a brief recap, I guess, so you don't have to go through the stress of trying to figure out who this person is.
Speaker 1:My name is Tolu Loqbae Esther Oluqami. I'm from Nigeria. I moved to the us in 2020, although I would say the non-organ student as a whole, like as a brand or like as a passion project, started way back in july 2020. So I created Instagram account while I was still in Nigeria and I started putting pictures there, you know, my, my moving and okay, no, I actually didn't put pictures, you know, but I was planning to put pictures of my last days in the us, in Nigeria, before I moved to the us, and all of that. And then eventually, I moved here in october 2020, just after a week after answers, you know the answers yeah, protests and all of that. And then I came, I resumed at connell universities to study engineering management and then, after two years of studying, I got my job at google in may 2022, just five months after my graduation, and right now I live in new york city and I'm still working as a program manager at google. So, yeah, that's my journey in a nutshell.
Speaker 1:And then, but today, I mean, as you can tell from the episode today episode is titled so far, so good, because I'm definitely I'm always in a very Reminiscent nostalgic mode when it comes to this podcast and you know, I'm just the journey in general. I mean, I was just thinking about how far I've come. You know, season one was me, who, who I just touched down in the us. I mean, I would say that I am first a writer. When it comes to, like, my very creative side, I would say I'm first a writer because I had said right now, medium back in 2020 and even in on different other books Way before 2020. When I came I was like I'm not sure people want to read about my journey moving, you know, it would be too long. I always I never leave out any details, right, it would be too long. So maybe I should start a podcast. And so that was how I started this podcast in February 2021, you know.
Speaker 1:And season one I just shared about like what he meant to move, who I was, how did I get into Cornell? You know I had episodes on what he was like to make friends in a new city, what was like to find my taxes, culture shocks. You know what it was like to just show up on zoom, literally because I was on zoom for two out of the three semesters I was at Cornell. And then season two I transitioned into like interviewing the friends I had made while I was in, while I was upstate in New York, in Ithaca. You know my friends who had now gotten jobs at Microsoft, google, mastercard. You know, like jp mark and all these friends I had made, I wanted to know what was their journey to getting those jobs. So I interviewed I would say season two was most like was like more like a guest episode, like a guest season.
Speaker 1:And then season three was me navigating I would say my adult to this new adult who had come into, you know now living In New York without my parents, you know now making money I want to, was like navigating Copry America. So I had episodes like you know what it was like to navigate big tech the nice things are working in big tech. I had episodes surrounding like my travel. I had episodes just ranting with my friends about adult who to. Season three two was very fun for me to create and I would say I explored my creative side more with that. You know I just did it the way I wanted to. Some episodes I would start to like just play music. There were some episodes too where I just did a day in the life, but like voice, like voice over and not necessarily like video Vlogs you would watch on youtube. So I was very Experimental with season three and now we're here in season four and drumroll please, the, the.
Speaker 1:I would say the theme of season four is embracing change, like navigating it and embracing it. You know, whichever one should come first. And, um, I kind of hinted, hinted this in the last episode of last season, season three, where I knew you know I'm talking to god about okay, what next with this podcast? Now, okay, what season do you think I would be entering? So and and, as you can clearly see, this season is the podcast seasons also follows the seasons of my life in the us. So I felt it, I heard it, I've really did feel it. But this season is all about change.
Speaker 1:I'm not the most adaptable person, you know. I'm very much status quo, you know, and all of that, I, I, I protect my stability, but I, I feel like some feathers are going to be rougher this year. I feel like, you know, some changes are just going to be there and some of them have already started happening. You know, I kind of change managers and teams. I work already and you know, q1 isn't over, isn't just over yet. Um, for most of you who might have listened to the episode, I think episode 13 last season I talked about um, there's a possibility of losing my work authorization in the us. So that decision is still pending. So you know there are some changes.
