Week 3: Gap Year
The final details to my packing are finally complete for the final journey home from Nottingham University, minus the fact that I'll be back up for the Cocktail Society Ball. This night promises to be the most memorable for all of us leaving University. The night of the DJ is always my particular favorite as supposed to cutting a swathe through crowds in Rock City and Ocean. Two more nights at Rock City and then up to Scotland to possibly the furthermost point away from civilization one could possibly be in the United Kingdom; the Isle of Lewis. First time in goodness knows how long the family trip has involved the entire family. Last time I went up to Scotland I remembered my revision, toiletries, but the rest of my packing was none existent, that particular realization dawned on me just as we reached the River Medway, too far away from Canterbury to turn back. That was a typical 'me' moment. But it will be nice to catch up with the grandparents and cousins. Finding out the results of your finals when you're on a plane to Inverness will be a nerve wracking experience.
The final details to my packing are finally complete for the final journey home from Nottingham University, minus the fact that I'll be back up for the Cocktail Society Ball. This night promises to be the most memorable for all of us leaving University. The night of the DJ is always my particular favorite as supposed to cutting a swathe through crowds in Rock City and Ocean. Two more nights at Rock City and then up to Scotland to possibly the furthermost point away from civilization one could possibly be in the United Kingdom; the Isle of Lewis. First time in goodness knows how long the family trip has involved the entire family. Last time I went up to Scotland I remembered my revision, toiletries, but the rest of my packing was none existent, that particular realization dawned on me just as we reached the River Medway, too far away from Canterbury to turn back. That was a typical 'me' moment. But it will be nice to catch up with the grandparents and cousins. Finding out the results of your finals when you're on a plane to Inverness will be a nerve wracking experience.
The last week has been a mixed bag, not a huge amount to talk about, a trip down to London and visiting London Zoo after a harrowing Friday at Ocean Night Club, a massive walk home included in the package for what can only be called a disastrous night. However sitting on the train on the way home and reflecting made me realize more clearly through the bleary eyes of the worst hangover in quite sometime, that journalism, travel, photography and international development/relations are firmly the place where I belong in the future. Relief is the one word I would use to describe that moment when you figure out more clearly what you want from yourself in life. It involved reflections, positive things people have said to you, and at the end of the day what you really want. Certainly sitting behind a desk doing data, business, clubbing and hitting bars for the rest of my life is the last thing I want to do right now. Sure everyone has to sit behind a desk at some point in their life, certainly a journalist or anyone working in these sort of fields. Nevertheless the first thing I need to do is see the world and travel, before I have to encounter the possibility of living in the United Kingdom. This be fair, after living in Germany for so long, and the country having such a big impact on how I have come to see things, is a unfathomably tough prospect at this moment in time. English culture and me have never really established a good relationship since coming home in 2004.
Will my attitude change during this gap year? Who knows? I may find Africa might not be what I want, that journalism isn't my cup of tea. It works both ways, if the CV is right and you have the right connections and people hint that you might have a talent for a certain thing, you might as well go for it. Experience is the key, building a network. What of University? Have these last two and half years really changed me as an individual, in certain ways yes, in other ways no. Lots of students I imagine leave university thinking that they haven't changed much as an individual. Certainly without doubt it is a life experience and I have no regrets of signing up for the University of Nottingham, but for me personally, even if I get decent results (fingers-crossed) which will ultimately shape future employment and that university sport has made me fitter and more healthier person, and that I have made some amazing, life-long friends in the process; this experience is not the defining moment in life for me. That was a myth I believed before I came to university. However it would be foolish to dismiss the opportunities provided to me by the university that will ultimately construct the foundations for an interesting future. I certainly will miss the FIFA sessions with Tom Bowden!
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| Time Out: Isle of Lewis |
Scotland, German in Cambridge, back to Nackington for the last time until we rent it out, and then the promise land of the U.S.A with childhood friends (once we have booked the domestic flights). Busy times are ahead and free of education for the first time since Nursery School. What is not to like?
Matthew Williams
Matthew Williams
