The Traditional Rebel
Tilburg University is a melting pot full of interesting people. Student Rebekka Rohe finds and portraits them. Today: Gal Cornblum (20), the son of a real estate organizer and a CEO. He was born and raised in Israel. When he was 10 years old, he moved to Bukarest; at the moment he is in his second year of Global Law.“My main motivation is learning something new and applying it to everyday life”, Gal explains confidently. The student is very open and easy-going in telling his story, very aware of this tendency himself. That is also the main reason why “opposed to many other Global Law students, I do not see myself as a lawyer. I enjoy presenting; not only myself, but also products”. Thus, instead of “aiming to become a world leader”, Gal plans to work in a department of his mother’s company, dealing with trading metals, after finishing his master. Another influence on this is his ambition to reach something in life: “One day, I want to be able to say: I succeeded in what I enjoy”.
Still, Gal is not a cold hearted business man. Before starting to work, he plans to travel around the world. “People joke about rediscovering yourself through travel, but through the pressure of studying you sometimes lose yourself. Through travelling you get to know new people that inspire you and thus, you learn a lot about yourself as well”.
“One day, I want to be able to say: I succeeded in what I enjoy”
Moreover, success is not what counts most for Gal. Growing up in a number of different places “all I want for my future is to have a constant home. I want to walk through my hometown and meet people I know wherever I go. That is the most incredible feeling and I want to have it again. Moreover I really want to buy a dog.” Yet, home does not necessarily involve Israel for Gal, even though the main seat of his mother’s company is still located there. “Of course I still have a strong connection to the country. I speak the language and have Israeli friends. That’s why I don’t feel like a foreigner there. However, there are little things bothering me about Israël.” An example for this is the three years military service that Gal would have to absolve when moving back. “Everyone else would consider me a liberal moderate person, but for my family I am aggressively left-wing for being critical of some topics”.
It seems like Gal has a clear structure in mind what to do with his life, while still being able to enjoy the small things in life: making music, playing video games, watching movies and discovering cities.