Speaker 1:It's also recently for my girlies, for my girlies who I'm trusted in this tea. You know I've been having many my dms of late yes, can I get an amen? So I've been very excited about that too. That's definitely a huge change for me, because I've been single now for what? Two years, about two, yeah, about two, one and a half years, and you know, for the longest time I wouldn't necessarily say like people are approaching me, but this year now that's.
Speaker 1:That's a change I have to welcome. You know, like having To actually call people or pick up people's calls when they say, oh, I'm trying to get to know. You know I wasn't. I stopped being used to that for a while, so you know I Can just there's just some imminent change all around me and I I believe that I'm supposed to lean into it. I know what we got to learn how to embrace all of this change and navigate it this season. So welcome back with how much further I do.
Speaker 1:Let's jump into it, I guess, Although already in it. But yeah, okay, I'm really trying to be on my best behavior. Just in case they are new listeners here, but I think if you have been here before, you already know how like this goes, you know. Like you already know who, the personality of this host already, and I'm just so happy if I mentioned I'm money new Mike, just in case I'm just blown. Just in case you know I didn't mention it. But yeah, I was listening to my previous episodes, you know, some of them that I could listen to without cringing and I realized that while my episodes actually sounded like voice notes and they really were voice notes, you know, I mean I had a small lapel pin mic, but now I'm on like a proper mic. If I ever went into video Podcasts you would see that I have like headphones over my head, like with a yeti mic standing. Girl, guy, like we're like how do I say this? We're on the next level, I'm so excited.
Speaker 1:Anyway, and just to give New listeners a bit of an idea of what, how far I would say this podcast has gone, and these stats are provided to me by busprout, where my podcast is hosted and distributed and how, like you're listening. They're the ones who also distribute this podcast all time, across all the. I would say I Think I have over, I have over in. In total, I have almost I think almost 50 episodes and I'm listening to in over 50 countries, over 456 cities. In last season alone I was listening to in 24 countries. I had 15 episode 3k download and 686 total listening minutes, but across the whole podcast I have almost 10,000 downloads, I mean. But to be more specific, I'm just above 75 and right time I hit 10k, I get another award, like from busprout and all of that. So I'm very excited.
Speaker 1:Most of my listeners are in Lagos, us, uk, canada and Germany, and I'm guessing most of these listeners are Nigerians. And if they are not, if you're a non Nigerian listening, honestly I'm giving you extra kisses, extra flowers, just because you know. I mean, you know it's normal to. I would not expect you to, even for me, I would not expect myself to necessarily go out of my way to listen to people from other. Okay, no, that's it. I actually do consume content from everywhere, but it's just exciting to know that people who are non Nigerians also support and listen. So, thank you. Um, what else? Okay, that's a little, that's a little humble brag, but I'm really grateful for those parts, because sometimes, even when Spotify told me I had nine, nine active listeners, I need to check my Apple stats. But you know, just knowing that there are people who still show up, even after almost three years, makes me come back here. You know, yeah, after a month, after months, I'm grateful.
Speaker 1:Now this is a perfect segue to also talk about things that I discussed in the last season. I remember in the last episode, I tried to kind of look back on my goals for 2023. Some of things I achieved last year was a travel year for me and I was just really grateful for I was. I was quite grateful for, for all the experiences I had, for all people I could see, for all places I could go to. You know, I was really grateful for that and I was telling, I was sharing with you guys how some things I thought I would do, I didn't want. Some things I, yeah, like lose weight, and it didn't happen. But you know, but I didn't gain more weight and that was a win for me. So I'm really grateful. But just to let you know that there are some goals that I did set out to and I'm already winning on them this year, which I'm really grateful for.
Speaker 1:Q in my youtube channel. I'm very excited about that. I mean, I've been playing with thoughts of it, especially on instagram, for a minute on instagram, I did not immigrant student as well, you know that I always like Joke about starting a youtube and I finally did it. I am proud to tell you I have 92 subscribers as of this evening. As of 7 30 a pm Eastern time, I have 92 subscribers and I'm very excited about them. Shout out to all of you for, you know, for doing all of that.
