FINAL POST

Goodbye my friends. I will miss you Melbourne Uni.

Sophie inspired me to write the conclusion to my university story…

Starting out – I was nervous and a little light-headed, having been overseas doing humanitarian work in some of the poorest places in the world for six months, I arrived back in Australia and a day later began what I now recognise as orientation week! In fact, a few of the people in my host group I still catch up with to this day. Imagine being thrown in with 18-yr-olds who had no life experience, parents who still gave them an allowance and their heads wrapped up in their latest VCE marks. Sometimes I felt like they missed wearing ribbons in their hair and wished they had their ENTER printed on their T-Shirt to show everyone how good they were. Not that I was the epitome of humility, having chosen Melbourne Uni purely on rankings of beauty and prestige with no through thought to whether I’d actually be any good at an Astrophysics major.

Six months later having dropped math, almost failing physics and scoring H1 in biology (of which I had no prior experience) – perhaps biology was the way to go… but tossing and turning, thinking that a BCom might be a better choice, I applied, got accepted, and then turned down the offer because I couldn’t bear doing a basic statistics/accounting class. Unfortunately that was weighed up with two years of biochemistry at the time. Around this time I had thrown myself into Christian Union, was avidly looking at places to go on exchange, and was working a ridiculous number of hours. My father also mentioned a week long internship at PwC and so was left to find out other opportunities in the interim. Commuting over two hours each day made it hard to catch up with friends at uni, but some have lasted for years and I’m hoping to move in with one of them next year!

So.. end of year one.. my headspace is in biology, I’ve applied for the Certificate in Global Issues, I volunteer doing different things and am still working three jobs. Summer comes and I do an internship with PwC and the wine course (Best ever) which is back-to-back with uni starting the following week.

Second year begins. Exchange is postponed due to lack of finances, and a change from Berkley to McGill reflects a positive change in choosing happiness over prestige. Three scholarships are received to make this all happen and tears are shed from having to memorise glycolysis TWICE in one year. There is plenty of ‘networking’ (schmoozing) at Career events, applications for vacation programs (knowing full well I won’t be in the country). This is also the year that I find a wonderful boyfriend – which probably wasn’t the best timing either. Exams come and go, followed by three weeks of intensive subjects, an afternoon off and then overseas for eight months.

Third year. Begins with -20C days in Montreal, exchange was so much fun! and all the hard work getting there paid off. No work, Outdoor Club, playing guitar and learning swing. A bit of travelling and many many hours on skype to bf. It was kinda sad to leave…

On return to Australia, my head hasn’t been in study. Working with Transition and Orientation, doing a few lectures here and there – mostly just to keep grades up and eventually get those damned pieces of paper. Lots of job applications and a successful outcome 🙂 This last semester has been a bit of a blur and has gone so fast! Last week of classes came and went, the week being that of highs and lows – winning a case study competition for one of my subjects, with my amazing team; Team Lazermax (the cases were on Sony), being promoted in one of my jobs and then a low of breaking up with aforementioned bf. This also signals the resignation of both my jobs, onto more travel and a graduate role at PwC for next year.

What a journey!

I shall love you and leave you University, and may come back to visit occasionally.

Ciao!