Waiting —

Yes – it’s been a long time since I made an update here. I’ve been plagued with projects, an exam, a couple of bouts of sickness and more projects. But now, I’m more or less free. Almost. My parents have been reminding me to get a job for next year. That, is harder than it sounds. The market has not been tested for Bachelor of Environments graduates, because this will be the first year that there will be such graduates. According to a career counsellor at Uni, it’s even harder for Environments students with a major in Architecture or Landscape Architecture to be employed, as it’s really the 2-year Masters degree that is considered the professional pathway rather than the 3-year undergraduate degree. According to the same counsellor, the best I could hope for is a year-out work experience. I wonder if that’ll be enough to pay the bills? My parents are just waiting for me to move out, so there’s rent to consider. If, hopefully, I can pass my driving test before Christmas, there’s the car+rego+insurance to consider too. So, in a nutshell, I face being unemployed and homeless next year. Oh, what fun. And this is why I have mixed feelings about my supposed graduation on the 17th of December, exactly 2 weeks from now. On one hand, it’s the end of my 3-year degree and I’ll be getting my well-deserved diploma. But on the other hand, my future is rather uncertain, to say the least. Sure, to make that future less uncertain, I could go straight into Masters for next year – there’s a chance that I might be guaranteed a CSP in my preferred Masters too, if I get at least a 65% average in my last two years of Uni. However: 1) I’m tired of studying, 2) because of this, I reckon I don’t have the motivation/the drive for the demands of a Masters coursework and 3) since I’m not (yet) an Australian citizen, I have to pay for the tuition fees myself and I just don’t have that sort of money. Okay – that’s probably enough of the doom and gloom that is my immediate future. So —

After nearly three years of being on Ls, I’m finally FINALLY going to sit for my driving test for Ps. I doubt that I have already completed at least 120 hours of driving, which is the minimum required driving practice before sitting the probatinary licence test. However, I’m now over 21, so I don’t have to produce a properly completed log book (which I’ve initially been diligently keeping until my 21st birthday). What’s more, I’ll go straight into green Ps. Sure, other people my age will be on a full licence now, especially if they were lucky enough to get their Ls before the graduated licensing scheme has been introduced. However, getting a driving licence was not one of my priorities when I arrived here in Australia four and a half years ago. I came from a country with a good public transport system, bad roads and unaffordable (even second hand ones) cars. As a result, I didn’t have that I-must-have-my-licence-by-the-time-I’m-18 thinking and didn’t think much of all this business about licences till before I started Uni. So now here I am, 22 years old and just on the point of getting my probationary licence.

In other news, even though I already have a definite date for my graduation, it’s not yet definite if I’m actually going to graduate. Results will only come out on the 10th of December, which is, oh, just a week before my supposed graduation. Sure, some results might come out earlier than that but so far, none for me. I’ve been checking the Student Portal everyday and even though I’ve finished all of my assessments as of the 11th of November, there are no final results yet for any of my subjects. My studio leader was considerate enough to inform my class that everyone passed studio – so I at least have a 25% chance of graduating. Hopefully this chance will become more of a certainty over the next few days. More updates later 🙂