Speaker 1:Um, I had some other goals to that I wanted to do. I wanted to pick up my gym in habit again. Last year, had a personal, I had a personal fitness coach or trainer, although that wasn't of much help, but I don't blame the trainer, I mostly blame myself, because I wasn't really putting in as much work as I should have. Um, I wanted to write a professional privacy exam after taking the training and having a book to my exam. Um, I wanted to say off social media and I did that for about two months. I came back, I would say, end of february and because I was really, I was really focused on youtube and I was doing love, learning about what it takes to start a youtube channel, and I was creating like some long form and short form content and editing, all by my freaking self instead of plus. So, yeah, so I did that I'm happy that I was able to take that time off social media.
Speaker 1:I also applied for a promotion at work. I said I mean, there's no guarantee yet if I will get it or not, but I'm happy that I fought for myself. I stood up for myself, you know, despite some feedback that I got. But I was just like you know, I'm just going to give it a try, a chance, so I'll let you know if I get it or not in some episode in this podcast. I also landed a project that was very important to my team and even the director. You know there were a lot of eyes on project and I'm happy that, even though there was a delay, um, it has finally landed, has finally gone through. I mean, we're still tracking for success, but I'm very happy. I got some peabones for that, you know, and I just feel good generally because it was Something that had been on my play since March last year and I'm happy that I was able to land it in about a year. Even they should have taken like six to eight months.
Speaker 1:Um, I'm almost done with the first book I started reading. I've been reading hill before you do, and I joke about this book in another episode with my friend, how it's a very. Some of the words in the book are quite dull, like of course I know that. But you know, just reading it and Allowing it enter my soul, you know, allowing it be re-emphasized to me, I would say it's really helping me to open up my heart even more to relationships. Um, I would say I'm I don't know, let me not lie.
Speaker 1:I want to say I'm saving much more money. I don't know if it's much more, but I know that I'm more consistent, like I haven't really taken a break. You know, before, last year, if I had to go for a trip and I needed to maybe save 500 dollars out on my paycheck, I'll be like you know. You know I need that money this month and I will not send that money to savings. But this year I am sacrificing it for things I need.
Speaker 1:You guys, usually I I think I mentioned this last season that I do not have the spirit of delayed gratification. Anything I want, I get it, you know. But but this year I I waited like a month For sneakers I really wanted to get. I'm becoming a sneakerhead, like very low-key, but I just need more money to push that agenda. I remember I was like you know, what I need to store the sneakers and to me was just 100 dollars and I could have put in my credit card. You know no big deal, but I'm happy and I'm. So that was a very small win for me, you know, just to be able to wait and tell myself, wait, leave it in your book max, when you have this spare hundred dollars, you're going to buy it. And that was a big, that's a big win for me, so I'm adding it here.
Speaker 1:Um, I wanted to be able to prepare for this season and I think I've never take my time, take out some time to do that. You know, after I felt like after I've loaded that project at work, I could and upload it, starting my youtube, I finally could breathe again. Usually I try to start a new season and during the anniversary of the podcast, which is February 10th, but I I wasn't just there yet and I'm happy that I waited it out. And now, guys, we back. Oh, my god, I just realized exactly a month after. Wow, thank you Jesus. Wow, wow, wow, it's actually exactly a month after. I'm so grateful. Sorry, I have a thing for dates.
Speaker 1:Also, I wanted to send more money home. I'm late on match payment and sometimes I just feel guilty. I know like nobody's asking me right. I know like my parents aren't like pinging me, like oh, when I can send, like nobody Is demanding anything from me. You know, by setting the last episode two of season three, that I just wanted to Be more. I don't know if it's be more responsible, I just want to be more. Let's try. We have even things down now in Nigeria, like sending that money doesn't necessarily I'm sure it helps, but it's just a way of it's just like a nod to my parents, like that I see them and I just want to be able to do that this month and I wanted to be able to do that monthly this month. I think I'm taking my time because I'm waiting for my bonus to land. Guys, if you if you're already listening you are, you are in corporate America already or your someone who is working, I'm sure you understand the joy when you get your bonus.
