Have been thinking about what university meant to me. Technically, it turned me into an accountant but I feel like it’s much more than that.
Though I’m not quite into all the networking in uni and the congregation ceremony itself, I did get inspired during my uni experience.
My whole uni experience was a busy one lol.
• Year one: have to get a high GPA for desired major
• Year 2: have to get a high GPA and get prepared for interviews in order to have the exchange opportunity
• Year 3: exchange study + have to get a high GPA and get prepared for interviews to get an internship
• Year 4: looking for graduate jobs
In year one, I was quite depressed cuz city university of Hong Kong wasn’t my first choice. I didn’t perform well as expected because of some mental problems. During that summer break, I joined the overseas program of college of business and stayed in Australia for 2 months as an escape, during which I lived with local host family and worked as a volunteer in koala and wildlife hospital. The “retirement life” in Adelaide was nothing like Hong Kong. As my host mum said: we earn money for a better life rather than consuming our life in pursuit of money. That’s a new perspective for me. Affected by the Asian culture of hardworking and success, I didn’t even quite know what I wanted for my life. I performed well academically to meet my parents’ and teachers’ expectation. I wasn’t being myself.
During exchange study in year three, I met lots of amazing people. I went for many solo backpack trips and lived in youth hostel. Many people was like wow you traveled alone ? Wasn’t it boring? NOT AT ALL. I met lots of solo travellers all over the world and I even had meals and had day trips with them. I chatted with people for hours on different topics like culture, politic, economy... it was like a brand new experience for me. I started to get convinced that there were other possibilities, other than those promoted in Asian society. There could be hundreds of thousands of success based on our own priorities. Why shall we get affected by the one shared by the majority of people?
I read more books to try figure out what i want the most for my life as I always found life without meaning. By doing so, I finally know what one of the professors meant during one of the lecture. “Don’t be a self centred person. “ We tend to focus on our own problems and issues without paying attention to people around us, our society and the world. There are indeed lots of different possibilities rather than the one promoted in our own cultures.
So far, I haven’t figure out what matters to me the most in my life but I know it’s certainly not money.
I’m lucky enough to get a job in one of the big four accounting firms right now but it’s a mean not an end. Probably in three years, after getting my CPA, i will get a master degree and try work overseas to see whether I like it unlike most of my peers in the same firm, searching for better career after getting CPA. But after all, we only live once and we gotta live the best out of it.
