Logan keeps progressing since his arrival !

After landing at LAX, I had a sense of satisfaction that I had accomplished my first challenge of coming back here to California to start a new adventure.

I didn't know it at the time, but nothing was going to go the way I had planned and an amazing story was about to begin.

As soon as I arrived in Palm Springs, I was excited to see the people who were familiar to me from my first trip and to get back to my normal routine, but most of all to start my new job. Little by little the excitement went down and gave way to stress and apprehension. And yes, a new challenge was about to begin: immersion in American life.

In order to reach my goals as quickly as possible, I had to solve a first problem and not the least: the language.

Indeed, I had learned the basics during my school years, but my level was low and with 0 practice for many years, there was only one way for me to learn: being in immersion.

This quickly became a handicap in my daily life. Frustration, mixed with fatigue sometimes overwhelmed me as I tried unsuccessfully to express myself. At times I found it impossible to understand and be understood. For a person like me, who overthinks everything, improving my English was necessary.

To remedy this even faster I decided to enroll in a school here called ‘College of the Desert', offering 3 hours of classes in the evening for foreigners with language difficulties.

My second goal was to integrate as quickly as possible in my new company, Architectural Blue, which consisted in learning new ways of working, with another mentality and learning to use this new software Pool Studio. Thank you internet for the tutorials, because it was a great help!

But the most important thing for me was to create a feeling of trust within the company. Once that trust was established, I could share my design ideas, and contribute a youthful dynamic to the office. The schedule was busy.

Besides that, I started to naturally create links with those I call here "my second family", which will become stronger and stronger later on. I can't thank them enough for everything they did for me.

They had already been kind enough to host me for a month and I'm not the type to take advantage of it. I also wanted to enjoy the adventure to the fullest and to have my independence to improve my social life and make new friends. So I had to visit several accommodations, discover Palm Springs and its surroundings for the ideal living environment.

Then I spare you the details, like the work papers, the bank, the identity papers, the permit...I had this feeling of starting all over again.

But with determination, hard work, creativity and with more fluent English, 6 months later I was promoted to head designer of the company. I was proud of this, but this time I had real responsibilities, which consisted of meeting the clients, understanding their needs, making the topography of the land, putting all the measurements on my computer and starting the design of the project. All this in collaboration with my boss.

In this same period, the Covid pandemic started to hit and then my visa was coming to an end so I had to make a choice.

But understand that with all that I had endured, it was impossible for me to consider leaving so I made the decision to extend my visa for another year and a half.

This was the best decision, because despite the fact that it was impossible to travel during this pandemic or to make new acquaintances, my work increased significantly, which allowed me to evolve enormously and to invest even more of my personality in the company. I feel so fortunate that I was able to continue my path, as I know many others were unemployed or unable to pursue their dreams during Covid. 

Today, the objective has been reached. I have become indispensable to the company and I am involved in almost every construction process.

I've been here for almost two years, with an atypical background and still full of enthusiasm for my vocation. That’s why I had the idea to create this blog, to put forward my passion, my determination and my will to create unique designs.

Now I want to travel even more to discover other ways of working, other architectures and other landscapes to why not one day, be recognized as a great designer in outdoor design.