Speaker 1:And, like I've been planning, this money, guys, I've you know what it is I'll use. I've planned with that money. You will not let me just, let me just keep quiet, but part of the things I did plan for with that money was a bed day photo shoot. I'm turning 28 next month, in a short in less than a month, and I'm so excited for some reason. I'm just excited that, wow, I'm almost 30. Wow, I've lived like eight years in my 20s, you know, and I was. I already went to buy and I was like, okay, I need hair, I need a new dress, I need this, and I'm even possibly planning a birthday party.
Speaker 1:So I'm sure, if you're following me on youtube, hmm, don't miss out. Let me just say it again Please go and look for me on youtube because the content is quite hot, coming in hot. So, if you're definitely following me on youtube, you should see that bed day vlog. You might take a minute, because I'm still the only one editing this. You might take me a hot minute to get it out. But see one thing about me I want you to know, if you're new here, if I say I will do something, it might take me a hundred years, but I will get it done and you will see it. That's just like I just want to let you know. If I said I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna, I'm finna do it. So, um, yeah, that's a promise. So you, you should see a birthday vlog, um, next month, or whenever it gets finished, whenever the editing is finished, and then I would say that, um.
Speaker 1:Something else I wanted to do this year is to To just embrace the calm, to have less chaos in my life, even though I would say now starting this youtube channel has added a bit of more chaos. But I'm doing it at my own pace, no pressure. I always remind myself You're not an influencer, you're just someone exploring your passions, you know, allowing yourself to be creative, to have an outlet, you know, and just really just exploring my passion. So I'm not on a time bomb to deliver anything to anybody. In short, it is a privilege for you guys to be. If you're listening to me, if you have me in your ears right now, I consider it a privilege.
Speaker 1:You know, sometimes I do these things because I want to do them. You know, I just feel the need to do them. There's no guarantee there's any other person on the other side. So, you know, I keep reminding myself that there's a reason for why you're probably doing this and even if there's no reason, you enjoy doing it and that's all that matter. So I just want to thank you guys again for being here, but you know so I am slowing down because nobody giving me an appraisal for any of these things, although I do enjoy getting feedback from a lot of you, especially when I first started, like a lot of people who me there to hold on to some faith, to be able to cross the borders of Nigeria. You know they had seen me do it, you know, and was very encouraging for them. Now some people too, still let me know. Oh, my god, thank you for, you know, sharing this and sharing this. You know so the little feedback I get here and there makes me still feel like, oh, there's some purpose attached to this. So I'm really grateful for that's when I'm begging for feedback, because I'm not just begging.
Speaker 1:In short, now let me just take a moment. Please just go and look inside the podcast episode description. You should see a podcast feedback form. Just, even if it's full stop you put, let me just know that somebody heard me and actually submitted this feedback form. Also, please rate this podcast wherever you listened to. Last year I think I was at 4.6 on Spotify. I think having a show that is about 4.8 and even close to 5 points is something to brag about. So if you actually enjoy the content by any chance, please rate this podcast, please leave. You can actually feedback on all these podcast listening apps anonymously, so it would mean a lot to me and if I can use my birthday to bribe you, yes, please do it for me for my birthday, thank you.
Speaker 1:So, yes, that's something I'm learning to embrace, to calm, to have less chaos in my life, you know, so that I can also just be more present. I mean, I try to be always present anyway, but to be more present, okay, so I think that is a little recap from last year. So, as you can see, my year is starting out very good, like, although I would say that something I'm struggling with also this year is fear. Hey, let me calm down first before. So I pick my words wisely. I'm really struggling with fear, but thank God that I mean I am a person of faith too. I don't know if I've said here, I would say like most of the content revolves around faith. My career and my New York city lifestyle, you know, even on YouTube, but I'm happy now become a praying woman, thanks to my mom, you know. I think she has passed that button to me in the spirit world, you know, I haven't joined the prayer team recently at church, you know, and I'm just grateful to God that, because I'm not saying I pray to combat fear, but in building a prayer life I noticed that fear and anxiety seems to be taking captive off, if I can use that word, you know.
