Saturday, October 4, 2008

The profile of a first year

Julian Douglas is a dedicated first year with an amazing amount of commitment and energy. He is an all rounder and someone who I certainly aspire to. He is studying Pharmacy at Rhodes, and he is absolutely passionate about it. This is obvious to anyone who engages in a conversation with Julian. He has no set or definite plans for the future but one thing he knows for sure is that he’ll pursue his passion for pharmaceutics. Julian has always been interested in healthcare and can remember playing “doctor doctor” with his younger brother, Mike, and always bullying Mike into being the patient. Throughout High School he dreamed of becoming a Doctor, however even with a commendable “B” aggregate at the end of Matric, his marks were not high enough to study medicine in that respect. However, the forward-thinking and ever sensible Julian had a backup plan. He applied to do a Bpharm degree at Rhodes and was accepted here. This was not quite the dream that Julian had always had, but it was a close second. It turned out for the best, as Julian “loves” Rhodes, and remarks that “I realize now that becoming a Doctor is not my calling, and I’m meant to be here, doing this course”. So it has all turned out for the best.
Julian enjoys Rhodes because of its people and the character and ambience of the University. “I meet interesting and amazing people everyday”, he remarks. Julian is not really one for going out much, especially to “jols like the Rat. It’s not really my scene”. He prefers to go out to dinner with friends and says he quite likes the new local spot, Cafe Blanca. He prefers a more “chilled out vibe. I went to Friars once in O-week and have not been back since”. Julian is not the conventional Rhodes student, and yet he enjoys chatting to everyone and always has a smile on his face.
He is serious about his studies and he is serious about getting somewhere in life one day. “I don’t want to look back on my career at Rhodes and see a blur. I want to see that it was successful and that I learnt a lot from my experience here”. Anyone who has met Julian would agree that they are jealous of his passion for his course. Many of us here at Rhodes do our course because we can’t think of anything better to do. Julian, on the other hand, is devoted and passionate and will make a success out of his Rhodes career and will not settle for second best this time.

1 comment:

shadzo said...

The profile of Julian is an interesting profile although the character is not a typical rhodent student who would be known for outgoing and being so vibrant. The profile portrays all of Todorov's narrative style because at the beginning there is initial equilibrium because at high school he was opting to do medicine.The disruption came when he did not pass his matrix well and could not do medicine.Attempt to restore order was reinstated by lookoing for another degree programme.Finally order was restored when he obtained a place at Rhodes where he is now doing pharmaceutics and he realised that becoming a doctor was not his calling because he now enjoys what he is doing more that what he he was expecting.At last he is hero who overcome by pursuing another line of academics rather than the first option. This is similar to many first year student when it comes to courses because after first year they will realise that what they thought they would pursue would not be what they would do at the end.This was a good profile which is educative and informative.
Comment from Shadzo :http://outtaurspace.blogspot.com