Freshman to Senior Year

photo by caleb woods from unsplash

I can't believe that I'm finally in my last year of uni. Since my freshman year, I've always avoided the thought of graduating from university because I never want that to happen. Though piles of presentations and assignments often stress me out, I was never eager to leave university. The thought of leaving university, leaving Taiwan, not having any summer and winter breaks scare me much more than having to talk in front of the class for thirty minutes. Also, graduating is another step of becoming an adult which scares the hell out of me too.

People said being in university is the best years of your life, and I couldn't agree more. Maybe not for you, but for me, those years are definitely my best years from my 21 years of living. Coming to Taiwan, being far away from home and family is the best decision I've ever made, never have I regret coming to Taiwan to further my study. But that doesn't mean that I never cry my eyes out at night because I felt lonely. It's not surprising that people can get lonely sometimes in university. In fact, feeling lonely in university is a common case that students face these days. Although studying abroad may sound fun, but adapting on the first year of being in a foreign country can be very hard for most people. It took me almost a year to finally get used to hearing lectures in Mandarin, making conversations with the local students and living in a shared room with five other strangers. I remembered I was so desperate to talk to someone from my own country that when I heard an Indonesian student is living in the next room, I didn't even think twice to knock on her door and introduce myself. So yeah, my freshman year's struggles are making friends with the Taiwanese, reading books in Mandarin, and listening to lectures in Mandarin. But once you've settled in and adapt quite well to the new environment, the remaining days are a lot easier to pass by.

Then came sophomore year. I was a member of an Indonesian Students Organization back in sophomore year. Joining this organization sure made my sophomore year a lot more fun, and the perk of joining this organization is I get to know more Indonesian students who are studying in Taiwan too. This is one my of my way to meet new people and socialize. I think everyone should at least join a club or an organization in their uni life. Participating in an organization or club does not bring any bad for you, it only brings more happiness and opportunities to networking, oh and it also looks good on your CV!

Next is junior year. Junior year was okay for me. Most of my junior year was spent with classes, counseling practices, part-time job, and volunteer work. Since I'm studying psychology, I decided to try and volunteer as a school counselor in a junior high school, just a small preparation to help get my mind ready for the real deal after uni.

Finally, it's senior year! I just got back to uni for a month now but it's been a hectic one month. I need to balance out work, class, internship, and social life. This is the year to test my time management skill. Most of the time, I sacrifice my social life for work because I'm currently saving up for a UK trip in February (yay!). When you're in your last year of uni, you usually get asked the one question, that is: "what are you gonna do after graduating?" and my answer to that is usually: "who the hell knows". Seriously. I'm lost. Well, not entirely. I have a few plans in my head but it's hard to get it come to reality in the meantime, so I'm just gonna let it stay inside my head first.