Speaker 1:So I'm really grateful that sometimes I just shy when I just open the news and I see man, man, man struck down by the train and say Jesus, god please, please, protect me in this city. This is my only mode of transportation. Please, I cannot be saying things like this. You know, man shots near Times Square. I say God, please. So of course I have those fears, you know. But I'm happy that I'm reminded every day that angels are keeping watch over me. I'm happy that I'm reminded every day that God has gone ahead of me. I won't be a victim of people's circumstances, you know. So I keep re-assuring myself with the word of God and so far that has been very helpful and I'm just so grateful to God and the P about me joining prayer team.
Speaker 1:Guys, I'm now back to be the church girl. If you knew me in coming to university, or if you, if you wouldn't know my system, I feel like I'm becoming a church girl. Now, with the way things are going, I'll be in church like two or three times a week. Like Tuesday night is compulsory as a prayer team member to show up for Bible study and fellowship. First Wednesday of every month we have Bible study copy Bible study in church Thursdays. Now I joined a life group for Bible study. I chose to do it on Thursdays so that, since I work from home on Fridays then Sundays, I have to be in church early for preservice, like I will be if you guys see me on the road, be waving in your drag my ear.
Speaker 1:Now I'm a servant of the Lord and I'm so grateful because I remember there were times where I would be telling God that I feel like I'm yearning for you again, not just to know you in the confines of my bedroom, but, you know, to also stand for you in public. You know to actually also serve you in church. So I try to. I remember when I first tried to do that, I tried to chicken out by joining the connecting. Now, not that the connecting with hospitality team is not important enough, but, like for the gifts I have to use to serve God, I don't think I'm necessarily supposed to be in hospitality team or like making coffee, or like smiling at people not necessarily. I don't think that is what God is calling me to. So you know I'm happy that I finally listened, I finally heeded, and you know I finally stop making excuses. I just told God that. You know what. I think I'm ready to start prioritizing you.
Speaker 1:Like I don't know if it takes, it takes three of my human capacity to stand up from where I am to say, okay, I'm going to someone's house on a Tuesday night. You know when I have work next day. You know to go and pray and to even do it from my heart and I just, I all three jigas just cover me in prayers. I want to be consistent and even for you, if it's something you desire, I really pray that someday you get to that point Like you don't have to and I never rush myself into anything. Like if it's a desire, I allow the Holy Spirit to gently like push me into that season gradually and when and when I get there, final is like there's no turning back Now. You can't tell me anything. If I have dinner, if people are trying to meet up on Tuesday oh, I'm sorry, I have to be in church. You know, if it's before I would, I'll probably cancel church for you, but now, because I'm finally, I'm finally here by God's leading, like I just naturally prioritized it and I'm just so grateful to God. Anyway, some things. And I just said, you know, I promise that even if I started YouTube, I wouldn't stop my podcast, because I know not everyone consumes audio content, neither does everyone consume visual content. So I'm going to do both, but I'm going to tell you about some of the videos I released so far on YouTube.
Speaker 1:I had a dental surgery at the beginning of this year, took on my four wisdom teeth at the back, so I did a video about that in January. I also went for a friend's birthday in January, so I think I, yeah, that vlog should be up soon, no promises, but I have a plan to do it. You know I go introduce to a guy. Okay, I think I mentioned at the beginning that you know people up my DMs, you know, although that didn't work out, but I was just excited that it happened. And then I even received professing, you know, word of knowledge about something that hadn't preenabala. So you got C taste and see that the Lord is good. Hmm, he's so sweet to trust in Jesus. Oh my God, I've been like, okay, sorry, let me know what I do it, but I'm just excited. So Jared was a definitely a good month. And then in February okay, I think I already mentioned it here that I landed a major project at work. You know I also talked about changing my manager and my team. So these are some highlights of things that have happened to me in 2024.
