My Last Year of University: What I’m Looking Forward To

I can’t believe I’m writing this but yea, I’m almost officially done with my third year of university. This means that I’ll be graduating next year. It’s definitely been a wild three years, and it feels a bit surreal thinking about how my undergrad is coming to an end soon. I was lucky that I was able to have my first year in person before the pandemic hit in March 2020 and we went online. I want to take a second to reflect on these past years and write down a list of things I’m looking forward to during my upcoming final year. I want to make sure to take advantage of every opportunity that comes my way!

Confession: I have no idea how people make friends outside of school, and it sometimes freaks me out to think that I’m almost done with my education. For most of our lives, the majority of our friends are those we went to school with. After graduation, you have to find new ways to make friends! I’m definitely going to embrace my last year of school and continue to meet new people in my classes and around school. I’m also looking forward to spending time with my current friends as I’ve missed having in-person classes with them and seeing them often. Overall, the goal is to continue to surround me with people whose company I enjoy!

I am doing two minors alongside my Professional Communication degree, which are Politics and News Studies! I have one more politics course as well as a couple more news studies courses I need to take next year to obtain both minors! I’m very excited because I’ve loved all my politics and news studies courses so far. The professors are great, I love meeting new people in the classes and the content is always super engaging.

As I’ve mentioned, I want to take advantage of every opportunity that comes my way! That includes joining all the clubs that interest me, as well as going to more school-organized events. I’m going to miss these events so I want to go to as many as I can next year. That includes joining intramurals (I had so much fun when I joined during my first year), attending events my faculty holds as well as any university-wide events! You’re almost always guaranteed to have fun and have a great story to tell!

I know most of the time you go to campus to attend class and then go straight home after, but after two years of online school, I’ve gained an appreciation for our campus. I definitely want to spend more time hanging around the Student Learning Centre and Rogers Communication Centre getting work done after class and hanging out with friends. The Quad is beautiful when the weather is nice and overall our campus has a fun vibe, so why not grab my books and get work done there! It'll be a great opportunity to grab coffee with friends and work together, or even just enjoy time by myself for a change of environment.

Last but not least, while it makes me sad, I’m also very excited to start preparing to graduate. That’ll include finishing up school work and my courses and deciding what to do after graduation. Honestly, I’m not sure what else I need to consider, which makes me think I need to start preparing now! I know it’ll be a busy and exciting time, and considering how fast these last three years have gone by, I know graduation will come quickly.

I’m proud of how much I’ve grown as a person and student these past three years, and I’m looking forward to my last year in school. It’s a bittersweet moment but nonetheless, I’m excited and I want to take advantage of every opportunity that comes my way because it's been paying off! I know it's 2022, but we still live by the #YOLO motto. Fourth-year, I’m ready for you!

xoxo, Eva Oseen