I graduated from my Bachelor of Arts, majoring in international relations and English Literature in June 2025, in the most underwhelming fashion. For whatever reason, I was convinced I had one more semester to complete, but when I logged in to complete my class allocations, I found emails congratulating me on my graduation. I missed the ceremony too, but I can’t say I was too upset about that.
All that is to say I am officially a graduate and alumni now! Without any family or other mentors who have completed university to guide me, I had no idea that there were special privileges that came with this new status, but I am slowly figuring that out now. One such privilege is events organised by the amazing UQ Alumni team.
Last Friday 23, October, I headed to the Beaumont Brisbane in Fortitude Valley to catch up with some other former students. If you’ve been following my work for any amount of time, you’ll know that I have been trying lots of new things this year, including going to events like these alone. It helps having this blog too, which gives me a reason to attend and involve myself more (the posts won’t write themselves, after all). It also makes for a good conversation topic, and I’ve been able to share my work with so many people in the last few days.
Getting there…
The event started at 5:30pm, so I knew I wasn’t going to be making it there on time. I finish work at 4, so by the time I got home, changed, and headed back into the city, it was closer to 6pm. I caught an Uber in, because I’m not familiar with the city or Valley area, and I hate trying to find parking. The bus system is alright, but not as convenient for me as I would like, sadly.
At least the sun was out for the drive! It’s been so wet and dreary this last week. Our weak Queensland dispositions are not made for this kind of rain, so it was refreshing to see the sun peek out before setting for the night.
Thankfully, you can’t really be ‘late’ to events like these, as people are always coming and going throughout the night. I arrived just in time to snag a spot at a table with a few others who were already chatting.
The event
Everyone I spoke with was great, working in fields including HR, teaching, engineering, tech and the legal field. I enjoyed hearing about their journeys too, from leaving university and navigating employment.
My own day job is hardly exciting enough to warrant much conversation, but people always come alive when I tell them about my writing aspirations.
Sharing that I write books and have a blog is still nerve-wracking for me, but inspiring for them. This is a good reminder that it’s all about perspective at the end of the day—and a reminder that we are our own worst critics. While I can find all sorts of inadequacies (real or imagined) in my work, others might see your projects with awe, wonder, and respect.
I know because this is how I react when others tell me about the amazing things they are doing with their lives. Curious by nature, I’m always interested in learning more about the people around me. Maybe this is because I’m a writer, and I’d love to dissect every brain I come across to see what really makes everyone tick. Just kidding—kind of! How else am I supposed to create realistic characters?
I like to think that I can speak with anyone about anything, though it’s especially nice when I don’t have to carry the conversations myself. This evening was great for that, as the others were very outgoing and responsive too. It was a relief knowing that we all had at least one thing in common, so I could always ask about people’s degrees or their current work.
Hearing about life in the tech industry, engineering world, and teaching sphere from those in the trenches was especially interesting. Lucky for you readers, I got some of their details, so I’ll hopefully have some more interviews coming your way soon!
Our most interesting conversations centred on Artificial Intelligence, as we talked about the ways it is shaping our work—and our futures. The threat of joblessness is ever encroaching, and it was disheartening to hear how many people were already frustrated and seriously concerned for their futures.
Most of these alumni ended up working in fields related to their degree, which makes me feel a little…hmm, annoyed? Frustrated? I have yet to be successful in any of my attempts to break into any of the varied fields related international relations or literature. The mounting rejections are discouraging, hence going all chips-in with my blog and writing career.
Part of it, I must admit, has to be my own fault, as I am a self-proclaimed free spirit that struggles in the systems we’ve designed. I am much happier writing my own blog, interviewing people, following my whims and creating art and literature in my own way. That isn’t to say it’ll always be this way. I’m very happy to live in ‘flow’, moving through the various stages of my life with curiosity and a sense of adventure, so who knows where I’ll be in six months, a year, or five. I think it’s better this way, living in a kind of Zen state, because all things are impermanent anyway. Deep thoughts for a mini review of my evening out, but you never know what you’ll get around here!
Final thoughts
Ultimately, I had a good time.
I was a little surprised by the demographic, as there were a lot of men in comparison to women. Probably a 5:1 ratio, if not more. After such a lovely evening at an amazing all-women event the night before, it was a little jarring, but not terrible. Still, I would have liked to connect with more ambitious young women in similar stages of life to me.
Speaking with other alumni during the evening, I learned that they run these events every few months, and it was good to see that people tend to remember one another and catch up too. It’s good to know, and I’ll be keeping an eye out for future events.
Thank you to the hosts for organising everything, and hopefully I’ll be back soon.
Until next time, x
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