Speaker 1:I also even developed a somewhat closer relationship with one of my work friends, one of my friends at work. You know, at the point time I was giving up in friendships at work, I was just like these people everyone out here is a fake Kassnega. You know, like please no offense, so that word is used to look clearly please in the streets of Nigeria. You know, like, everyone out here is just fake. You know no one is real. But you know, I think I found someone who I can trust at work and that's. And she even sent me a message on Valsday thanking me for my friendship and, honestly, that thing it was. So that message was so sweet I had to write an article about it on Medium and then I watched it.
Speaker 1:I cut up on a lot of shows to immobile us of IG. So I always tell myself like watching TV is like reading a script. I know completely the Lulu, but you know I'm like, oh, it's like reading a book. And if I read a good book this year, I would say I read the book of girlfriends. I've been hearing about the sitcom but I never actually took time to watch it and I needed a few good shows that could just play in the background and I would say that show came through for me.
Speaker 1:I think my favorite episode for any of you who has ever watched girlfriends was when Joan Clayton got married and I think she was also in the season of her life at all I am also in you know the show's there when she was 29. I think she got married at 23. But like you could just see how she was also self sabotaging her previous relationship. So you know how she was just growing as a woman who was also in her career bag, who also had a house. You know all of that. I mean I live alone now, I don't have my own house, anything, but I would say that our lives were almost mirroring each other and it was just nice to learn from her and her girlfriends and okay, I'm talking too much now, but yeah, it was a nice show and I enjoyed watching that in February and then come March I joined prayer team. Okay, I've talked to that, talked about that.
Speaker 1:You know I go introduced another guy and I want to share one joke that he told me. I feel like I just have to share it. I don't think he even knows I have a podcast. I never mentioned it. So we were chatting at the ice cream store and I was just like, and then he was like I'm surprised that no one tells you you're so pretty. And me too, I was like indulging him. I was like, oh, thank you so much. Yeah, so nobody tells me. But you know, so it's very nice to hear from you. You know, I was just saying, of course people, of course my dad or my mom, like I have people that validate me every now and then, you know, even for myself. But like it was just nice to hear from the opposite sex and I was just saying thank you. And then he was like, wow, you know, I feel like we have pretty, you are. You should be receiving it 24 times a day, once every hour. I'm sorry, but like I know it's so like lame, but it's so funny and same time, because I did not just expect it, I was like, oh yeah, 24 hours in a day, yeah, yeah, okay, okay, you know it was. It was, yeah, it was a stupid funny joke, but he made me laugh and I was like I should share that Also this month, having catching up on love is blind, season 6.
Speaker 1:Can we take a hot minute to actually talk about that? You know, I was going to record this episode. After I watched the reunion I was like I need to wait to give my people the tea about Eddie and Clay and the rest of them. Well, was a very interesting season. All of us have a lot of things to say. You know, before when the season started, I was on Chelsea side and everybody was like no Chelsea, and I saw that the whole one actually hit a Chelsea. I was like maybe I should be on Jimmy's side now you know a part of yeah, I could go on and on and on about love is blind, but I would say I'm an avid watcher. Now I even had someone even told me that because I skipped, I started watching from season 3, so I skipped season 4, I watched season 5 and now I'm season 6, so I had to go back. Someone told me that should go back and watch season 4, you know. So I'm actually enjoying it. It's helping me to believe in love again, especially with the black couple and Tiffany and Brett. So that's something I'm currently catching up on. I also caught up on the show miss and missy Smith. It was a very weird show on Amazon Prime, but you know, daniel Donal Glover is known for making shows like that, you know, very Eccentric shows or enigmatic, so it was nice to actually see his creative Story telling side in addition to his music career. So that was nice.
Speaker 1:Some things I'm looking forward to. I mean before we hear, before you hear from me again. Like I mentioned already, my birthday photo shoot. I am very much looking forward to that. My next episode will be busayo, who has been on this podcast now. That would be her third time, so please, it should drop after this one. I hope you enjoy it.
