Motivations
Doing a masters course having been through what I’ve been through, it’s an opportunity to get back on my feet and really just to take advantage of something that could open up a lot of doors. Especially coming back from a major health challenge… trying to find what I could do with my time, what would be the best investment in terms of my time and money, I felt that the opportunity to do a masters here… it just seemed to add up.

This course could really enhance my knowledge and give me a little bit more in terms of tools. It’s something that I’ve wanted to do because, you know, I want to build a career.

Challenges
There’s been some challenges along the way, really, growing up, being a minority… I went to a Roman Catholic school, so, early on it was ok, growing up, but then you know you get to that teenager stage of your life and you start to question your identity. And then I started to question who am I and where do I fit in, do I fit in, which community do I really belong with.

People mix and integrate really nicely here. So yeah, for me initially there was a concern just because of how things were outside, leading up to my time at university, but I think coming here has restored my faith in getting on with other nationalities and it’s not so much of a threat as I’d thought… There’s no superior/inferior relationships I’ve felt, and everyone’s got something different to bring to the table… I think people are really excited learn and mix and find out different things about peoples backgrounds. You make lifelong friends really.

Studying as a Mature Student
I sort of envied some of the undergraduates who have gone straight into the masters course because they’re on this momentum, and they’re on the ball, whereas I did feel some anxiety, prolonged anxiety you know, coupled with my health and all the other challenges and confidence issues it was amazing how… quick you can bounce into that and rubber band back.

Coming into university they soon fall off, the anxieties, because once you’re involved it becomes about the work and the projects and the study, that becomes the focus, rather than your own anxieties and your self-consciousness.

Reflections
What I’ve learnt is that when you get fears or you start to have doubts or self-limiting sort of thinking or feeling then I think it’s really important to stay focused on what you want. There are going to be moments where you fall of a little bit sometimes and question yourself and it’s difficult but from what I’ve learnt and what I really think is that there’s no limit really, you can achieve something that you didn’t think you could achieve from the outset.