Hello world! Introducing myself!

Hello everyone, my name is Alberto. I was born and raised beside the bank of Magdalena River in Colombia. Currently doing PhD on Electric Engineering in Mexico. I’m going to tell you a little of the story of my life (apologies for my English!)

(That's me and the river)

As a child I loved maps and data. I rejoiced memorizing country facts such as capital cities, currencies, extensions and populations. I was a weird child (I’m still a weird child, but improving on that). People told I was somewhat special, others thought I was retarded, because I could’t tell apart whether something was a joke or serious (Caribbeans speak in double sense 80% of the time).

I did pretty well at school despite all bullying, coz we had an encyclopedia at home so I knew what was going to be taught. In elementary school, I skipped one year as the teacher considered I knew too much (apparently in a rural town of Colombia, knowing how to read fluently and multiply at 5 years old is a prodigy). In high school, I got the best state level score in the SAT equivalent Colombian exam (still my highest achievement!) As a result, I became a small celebrity in my town, for a while. Even the mayor ‘gave away’ my mom a subsidized house (until that my family rented).

Then I entered University. I studied in Bucaramanga, in the Andean range. It was my first time in a city. I didn’t do so well as in school, maybe too much Internet and video games was a reason xD. At least, I could improve a lot my English in that period. I finished college after 6 years, and got my grade as electronic engineer. The normal course after that is getting a job, but considering the job market of my country, where there is nearly zero meritocracy and bad salaries, I decided to continue studying. I don’t regret that decision! I quickly found a scholarship in Mexico, and now I’m here, in my first year of PhD :) I’ve had the good luck to know several countries in the last three years as part of my graduate formation. And also made some good friends who share with me an affection for soccer and beer.

I just know Steemit from some days ago. Very interesting concept. It ran into Steemit as crypto world has caught my attention in the last few months, so I was like ‘there should be a crypto social network somewhere’. One of my goals for this year is to understand the very fundamentals of blockchain. I’d like to be active in this forum as I have some interest areas in which I’d like to express my thoughts, besides cryptocurrencies. These areas include geopolitics, new technologies (deep learning, virtual reality, data science), the development of languages and human civilization, modern physics, and so on (yep, somewhat random topics). I’m not excelent in neither of those topics but they excite me a lot. In general, the future of the world seems very exciting (and a bit scary)! I also like to take photos, and I have photos with cool stories behind. Maybe I'll share some of them with you :) Okay, i'll do it now:

My grandfather. Most lovely person in the world.

We have crocodile pet in the backyard. Ok, I'm Kidding. He lives in a pond in the middle of my former university.

Why did the chicken croos the road?

My cousin and I organized a football championship for the boys in a backyard.

Found this in creek near my hometown. Gorgeous, right?

In some point of my life, I decided to learn mandarin. But I failed miserably. Maybe will try again someday.

First time abroad. One of the happiest moments of my life. Arriving to Mexico!

This is where Mexico was born. Dolores Hidalgo.

Somewhere in the middle of Mexico.

International team of Mexicans, Colombians and a Japanese.

My shoes over the Danube river, in Budapest.

A friend and I in front of Prague's clock.

If you took the time to read this much, thank you! Looking forward to meet amazing people here ;)