Curtain Call
Recently, I came across a photo my boyfriend took of me early fall 2019. It is, in my opinion, simultaneously one of the best and worst pictures of me to exist. My face is red, there are a few tears running down my face, I am slouching on the couch in the most unflattering position, and the wide-mouthed laugh spreading from cheek to cheek looks almost manic. So, what led to this moment?
That photo was taken roughly five minutes after I read an email I’d received. “We are pleased to inform you that your application for an internship in our office in New York was successful.” I texted and called everyone who would listen. That day, we went to a bagel shop to celebrate in true New York fashion… or at least as close as we could get while living in a city with virtually no skyscrapers and a population approximately 42 times smaller.
It’s been over two years since that photo was taken and over a year since I started this blog. It’s also been over a year since the pandemic hit countries around the world. It’s been over a year since my planned internship got canceled and my graduation postponed indefinitely. Since then, my situation has changed drastically.
What now?
While – or because – I’m no longer in the same situation, it felt only right to post one final update (at least for now), since I left my story on this blog pretty open-ended.
I followed other people’s journeys, heard about their obstacles and learnings while getting (or trying to get) an education during a pandemic. And while not everything is rosy or resolved now, I also got to see some of them enter the profession they wanted to or graduate as planned despite the hurdles.
Personally, I ended up getting an internship in another city, Berlin, and the catalyst that brought me to start this blog more or less disappeared. I graduated (yay!), received my diploma, applied to some jobs, got rejected from most… and then, a few months ago, I got an offer for a traineeship in Munich I’m pretty excited about.
Continuing the story
This definitely isn’t a happy “ending”. It’s a wobbly line forward. I think, unconsciously, I always expected there to be some sort of end to my educational journey. At first I thought that feeling of completion would come when I finished the internship. But I left Berlin, and that feeling didn’t come. Then I thought it would come when I received confirmation that I’d graduated. Nope. Then when I received my diploma. While that officially closed the chapter of my master’s, I didn’t feel done. Even with a job in my future.
Even now that I’ve been working as a full-time trainee, I don’t feel like I finished a book and wrapped up the story, I just picked up the next in the series. And so my education continues. Is it too much of a cliché to say “you never stop learning”? The older I get – though I am still in my mid-twenties, thank you – the more I realize that most people are constantly trying to figure out what it is they want to do next.
From time to time, I thought about this blog. I decided I had to write at least one more entry to round it off. But with what? This wasn’t a particularly rounded-off journey. It was a lot of back and forth, uncertainties, and spontaneity.
Life lessons
So, what do I have to say, more than a year after this all started?
Firstly, that I’m incredibly grateful that I’ve had the chance to hear from others whose education was just as affected by a certain virus as mine. It prevented us from doing internships, graduations, or jobs the way we had planned. It was and is an incredibly difficult situation, but it is always nice to know there are people who understand what you might be going through.
Secondly, I got better at adjusting my expectations and doing what I can with the possibilities I have. I’ve been incredibly lucky throughout this and still managed to do all that I had to and sometimes more, which not everyone gets to say. It may not have been the experience I had envisioned, but that doesn’t make it any less valuable.
There will always be new things to try and experience. And if I ever feel stuck again, maybe I can start a new blog about it ;). Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read all or a part of this blog, reached out, commented, or shared. It’s great to see that, even in times of travel restrictions and quarantines, there is a way to connect.
