"You can't go back to change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending."
~ C.S. Lewis
Yet another beautiful year of shortcomings, growth, and learning all at once. This year has taught me some of the most important lessons in life, ones that will help me through the toughest times in life, as well as brought me a multitude of surprises I didn't expect. The fall semester started out with me moving into my house off campus as I got ready for my co-op rotation with AMEND consulting. After travelling for 8 months, the welcome feeling of calling somewhere home felt amazing along with the excitement of my first co-op in the US. My time at AMEND was filled with many a lessons as I learned to adapt to a new work environment completely different from the ones I had found myself in before, along with pushing myself out of my comfort zone to reflect and realize my interests and future goals. My time at the company, gave me a lot of clarity in terms of what I wanted to do in the future and where I hoped to be within my career.
As I navigated this time of realizing what I did and didn't like, I was faced with the loss of my grandmother in November, just 2 weeks before I flew home to India. This was one of the toughest times for me, but my friends around me gave me immense support and love as I prepared to travel.
After spending a month with my family, the second semester brought me back to UC for classes after a whole year of working and study abroad, which made me very excited. Most of my classes this semester were very degree focused with a mix of some technical classes along with a few theoretical classes including yet another short term study abroad class to Scandinavia. The semester was very unexpected with some disappointments as I missed out on executive positions and awards I had worked very hard for, but also dreams come true as I got a chance to become a TEDx UCincinnati speaker.
More importantly the semester got me reacquainted to friends I had lost contact with and closer to friends I already had, it made me change my perspective on life a lot as I learned about that the things most important in life were people and relationships rather than just awards. I ended the semester following my dream of travelling once again as I explored beautiful Scandinavia followed by living my dream of exploring Greece after the study abroad trip.
I started the year out as the girl who was always ambitious about wanting to do everything and ended it with realizing that sometimes the most important things in life are the people and friends around you. As I start my summer spending time with my family in India and preparing for Grad school, it's a little bittersweet to think that I will be starting my senior year in a few months. Nonetheless, I am excited for the exciting chapters ahead of me!
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