The Daily Lens: Javier Jennings Mozo

Javier Jennings Mozo has been studying Journalism and Mass Communication for the past two semesters through the Erasmus program at AUBG. The 21-year-old was born and raised in Spain to an English father and a Spanish mother. "I allow myself to experiment in life," Mozo said. "This does not mean that I do not care about the consequences; it just means that sometimes the consequences, if they do not affect anyone else but myself, do not stop me from doing stuff."

"After two years of college back home, I realised that I did not really learn much about journalism, and in my third year, I started doing an internship, and learned an awful lot," he replied when asked why he chose to complete his degree at AUBG. "After finishing the internship in my third year, I realised I was not going to learn anything new in my university," Mozo said. Learning different writing styles and improving his English skills was the main drive behind his decision to study abroad.

Mozo claims working was hard: "I was waking up at seven, going to the internship from nine till two p.m., while eating in the office, and grabbing the metro to go to uni from four to eight." Despite having to be on call seven days a week, he says that he was happy to work in a place where his opinion counted. "I got to cover topics that I was interested in and got to publish in seven different mainstream Spanish media, at 20 years old, which was crazy, if you think about it," he said. Mozo was writing articles, reports, and stories, while simultaneously going out in the streets for video work and interviews, for porCausa Foundation, an NGO specialising in migration. 

Together with Jonas Løken Estenstad, a fellow AUBGer and friend, Mozo created a podcast dedicated to exploring minorities isolated from society. The first season revolved around Fakulteta, one of Bulgaria’s biggest Roma ghettos. "Each season will have three-four episodes. There is a season for every minority. It is now an auto publication on Spotify, but our goal is to pitch it to a bigger media outlet and produce a season every semester of the year," he said. The two students developed a close friendship while working together. "We did so much in such a small time, that four months later, when he left, we actually felt really proud of ourselves and our work. He is like the older brother I never had, even though I do have an older brother whom I have never met," Mozo said when asked about his relationship with Estenstad.

While Mozo enjoys AUBG’s education system and passionate professors, he has mixed feelings about life on campus. "During orientation week, and the first two months, everything is great because you are new. Everybody loves you. You are different, attractive, but then reality hits," he said. "There is RA corruption here, it sounds hilarious, but it messes with you. I understand that Spanish people are louder and that not all Erasmus people are here to study, but I did not come here to only party, but to take advantage of my time and the opportunities presented to me," he said, after describing many occasions in which he believes he had been fined for no reason. There were times when he remembers feeling like he was disposable. "I have been frustrated with this, I think there is a small bias against us," Mozo concluded.

What would you say to your 15-year-old self?

I would tell him a few things, actually. First of all, to keep calm, things happen eventually, it is just a matter of timing and being awake to realise when they are happening. I would also tell him to be nicer to the people who really care about him and to not be afraid to cut off anything toxic in his life. I would also tell him to not obsess about that girl (the one only he knows about) and look around, there are a lot of interesting people and girls in his circle. Lastly, I would tell him to not feel insecure about his appearance because six years later he would turn out to be handsome.