Episode 11: Class of 2020 - Lucía, BSc Medical Sciences

In episode 11, we meet Lucía, finding out about being a lost sheep, adapting to circumstances and becoming a more rounded person. 

Each episode is a snapshot, a moment, a sneak inside the minds of our graduates. Season one talks to our 2020 graduates about how things are going, or not going, for them. 

Subscribe now and find out what everyone is up to and how they feel about this weird and unpredictable time.

All opinions expressed are those of the individual and do not necessarily reflect those of the University of Edinburgh. 

Multi Story Edinburgh has been created and produced by the Alumni Relations team at the University of Edinburgh. If you are interested in telling your story, please get in touch and let's talk.

Music: Since When by Mise Darling. 

Transcript

Sonia Mullineux (host): 0:05

This is a snapshot, a moment, a sneak inside the minds of our graduates. This is Season One, Class of 2020.

Lucia: 0:16

My name is Luca and I graduated from Medical Sciences this past May. At the moment, I'm working a part time job as a nanny a couple of hours a week, and I'm looking for a second part time job. And I'm living in Edinburgh with another flatmate. In the same flat that we lived in during fourth year. I wasn't planning to stay, I was, my original plan was to finish fourth year, be able to have that closure, I had actually planned a trip with my dad and my brother to go around Scotland and take all the things we were going to rent a car, and then we're going to go down to London. And then my plan was to be in London for a year, find a job, ideally, in a lab or at a university or something like that. And stay there for a year, whilst I decided what to do the next year. When when we finished in fourth year, I didn't I didn't have that closure, it was very much in a week, everyone had to leave because Spain was kind of a bit in the future, in COVID terms. As soon as the University said it was going to be online, everything was going to be online. I just bought flights and went home, but I didn't know if it was going to be for two weeks or for six months, which ended up being six months. So it was very weird to think of going to a new city in COVID. When you can't socialise, you can't meet new people. So it was actually quite nice to have the opportunity to come back still have the flat, come back and see friends, because most of my friends were still here. It felt like if I stayed in Spain, it was going to be more of a stop, more of a pause in my life. And I wanted to keep going forward a bit I wanted to, I didn't want Edinburgh to finish just by a rushed leave, and not not being able to see anyone not being able to say goodbye to the city, because it was just such an abrupt and negative end to my four years here and I've I've enjoyed it so much. I've learned so much and changed so much as a person, I didn't want it to just be like that and remember it like that. Back at high school, I was really really active. I didn't finish my days until 12pm, left the house at 7 came back at 10, was super active. And then when I came to uni first time that I lived in a different country, different culture. So it was quite a shock. Even though it's still Europe. Surprisingly, it was quite shocking. Just to adapt. I had, my English was good, but I didn't understand every time English speaking people talk to other English speaking people, people just talk a bit faster when they know they can, for sure understand each other. So I just missed loads of things, and I missed loads of jokes and I missed.. so it was a bit isolating at the beginning. Yeah, not to be able to communicate well with everyone because I'm quite a social person. In first year, I went volunteering for the summer just as a like a spontaneous thing that came up. And I loved that society and that NGO so I got involved with it. And I've been involved with it for three years now. I play the bassoon, so I started, I joined an orchestra in second year and then in third year, I joined another orchestra. I think I was very much like like a lost sheep when I arrived, didn't really know the city didn't really control every anything that was around me. And I was just trying to catch up with everything that was going on. And then in fourth year, I feel like I am way more reflective. Things feel less like I'm catching up and more like I'm planning I'm starting things for myself or for things that I would like to do, things that would be nice to do. And it's my decision rather than it just falling upon me. A After COVID though, I feel like everyone has changed a lot. And we are because everything has paused. So at least for me, I've had to, I had so much more time with myself. So it just gives you the opportunity to think more about how you're doing and why this feels like like how it feels. I don't know, it sounds weird to say that I've matured. But I do I do feel like I am aware of my surroundings and of myself more now than I was before. In first year I would never go on walks alone. It was just very, it felt like if you're alone, you just don't have any friends. You're missing out on everything. And with COVID especially, almost every day I just go on a walk like on an hour walk just by myself and I enjoy it. I really like it. The way it feels for me is that people have stopped expecting anything from me and they are just, as long as you're okay. And you can keep yourself okay, then that's everything you can ask for right now. But me myself, I feel like the pressure has gone way higher. Because like, you just have to keep going, you have to do something, you have to be doing something productive every day, because you have so much time now. I feel like my pressure to myself is way higher, if I'm not doing something, or if I'm not doing, which is again, something to adapt to. And something to accept for myself that it's okay, if I don't wake up super early and start doing something because it's okay, you can just start the morning reading, or you can just make a really nice breakfast for yourself. As much as it's difficult to meet other people right now, the people I am meeting is on a one to one basis. So it has given me an opportunity to bond and get to know people way more, because it's one to one. And it's people that maybe originally like maybe you wouldn't have met one to one before. And now because that's happening, and I feel like I'm getting way closer to my friends. I do hope something changes for the future and that it won't be as fast paced as it used to be, that it will we'll get something from this because I do think it's really positive to have a moment to think and a moment to pause. When I was doing Medical Sciences, I really enjoyed it. But I always felt like there was a personal aspect of it that was missing. I always felt like I was really, really interested in it, especially third and fourth year. But I always felt like I was my happiest when I was volunteering and working with people and delivering health care. So during quarantine, actually, I was talking to my dad about it. And I told him that I had always considered doing medicine, but I was unsure because I don't really have any chances. Maybe I do, I just wasn't sure. And during quarantine I decided to apply. So now I've applied for medicine. And that will hopefully happen next September. So things have changed a bit. Because I've always had it in the back of my mind. But it's always a scary thing to do. It's a scary, because it starting another undergrad. It is doing five years of studying again. And so I think for me, it was more of understanding that I'm not just erasing everything I've done and starting from the beginning. I'm completing my my career. And I'm going to put that medical sciences and the science aspect that I have, and put it together with medicine to be able to be a more rounded person, I don't know.

Sonia Mullineux (host): 7:47

We also ask our graduates to share a place, somewhere special, somewhere we can get together when all this has finished.

Lucia: 7:56

The place, I gave it a lot of thought and I think my place would be in the south of Spain, we always go on the holidays there. And it's a town in the middle of nowhere. It's a natural park so people can't build more houses around it. So it's never going to grow more than how it is. It's surrounded by water all around. It's not an island but its a peninsula. You can, you sit on the beach, and you see two mountains in front of you. And there's boats in front of you. There's a pier as well. And you hear the wind you hear the waves, there's people that go fishing, there's people that just go sailing, people that go on walks. And that's, I think I usually read there, and it's just a really nice place to be. I'm from the countryside in Madrid. So I've got, I see more cars and people. Which is also why Edinburgh so nice to be in, because it's a mix of countryside and green and city. So that place. Yeah, it's its nature. It's the middle of nowhere.

Sonia Mullineux (host): 9:05

Thank you for listening. Join us next time for another graduate and another story.

Kirsten Roche: 9:18

You're not on your own when it comes to planning for your future. Your University of Edinburgh community is here to support you. And this includes ongoing support for graduates from the Careers Service. Why not take a look at our website to find out more about how we can support you get the future you want. Go to ed.ac.uk/careers to get started.