Final Year - Argh!

Well here it is! The big scary final year. I can't believe that I've only got one year left. But more than that, I can't believe how busy I am!

My brother asked me over summer what was more work, A-level or University, and I said that up to third year, I still hadn't worked as hard as I worked for my A-levels. They have now been far surpassed! Final year (fourth year for me because of my year abroad) is so full of work I'm looking back to last year and wishing I had as much free time, even though it didn't feel like it at the time.

The things that are making me so busy are not only the work, which is comprised of a lot of Japanese readings to do for homework, including some really heavy stuff on theories of environmental governance (which is very interesting, but difficult), dissertation research, Japanese speeches, Japanese homework etc., but also the things I have to do outside of studying.

I'm doing a lot of extra-curricular activities this year, not just for my CV, but also because I really want to do them while I still have the chance. I'm School Rep for Non-European Languages, which means I attend meetings at all levels of the Uni (including the University Senate, which is incredible to be a part of) and fight for changes that students want to see. I'm also an Intercultural Ambassador, which involves event planning and management, and PR, for international events.

Then there's that horribly scary word - jobhunting. The advice I want to give to any penultimate year students - start thinking about what you want to do NOW! You won't have time in final year to think through it all properly, so do research as early as possible (going to career talks and your careers centre is really helpful), and try to get summer internships or something similar, and also try to do extra-curricular activities before final year, because the time constraints are tight!

Anyway, that's my busy life at the moment. Thankfully there haven't been any essays yet, but the first one will be set this week, so looking forward to that! But it's reading week next week, so I'll be able to work without interruption, or at least that's the plan!