Sunday, January 10, 2010

a constant knot in my gut.

I'm sitting on my bed writing this post on the last Sunday morning before classes start again for the Winter semester. I realized last night that though I am extremely excited to start this semester, I am also very nervous. I'm nervous because I am going to have a lot on my plate. I'm nervous because after this semester, I'll most likely not be living on residence any more and busting my butt back home. I'm nervous because this September, I'll be in my third year of university which brings me a hell of a lot closer to my final year. I'm ultimately nervous because after my last year of university I am going to be left with the stress of finding a full-time job. What am I going to do after I graduate? I have no idea. Despite the fact that I will graduate with a lot of great experience and credentials, I am not guaranteed a job. As much as I'd like to think that I have all the time in the world, I really don't. The clock keeps ticking, and ticking, and ticking. 


A girl that I work with at Kelsey's, who I actually just met this Christmas break, told me that she graduated from the Guelph-Humber Journalism program last April but is working full-time at Kelsey's because she couldn't find another job in her field of work. Working at a restaurant right after you graduate isn't all that bad because when serving, you get to keep most of your tips (tax free, might I add). In the end, you'd be making about the same amount as you would if working as a journalist at a small media outlet. Meeting this girl gave me some confidence because if I do end up in her shoes in a few years, I will always have Kelsey's to fall back on. However, it also scared the crap out of me because as much as I absolutely adore the people I work with at Kelsey's, I don't want to be there after pouring my bank account into the pockets of the university.


I've also heard that as much as I'll be graduating with a degree from the University of Guelph in Media Studies and a diploma from Humber College in Journalism, to put myself way ahead of other competitive journalists, I'll have to get my Masters. It'd be my dream to get my Masters in downtown Toronto (Ryerson University, please, please, please) or in Ottawa (Carleton University, holla). Ryerson and Carleton are the two best journalism schools in Ontario and if I could get in to study Communications/Journalism for my Masters I'd be amazed. I did get into Carleton for Mass Communications, which would have been an amazing experience, but I think I'm on the right track so far, despite what others may think.


I'm 19 years old and by the time I graduate I'll have experience writing and editing for Toronto's only arts, culture, and living magazine called FutuReale. I'll have experience volunteering as an Events Assistant for the Guelph-Humber Recruting Department. I'll have experience in my field after my mandatory internship in fourth year (part of the reason GH had me sold). Lastly, I'll have everything I've learned along the way plus two pieces of paper for the price of one! I like to think I'm going in the right direction. 

2 comments:

Hi, I'm Ashlee. said...

I applied to Carleton for Journalism & got into Mass Comm instead. Imagine we both would have gone to Carleton and still been super tight. HOLLA AT FATE! <3 hahaha.

llc said...

Awe! Hahaha, that's the exact same thing that happened to me. MAN, we are meant to be together<3