Speaker 1:Um, I'm also looking forward to discovering my h1b decision Will I be staying in the us or not? You know, of course, I'm definitely counting down to that. Um, I should find out April 1st or March 31st. So you guys fingers crossed and don't worry, you don't even need to pray for me. I, I just or maybe you can just say, let God's will be done. Well, god knows that, whatever, whichever way it goes, I'm willing to follow him Whichever way it goes. You know, trust that, whichever way it goes is it's his, primarily his, decision. Um, I'm looking forward to my birthday. Okay, I already said that. Um, yeah, I think those are the. Those are the most foreseeable things I'm looking forward to and I'm really excited about that. I'm also looking forward to knowing if I will get promoted at work or not. You know, I'm looking forward to how huge my bonus would be, but anyway, we would see.
Speaker 1:But I think, all in all, I am very, very, very, very grateful to God. You know for how far this year is looking good. I am grateful that I can be back here on this podcast and be here with all of you. I'm grateful I'm on a new mic. Um, yeah, I'm just. I'm grateful that men are now talking to me. I'm grateful for so many things, you have no idea. I'm grateful that I'm in good health. I struggled with my health for the latter part of last year, so I'm really grateful to God, and you know what I think. This is this.
Speaker 1:I think we're now at the end Of this episode and I really just wanted to keep it short and sweet To let you know that this year is going so far and so good, and I hope you can see the same for yourself. And if you can't, don't worry. There's still nine months in the year for God to surprise you, and even if you're not a person of faith, there's still nine months, you know, to get Everything together, and just you know, and to get to working again. And even if it takes longer than one year is fine, like life is. I'm like embrace the calm, embrace the slow, embrace the chaos, embrace everything, because you know, as long as there's life, there is truly hope. Honestly, that is not even a cliche thing to say, um, so yeah, if you go to the end of this episode. Thank you guys so much, thank you, thank you, thank you. I appreciate you for listening to the end.
Speaker 1:Um, this feels like a a great start to another season, to another season, and I hope you guys are also looking forward to some fun things this year. I have, I, yeah, I think I have about two or three weddings to attend this year already. You guys, we outside I have a good friend also graduating. I think you guys already know how drP, but I will, um, hopefully you know she's here to defend her dissertation, all that. But we have we plan to be live in Austin, texas, in May. So I am looking forward to that. I'm very, very excited.
Speaker 1:And you know, just in general, please don't forget to check me out on youtube. And non immigrant student. Please leave comments like subscribe, share. Just let me know what you think. Um, then, also don't forget to read the podcast on apple podcast or Spotify, you know, wherever you listen, and leave an anonymous feedback for other people who might be curious about the show. And if you have longer feedback than the podcast will allow you, right, please write me on the anonymous feedback form I've provided in the podcast description below, somewhere, somewhere you know.
Speaker 1:And um, if you listen on a Sunday, like I'm recording, I hope you have a lovely, lovely, lovely rest of your week. If you're listening on any other day, I hope the rest of your week or your weekend goes well. Um, I also, you know, random. You also think about people that supports me, you know, on all of these platforms, and I Say a heartfelt prayer to god for you and I'm just hoping that, wherever you are to, you're doing well and you're also thriving in your new life. It's really if you don't leave a home, you don't live close to family or anything, and just hope that you're doing okay and I hope that you and god are doing. You know, I just hope everything around you is okay and pray that god continually keeps us. You know he blesses us and keeps us in perfect health. In cheese's name, amen.
Speaker 1:Okay, guys, I will see you in the next episode. Next episode will be I am pusayo and we have some hot tea About how our friendship almost broke. In fact, he broke his god that brought it back together. Oh yeah, we have our detail next episode and yes, guys, I will see you in that episode. Okay, bye, have a lovely, lovely, love you, love you, love you, love you, love you, love you. Lovely, lovely weekend. Bye, guys.