Six months ago, I feared for my looming university deadlines and how much I wished for all the work to end. I still remember sleeplessly running into university with a suitcase full of sketchbooks; completely flustered and on the verge of passing out due to exhaustion. (There was only myself to blame) I also remember the relief of having so much spare time to relish on and the excitement of a four-day break to Dublin to celebrate, as well as our end-of-year degree show, Up & On to reflect on a year's worth of work. I still don't know how I managed. At all.
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Degree show space. An accumulation of five projects. Check out sowongdesign.com/ for a detailed look. |
I spent a month at a local charity completing a visualising internship through the university's 'DMU Champions Internship Scheme' which was a lovely experience. The adverts I created for the organisation are now placed on Discovery Channel, which is pretty cool. Then came along my graduation ceremony. Racked with nerves, I strolled across the stage, too quickly if anything and received my certificate whilst my family cheered on and I peered at the audience. Big mistake. So. many. people. However, off I went with my Graphic Design BA (Hons) in hand. Hurraaah!
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Hat disaster. |
Where am I now?
The spare time I was very much looking forward to at the time literally flew by and before I knew it, I've hopped on a plane and today marks a month anniversary since I arrived in Hong Kong. So, amongst the crazy havoc of university related happenings; how have I ended up 6,000 miles away from my hometown?
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Blurry faced Paige, moi & an anti-social Sharon on the plane. First long haul flight, eek! |
Before I knew it, there were talks of making this possible. An overload of emails from the non-existent Alan from TEFL, 'It feels like the perfect time for a new beginning!' luring me into the idea of teaching English in a place where I really wanted to go to.
I paid the fee and months later, I endured a super long winded training weekend in London alongside fellow TEFL-ers, mid June. I was relatively drained after that weekend and questioning my abilities to actually teach a bunch of five year old Chinese kids. 20 hours of real-time training plus 120 hours of online grammar learning... all in the space of one month. Word of advice: Do not do the entire course in one month. Who knew there were so many forms of nouns? Not me.
My flight ticket was spontaneously booked in July and despite receiving my TEFL certificate/ qualification; it left me no guarantee of actually finding employment, and this manic journey can be deciphered into a post of its own. I feel like I need to save this story for another time, but I can safely say that it has not been an easy task. In fact, the battle for a job has literally been only half resolved as of the Tuesday just gone. I'm currently waiting upon approval for my visa application, so fingers crossed!
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