My final semester here at CCRI is coming to a close. My exams are next week and I'm busting my brain on final projects while dying to sleep. I must say that CCRI has truly been a wonderful opportunity, a great chance at getting to figure out what I really want to do with my life. It is a bittersweet ending to be honest, I didn't expect that I would've fallen in love with a community so much, but it happened, however, it's now time to move on.

Speaking of moving on, I've submitted applications to architecture schools in Florida which has had me doing lots of thinking. I know that I don't want to be mediocre, I want to be the best at whatever I end up doing, and I know that it comes with lots of work and a true desire to succeed.

While jumping back and forth from one application to the next, I had no choice but to think about whether or not I'm doing myself a disservice by applying to schools in Florida simply because they're affordable. If I should be honest with myself, they're not the best schools to obtain an architecture degree from and that makes me worry about the prospects of getting a chance at becoming a successful practicing architect. However, bringing myself down to the real world, I realized that it doesn't matter where you go to get your undergraduate degree, what's really important is learning survival skills, knowing how to network, building relationships with people in and around your field of expertise and just being great a what you do. Yup, that's what I thought about.

Nevertheless, I have put my time and effort into plotting realistic paths in which I could take to ensure my ultimate success. I ask myself these questions constantly, "If I go to this school, what are all the possible options I have to get a reputable masters degree?", "Do the requirements match up with the course curriculum to get into that graduate school?", "What if I pursue my masters here, then pursue another masters in project management, at a reputable graduate school?". All these and more I ask myself.

Undoubtedly, time comes into play. I wonder what will happen if I follow a path of about seven long years of learning which would put me at almost twenty-seven years old. I wonder when I will get married, when I will have my first child as well, because the older I get, my biological clock ticks faster. I wonder if I'll end up being that woman who lives alone because I'm too focused on my career to focus on anything else, or that woman who's married but has no kids to leave her legacy with. I think about these things because I've always said I'd want to get my masters degree and a few years of practice in before I actually pop out a human being. I want to be ready when it comes into the world, I want to be financially stable and I want absolutely no regrets. But... life. We'll see.

P.S. This article came straight from the heart. No prior thought was put into drafting it, just mere thoughts and feelings. I hope you can relate.

Xoxo,

Brit