Soaring, Flying

Ah, my last post on the blog. I really don’t know what path to take with my goodbye. Do I want to end it off with inspiration? Humor? Tears? Motivation? A metaphorical mike-drop? Because let’s be honest, where do I even begin with this goodbye? Imagine the Spice Girls breaking up. Or Zayn leaving One Direction. OR JUST DRAKE. What I’m saying is that I just have a lot of feelings. I was a first-year who came here thinking that I would be superwoman. I would attend all my lectures and tutorials. I’d ace all my classes. I’d be involved in extracurricular activities. I’d volunteer at a hospital and work a summer job in the science field for four months. I’d repeat the process every year, and then I’d be accepted into medical school and repeat the process again (except more…medically). I had my whole future planned out. And here I am 3 years later. I sometimes sleep through my morning lectures by accident. I consider it an accomplishment to finish an assignment one hour before the deadline. I might get a not-so-stellar grade in a class. I don’t even know what I’m having for lunch tomorrow. But here's the thing ...when I think about first-year Api and compare her with third-year Api, I still feel as accomplished as I wanted to be, just not in the way I planned. I’m on the community crew to share my own student experience here at U of T. And guess what? Sometimes, it wasn't so great. It’s frustrating to get bad grades. It’s intimidating when it feels like everyone around you has it together. But here’s the big secret I later found out: not everyone does have it together. That doesn’t mean I was going to pass on some of the amazing opportunities that this school has to offer. I've focused on doing thing's I enjoy. Just because thing's didn't always go the way I wanted, I still tried to keep my head in the game. We had some great posts that reflected this very idea. Missing final exams, dropping courses, flunking courses – it all happens. I could dwell on my setbacks, or I could work to solve them, and move forward. Setbacks for me were just the start of something new. So that’s where I want to leave my goodbye – with a hope to match Troy and Gabriella’s budding love, and a promise that I’m going to continue trying to soar and fly. This isn’t really goodbye, it’s just a see you later. Or a ‘see you at Robart’s when I’m line for Starbucks.’ Either way, it’s been real, U of T. 🙂