In Reply to: advice and opinions wanted posted by ella_oz on Friday, 27. January 2006 at 17:25 Bali Time:
Hi ella_oz. I'm a 23 year old uni student but when I was 19/20 I had the same experience as your daughter. I started to hate uni because I felt disillusioned by the whole experience and really wanted to travel but my parents were worried that I would never return to my studies, and to tell you the truth I wasn't sure I would either. I had met a guy from England (not SE Asia!!!) and wanted to go and see him/travel and experience new things. So I deferred uni and saved up and went to Europe for a while. It was one of the best experiences of my life (even though it didn't work out with the bloke!!) and I know that I will never regret it, and it even gave me renewed motivation to complete my studies so that I could get a good job and be able to afford to travel more (which I'm doing in two weeks when I head back to Bali for two weeks before uni resumes).Not only did this experience make me more culturally and socially aware, it opened me up to so many new and amazing opportunities and people that would otherwise not be the case. I can totally relate to how your daughter is feeling and its not good and makes studying extremely difficult. She will, ultimately, make up her own mind but its so good to have your parents support, and mine eventually came around. I am in my last year of uni now so I can see the end, but she may just need a break to renew her motivation and assess where her life is heading which is what I did and am now studying teaching instead of law (which is something I figured out on my year off and which makes me infinitely more happy). Hope this helps, this is just my experience, but I have no doubts that it one of the best things she can do and remember its only a year in the grand scheme of life!!! :)