It is fair to say that time does fly, that eight months ago I left the Brandeis campus for my semester abroad and now, after so much time in the real world, I am returning, feeling different. Although, I should not be surprised, change occurs to us anywhere we are standing. The world never ceases to move forward and so aren’t we.
But you know how my semester abroad went. Its culmination allowed me to appreciate all I have here in the States. It is not perfect, but what world is a utopia? Scandinavian countries are dull; I need chaos to feel alive.
After returning home, I got involved in a few projects throughout the summer. I am applying for a big scholarship (I’ll tell you more about it as the process comes to an end later this fall. I feel superstitious speaking about it at the moment.) All I can say is that I have written, thus far, eight drafts of my personal statement. I figured that if I was going to go for it, I need to try big at least. It required more than five recommendation letters, a few phone calls with the Fellowships office at Brandeis to get advice, it really has been a whole arduous process.
In addition, I kept working for the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism and I also worked for a contract agency called DYCD, a New York State agency that runs many of the after school and summer initiatives for children and young adults in the city.
Earlier this year, I was wondering why I did not get any of the internships that I applied for in journalism. Obviously, it brings your entire self-esteem down. However, I learned a few things from such experience. First, a lesson I learned long ago, but that, with the myriad of successes I have had in the past few years since undergrad began, I have pushed it aside. That failure happens to all of us and that we should just embrace it and learn from it. Then, secondly, as the summer progressed, I realized that I needed some time for my other endeavors because I tend to over pack my summer with a preposterous long list of things to do. Third, that you do not necessarily need to get an internship in what you think will be your future field. You will eventually reach to where you want to reach. It is fine to digress on to something else, who knows you may learn something you did not expect to learn? In fact, I did just that. I learned more about auditing and consulting through this summer experience. I put my interviewing and qualitative-gathering research skills to use, experience that is transferable to what I actually want to do in the long run.
But it was a busy, proactive summer in which I got to catch up with people I had not seen in a while. I tried self-care, read books, jogged, went to the doctor for annual check ups, I got a correction surgery I needed to get. I do not feel the summer was a waste.
Writing this blog entry, I realize that I am not completely ready for my last year at Brandeis University. All I can say is that I am confident things will fall into place, I just need to have confidence in the way things work. I may not see how they are going to work at the beginning, but I know they just will. I am content coming back to Brandeis feeling secure that I very much want to become a journalist. That other experiences have been valuable, but this is it.
Oftentimes we do not understand why things happen, but life has a plan for all us, it is the way I like to look at it. I enter this last year unsure about what the future holds, but I am putting all my positive energy and hard work into finding out, the rest it is up to the universe.
My goals for my final year are to learn the most I can from what I am interested in and create lasting memories with my four best friends in our off campus house, relishing every moment of it.
Times as these will not return. Much after this last year at Brandeis, our trains will go on separate rails to different cities, some of us may marry sooner than others, have children, have a demanding jobs, pursue a post-graduate degree, pursue goals deemed unthinkable at the moment. You know life and its turns and twists. It is so maddening unpredictable.
We will not be standing in this station forever, so our time is precious, before our train arrives and whooshes away.
Have a good start to your academic year!
Best,
Santiago