Hello, dreams have come true.

It’s hard to talk about graduating without writing the whole old story about how I went with what I wanted to do since I was young - so here goes.

As a child, language has been a pursuit of passion; I never knew what else you could do with words other than writing stories and poems; at least - that’s what primary school syllables taught me. Growing up and chancing upon The Star BRATs programme, that’s where words took a turn. It started becoming powerful; it started to be able to tell stories worth writing and sharing; it started showcasing more and more of my understanding towards life. It was journalism.

At that crossroad where we chose our path, my mum was pretty keen on me picking the legal route. I didn’t let her down, dumping that as my second choice, making it into the interview, but knowing all along I wanted to do English as my final say. It was tough to let go of what you know you’re confident in doing well (and what society thinks you’d do well in, because at that point, so many seniors, teachers and mentors alike texted and asked me to pick what my mum thinks right) and choosing the unknown just because you are in love with how words weaved dreams and pictures.

But that’s how I got there. In September 2019, I enrolled into Uni Malaya as a linguistic student studying English. Fair, I’ve had my share of jokes and teases about English not being able to bring me far, but at 19 years old, starting freelancing gigs and taking on assignments to translate and edit articles and pieces, I guess words began taking the shape of how future may look like if I had the intentions to pursue.

Then, it escalated when writing an essay won me a place to further my studies and do an exchange programme. Heck, the exchange life chose me.

It wasn’t a breeze; there (and now) comes a crossroads again, and here I write, wondering if this passion is a crossroad that I will continue walking down because I have been so blessed with encountering AIESEC, that one organisation that changed the course of the road I intended for myself. To be fair, up till the end of my VP term, I still intended to further studies overseas, but with opportunities to explore the world through this organisation - there seems to be much more than just words in my life that I want to have.

I want to see the world, to always be on the road, and to create and design adventures for more people and myself.

I want to take a look at how dreams take shape and weave them into action plans, and I want to strategise my longer years.

I want to remind myself that life isn’t about these 10 years I can see, but the 30-40 years ahead and maybe even more.

I want to do the right and do what responsibility entails, and I want always to remember that there are people waiting.

I want to continuously pursue my dreams and, more importantly, see more of the world.

There are so many graduation quotes, captions and wise words I’ve seen, but it boils down to how these all;

“It’s merely the beginning.”

Let the winds sing our songs,

May our stories be etched onto walls;

We will not live on forever,

But dreams and passions do.

Happy Graduation, Xiaotian.

And now, back to living my life 💗

-x-