As fate would have it, year 3 of uni was the polar-opposite of the previous year.

Over the summer, the boy I was head over heels for finally woke up! He became his old self, and as I’d hopped he asked me to be his girlfriend (yay). Together we did a three-week road trip, sky dived, travelled parts of Europe, and lived in Spain together for a month! It seems fast I know, but remember, this relationship was 3 years in the making!

I also did a little bit of solo travelling over the summer, taking myself to Fiji for a tropical adventure. One big achievement from that trip, was that I swam with sharks, which was my biggest fear ever (still is).

All in all, my summer was amazing! And I started my third year of uni with enthusiasm and more motivation than ever!

The finance units were still shocking, but they were being outweighed by elective subjects and public relations units. So, I was enjoying uni!

Alongside uni I continued doing consistent exercise, and I’m still get stronger every day!

Now that I’m sat here, in week 13 of my final semester, writing this reflection. I thought it fitting to verbalise the three major lessons I've learnt:

The first is, do not choose a degree that you believe will make you the most employable. Study something you are passionate about!

I learnt this lesson the hard way. Yes, I enjoyed maths growing up, but finance is not just maths. To me it is bland, and lacks creativity. Because of this, I tuned out long ago, and although I may be graduating with that the finance major title on my manuscript, I’ve come to realise it means very little to me. Although, it hasn’t all been bad. The electives and units I’ve done through my minor have been so eye opening for me! In particular, web design and development (which I thought I’d suck at) I’ve loved! It’s allowed me to be creative and I’m so grateful for that! I want to continue to do courses on it post uni! I also loved my entrepreneurship and PACE unit, which gave me the opportunity to design products/services and solves problems for clients! I hope my work will one day take me down this path, because sitting at a desk entering numbers into an excel spreadsheet is nowhere near as rewarding.

The second lesson I’ve learnt, is life is full of ups and downs. In times of sadness, know it will eventually be replaced with happiness. And in times of happiness know that it can so easily be replaced with sadness. Everything is temporary.

And the third and final lesson I’ve learnt, is don’t give up!

So many times’ I wanted to pack up, travel the world, and leave my degree behind. So many times’ I wanted to give up on everything – on the boy, on work, and on myself. But I didn’t! And here I am, through the trials and tribulations of the last three years, happy and healthy; graduating after three years; and in an amazing relationship! I now have everything I wanted three years ago – it’s a full circle!

I’m so excited and ready for the next chapter! I have a job (doing something I like) lined up for next year and plans to return to Europe, and even explore America! And to my parents delight, I think I might even be moving out too!

I know I still have more growing up to do, and so much more to learn! I’m nervous, excited and everything in between just thinking about the future. But as I’ve learnt this far, it’ll all work out just fine.