I guess I am starting this a little early, since I haven’t actually graduated yet, but I think its pretty much a cert that I will come out of Edinburgh with some form of degree, unless I am found guilty of some undiscovered crime which I have not yet committed. So this is a chronicle of the aftermath of attaining a challenging yet not entirely practical degree in American Studies MA (Hons) from the prestigious Scottish institution that is the University of Edinburgh. It is certainly a fun degree; I have had a great time studying it, which could be something to do with my natural love for the subject. What I may lack in natural talent I make utp in enthusiasm. However, I am doing fine on the academic front, so I must not be that untalented.

The eternal question of what to do next pervades most of activities and thoughts. Although the pressing nature of finals take up much time, the future is always the reason behind keeping our heads in our books and desperately trying to ignore the glorious sunshine and the temptation to go and play in the park. Ignoring the sunshine is not always necessary though, if you are lucky enough to have access to a perfectly safe roof for sunbathing that we do, which facilitates the suntanning-studying combination, which had led to funky tan lines and a slight tingling sensation in my shins as I type this.

Moments of introspection, as I said earlier, inevitably lead to thoughts of the future, and how little is actually known, or settled. Obviously, we all have plans, hopes, ambitions, but real-time activities? Not really. And furthermore, I am not even sure what it is I want to do. I have a lot of interests in things that I want to learn more about, take courses in, and study by myself, but not to sure what I would like to be paid to do, to be responsible to others for. Furthermore, there are huge numbers of jobs that I would love, that I am simply not smart enough to do. For instance, I would love to be a policy analysist for a U.S. senator or committee, but I am not even sure that I have spelt it right (it currently has little red underlines in my wordprocessor, but then again, so does wordprocessor, so I do not entirely trust its spelling advice).

There is also the dirty question of money. As I said, I am not entirely without plans. In fact, I have one very concrete plan in place, and that is a proposed round-the-world trip with my Gal Pal. We plan to leave sometime early-ish next year, and spend about six months basically taking a very long holiday experiencing different cultures and challenging ourselves whilst we find out just where are the nicest beaches, the cutest $10 hotels, and whether small Brazilian children are sweeter than small Vietnamese children. We’re only young once, so we’re basically taking our career break before we even have a career. Of course, this all takes some hard-earned cash, and trust me, it will be hard to earn it, given the nature of the job market at the moment, the fact that there are thousands of equally useless but enthusiastic graduates like me. Compound this with a very adorable Boyfriend who happens to live a rather long way from me, involving plans or boats to see each other. Certainly feels like I have my work cut out for me.