[Graduation Series] Walk in Your Own Time Zone

As graduation season fast approaches, college graduates are preparing themselves to enter a new, exciting, and perhaps uncertain period of life. Some of them are under great pressure, feeling their future at sea or wondering how to get a satisfying job. Then how about the students at GDUFS?

JIAN Xingting, one of the excellent students in the Portuguese major

JIAN Xingting, an outstanding student from the Portuguese major, who has already got an offer from Huawei (the largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer in the world) before her graduation, expressed that she also had graduation pressure. She said “My pressure is mainly regarding my future job. I am about to be an employee in the financial field of Huawei. As a Portuguese student, I am a clueless novice to finance. So I am not sure if I will be well qualified for this work.”

Students who are going to enter the workplace are experiencing a stressful time. But others, who don’t rush to make their first pocket of gold, are relatively calm.

ZHOU Zhaoqiong, a student of both beauty and wisdom

ZHOU Zhaoqiong is a top graduate from the Faculty of Chinese Language and Culture, who has been admitted to the New York University for further study on media culture and communication research. She said “I don’t feel very stressed, because I can bury myself in absorbing new knowledge on an agreeable campus after my graduation. But it doesn’t mean that I am leading an easy life. I still have some pressure on looking for a suitable apartment and roommates in New York, getting familiar with the academic reading and writing tasks, and also preparing myself for the postgraduate studies.”

For more details, we interviewed ZHANG Yuehuan, the counselor for senior students in the Faculty of European Languages and Cultures(FELC). When asked whether the students from FELC are under severe employment pressure, she said “Thanks to the One Belt One Road policy, it provides a healthy dose of job opportunities for students who major in foreign languages. So it won’t be too hard for them to get a job. But speaking of a satisfying job, it depends on their comprehensive qualities. As language is a bridge of communication, it is essential for foreign language students to obtain a fine overall image and excellent expression ability during the four-year study.”

ZHANG Yuehuan, a young counselor of FELC

During the interview, ZHANG also gave some advice to the graduates. She said “The first lesson for workplace freshman should be role playing. Once you enter the workforce, on one will always tolerate your mistakes and childishness. Try to keep a low profile when you are learning from the experienced people. Secondly, you will bid a farewell to the university soon, but never stay away from self-learning. At last, don’t compare with others blindly, but walk in your own time zone.”

Speaking of this, ZHANG shared her favorite poem, Walk in Your Own Time Zone, to us.

New York is three hours ahead of California,

but it does not make California slow.

Someone graduated at the age of 22,

but waited five years before securing a good job!

Someone became a CEO at 25 and died at 50.

While another became a CEO at 50 and lived to 90 years.

Someone is still single

while someone else got married.

Obama retires at 55, but Trump starts at 70.

Absolutely everyone in this world works based on their Time Zone.

People around you might seem to go ahead of you,

some might seem to be behind you.

But everyone is running their own race, in their own time.

Don’t envy them or mock them.

They are in their time zone, and you are in yours!

Life is about waiting for the right moment to act.

So, relax.

You’re not late.

You’re not early.

You are very much on time, and in your time zone destiny set up for you.

Stress in our life is unavoidable, but we believe that all the GDUFSers have equipped themselves with good mental endurance and professional skills to handle this pressure. Let’s hope that all of them can burn their life without regret in the future!