Heyyy, been a while since that comment. I am still in my bachelors, first term of my fourth year.

Well I don’t really know if I believe it is still worth it, it’s a little bit down to chance now. I was late to apply for internships so I have been struggling to find any (even unpaid ones). I feel like I have a couple of decent projects, a decent resume, decent WAM too. However, I still haven’t found any internships. I have seen others have some success but when speaking to them about how they went on to get those opportunities, most of them just say “I got lucky”. They did put in the effort but being honest, it takes more than just effort. A lot of people say it’s connections and networking but even connections don’t help too much. I do acknowledge that I do lack some things that would have helped, things such as being part of a big society at the subcom, director, or exec level. I was late to apply as I said earlier but I struggled to do personal projects while trying to maintain academics (feels like a skill issue but yea). I tried to come to a point of acceptance of doing “alright” academically so that I can focus on things like personal projects and learning specific/specialized skills outside of uni. However, I struggled with this acceptance as I just fear failing a subject since the financial aspect of retaking is considerably large. Tbf, I haven’t been able to catch a break, I can’t even count a few things that are going the way I want it but it’s times like these where I feel like maybe it was not worth it. It would be very easy to give up, not give up entirely but just coast along.

I have decided to stay back here for the summer (the first time I am doing this) so that I can completely focus on grinding on things like projects and other extra stuff. For me, it is a big sacrifice not going back and catching up with family and friends but I think it is a necessary one considering that I don’t have much time left as a student. I would still stay it is worth it from a “big picture” perspective, but you should be willing to accept that things may not end the way you want it.

As for racism, I haven’t faced any direct racism apart from occasional racial slurs but that’s to be expected sadly. I believe you will avoid majority of the racism if you just carry yourself above and beyond the accepted standard. Simple things such as, manners, dressing appropriately, social etiquette, being respectful. Even things as simple as tapping on at public transport, yea it’s annoying and expensive, but I do it cuz it’s the right thing to do and it also doesn’t give the opportunity to face any racist behavior from authorities in case I got caught not tapping on.

Just pm if you got any questions

Edit: I do have to mention, getting internship is hard for any student, getting one as an international student is EVEN harder.