Before I came to UBC, I was quite keen on doing some exchange programmes. That was actually one of the things I was considering when applying to the UK as well, but then I remembered that there are only three years and it would be kind of pointless to be traipsing about elsewhere if I wanted to do a straight English degree. Only now that I’m here, I’ve decided that I’m not going to go on exchange during the academic year.
Thanks to the IB, I have a lot of transfer credit. This makes me eligible to apply for third-year English at the end of this year, and as English is what I want to do more than anything else, I want to stick around and study as much as I can as fast as I can. I also want to do Creative Writing, which is essentially only open to second-year students. (Which reminds me, I need to check whether being a second-year student doing third-year English makes me eligible for Creative Writing. It would be too cruel if I wasn’t eligible next year, wouldn’t it? Because I couldn’t enter second-year English this year until I got my IB results, which were well after registration dates, so I wasn’t eligible when everything became full either.) I might still think about going to Glasgow for third year, but then again, I’m also thinking of doing co-op, so it’s one or the other. I’ve also noticed a lot of the partner universities only offer lower-level courses, which I am personally no longer interested in.
Despite this, I still plan on going abroad. I sincerely believe that going to different countries opens you up to so many new experiences, opportunities and challenges. After talking with some secondary school friends who went to places they’d never been to before to pursue their tertiary education, I have to say I am envious of their courage and the rewards they are reaping because of it. I am learning the hard way that great rewards only come with great risks. I wish I took bigger risks.
And so I am going to apply for summer school — or more specifically, the Spring Term (May to mid-June) at Queen’s International Research Centre in Herstmonceux for 2008. Credit transfers very easily from there; you do three courses there, equivalent to nine credits at UBC. My parents are very supportive of this idea (more so than the idea of me staying on at UBC for summer school).
I also have dreams of volunteering abroad one summer. I’m not sure where that would fit into my schedule… I need serious help planning out my degree with all the stuff I want to do.
