We Major
Moving into my junior year, it was time to start focusing on my studies, leaving behind the bullshit general education classes which just collect cash for two years and select what I wanted my degree in. Although, having that two year buffer did prove a nice feature of the U.S. university system. I never really knew what I wanted to do, and still don’t, but allowing us the time to make that decision helped. I went with business, figuring it closed the least amount of doors and the school’s business program had some pretty great professors.
Academically, I always did well at Queens, which I think is a compliment to the small school environment which gives you a lot of help in knowing your professors personally and the short class programs, which are completely opposite to the European system in that each semester lasts 12 weeks with numerous tests, projects, and assignments all contributing toward the grades. However, the ‘fully rounded’ degree audit approach often leads to a major waste of time, such as having to take two language classes in my senior year and many students having to take classes that in no way relate to their degree.
Let’s start thinking about the future
With opportunities to play football after uni limited in the U.S. and quite frankly the Queens program draining the desire out of me, I began to start thinking about what was next toward the end of my junior year. Queens required us to have two internships prior to graduating, which was a great stepping stone to getting that thinking started. However, being a student-athlete, working all the time, and the unfriendly U.S. public transport, my options were limited. So I opted to look internally and took a position with the Queens athletic department, on the marketing side. The internship was great, I had loads of freedom from a creativity stand point and learned tons in regards to social media and communication. It eventually allowed me take on the Queen’s social media sites and begin to develop them, and in turn, created a new passion for the whole social media thing, which is still very much alive today.
I did go on to take another position as a social media manager with a local football club, however, again due to U.S. stupid laws and bit of miscommunication on the terms, it turned out to be a waste of time, as things never seem to be easy on the work front for internationals.
Let's wrap a few things up
So wrapping up some loose ends here. My Queens soccer career was a roller coaster, highs and lows. Great lads on the team, just no real system in place for us to be successful. Don’t get me wrong though, I still miss playing. Whether it was scoring goals or shouting at refs, at the end of the day, it’s the beautiful game all the same. I still was working every week, now just in a bagel shop on campus every morning before uni. And at this point, uni work had stepped up to try to finish my degree on time, keep my grades up, and be able to walk at the ceremony when my family would be there, but that's a different story.
Stay tuned for the 4th and final part of my Coming to America story next week @12pm EST.
- Ryan Ejezie
