Drum Roll Please

Omg I feel like an absolute genius for figuring this out – and by this I mean the mind-boggling series of life decisions that I’ve been considering since becoming an adult. Follow my train of thought if you will.

You remember how I said I was agonising between continuing with education and entering the real world [with some education thrown in], well I’ve just, just, realised how I can do both. I was thinking about my year abroad the other day, and how people often commented on how I seemed mature for my age. This is because most of my friends not from my Uni were a little older than me – 22-26, where I was only 20. Then I realised that most of them hadn’t entered the real world, but [on the whole] didn’t seem to be too old or wasting their lives. If anything, they seemed more ‘employable’. And that’s because they’d done the degree ‘ish, worked a little and then gone and done something else with their lives. Hey! Why don’t I do that!

So, new plan kids. I’ve decided to put my full efforts into applying for law training contracts [I’ve decided on a nice, random number of 7], maybe a couple of graduate schemes, work for a few years, then move abroad and continue with my favourite hobby of them all – studying. Yes, ok Mum, you tried to tell me something similar before, but it really hadn’t sunk in, as I was obsessed with not being able to learn Japanese before I was old, and before I realised that I wasn’t going to get a Fulbright Scholarship to a competitive, world-reknowned US University with nothing but a degree and a winning smile.

Sorry Stanford - You're just gonna have to wait.

Ah yes, the Fulbright Scholarship, ‘what is that?’ you ask. Well, it happens to be the only not-really-that-viable option for British people looking for a heavy discount for studying in the US. It’s so good (fees fully paid for a year as well as a living allowance, what whaaaaat) that it’s got ridiculously high standards for acceptance. Of course, anyone can apply. But a quick glance at the ‘Current and Past Fulbrighters’ list tells you that you ain’t getting on this course without at least two of the following: A first class degree (Or 2:1 if you went to Oxbridge); being an aeronautical engineer; being a prize winning novelist/artist of any description/athlete; having a very impressive CV; being the world’s best person. Of course, you don’t have to fulfil all of these criteria, but a smattering helps. So, I’m going to go into the world and collect my smattering!.... That came out wrong.

Anyhoo, I felt that this path was much better than spreading myself too thin and, knowing me, not getting anything, travelling round the world for a bit, get bored, come home, go back to uni forever, and end up in lots of lots of debt before running away to become a nomad. A well qualified nomad. Hey I could be a wise woman that people come to see for solutions to their problems! A wise woman hidden deep in- Sorry, massive tangent there.

So yeah, I’ve come up with a solution to my problem that a 6 year old could have figured out, which will mean more enjoyment in my final year as well as less stress. Yeah, I know, it seems really obvious to you, but let me just say that many a person has asked me to help them look for something when it's been right in front of them the whole time. Don't judge - we all have our moments, let me have mine.

Edi Xxx
P.S. I've decided to bring back the random Chinese words that littered my last blog because, I don't know about you, but I've missed them. I'll start integrating them from now on, but today's phrase is 进退两难 [jìntuìliǎngnán - lit. to find it difficult to advance or retreat - to be in a dilemma] to describe the turmoil that I was in, from which I have now relieved myself. :)