New life change!
By: Anasthasia Manu
Tags: Challenges In Life, University, Life Change, Life Choices, Student

So the last time I wrote to Medium was qway back around September. I was complaining about not having obtained the things I wanted in life, you know, the general bleak-outlook writing. I also promised weekly updates, which, of course, by the time stamps I haven’t done.

Well, a lot has changed since then!

I left my job. I am back at university. On a scholarship. With a living stipend. Obtaining my second masters.

It’s funny because although this is an accomplishment, it didn’t really feel like it at the moment. I was eye-deep in work at my job, trying to fix a bunch of errors that happened when the code I was working on a year went public across different lines of business, trying to write my end of year review, and trying to find a different job all at the same time. I applied to university and got in but financially, I wasn’t able to get the funds together. I applied to two scholarships initially and didn’t get it by the start of Term 1 so I decided to postpone my acceptance to next year, focus on the issues at work and keep on applying to jobs.

Looks like the universe had different plans for me.

The university sent me a random email to describe a completely new scholarship I could apply to, completely based on academics and skill shown during the interview stages, which sounded harder to obtain compared to the other scholarships which were BAME/female focused and only required an essay. By sheer curiosity, I applied, because who knows, God might come through, what do I have to lose? I got through the first stage, then the second. At this point, my application for university was already deferred, and the nanoscopic possibility of obtaining the scholarship, un-deferring, and starting university was what kept me going through this new scholarship process. There were python, sql, statistics, behavioral and situational questions, plus an internal game I had to pass as well as a presentation (technical) I had to deliver on a project I was a part of. Being a Java dev at this point and having not touched statistics for years, it didn’t look good but I did a bit of revision and just did it (shout out to NIKE 😎). This process took a total of five weeks, during which I was still at my job, sorting out those issues I mentioned. University was still going on for others, just not for me. By the fifth week, I heard the ‘good’ news that I got the scholarship. 5 weeks into Term 1. 5 weeks of work I would have to catch up on. If I could un-defer. Whilst also doing my job as I needed to submit a 1-month notice.

In the words of a Jamaican I know of, stress pon me left breast.

Physical footage of when they told me I got the scholarship

So I talked with the fam and friends, and they were both like, it’s your choice but it is also a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

So I tepidly took it.

I had to un-defer (an extreme sport, would not recommend), and plead with the department that it was ok that I missed 5 weeks and to let me take the course (again, extreme sport, would never recommend). I took a few days off work to see if I could catch up. I had three days to go over 4 weeks of work in one module (had 4 modules for first sem) to complete an assignment. 3 days for an assignment I had never seen going over topics I didn’t know, in a computing language I was hella rusty on. Also had to learn about and get accustom to this university’s systems and note down the people of contact and obtain resources.

DAYUUUMM.

I did it though. Killed me cos I sleept like 7hrs across those days, but I did it. And I slightly enjoyed it. The work I had to cover that is. The deadline I didn’t care for in the slightest. But I handed it in on time, 12 hours before the deadline. Although I knew the other modules were a lot harder, I told myself that this is an opportunity I couldn’t miss up on. So I firmly accepted the scholarship. I went to work after those days off and stated that I wanted to leave. Obviously I couldn’t just go on the spot, but I used the rest of holidays I had (like 10 days) and did my full time job as well as lectures, catching up, assignments etc. After a month I left and here I am now, in university (again).

I survived (barely).

Some more video footage of my brain during those weeks I had to work full-time and do full-time master student work

So we reach the end of my long story. The first semester is finished. I’m finally taking a much needed break (sort of) and reflecting on the journey of these pass couple months. Looking back at it now, I believe I made an interesting decision to leave a full time job to go back to university. Was it the right choice? I am still not sure. But I realised that there's a lot I'm not sure about in this life. That shouldn’t stop me from doing what I want to do. I am still here and I am still alive! And for that, I am happy (I think, I do not like being definitive with my emotions 😂).

I won’t make any promises about weekly or monthly updates, I’ll just come here and type when I need to. And that is actually ok 😊.

All images from Tenor.com