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The invisible string theory is the idea that an unbreakable, invisible string connects you to a special place or person. This connection goes beyond time, distance, and geography, meaning you’re destined to be together no matter what. For me, that special place has always been Canberra and ANU. Despite the twists and turns of life, I found my way back, knowing deep down that this was where I was meant to be.
Last July, I came to Canberra to start my postgraduate master’s degree in Applied Anthropology and Development at ANU. A year later, I have completed the program, and this short but sweet chapter of life is about to be closed. As is common with closing chapters, I have been thinking about my journey to ANU and how different it has been from what I envisioned at 18. When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the whole world, I was in the United States, just about to complete my last year of high school. All I wanted to do was to escape to Australia, my second homeland and specifically Canberra, my birthplace. As the Australian lockdown intensified, I had to give up on my application to the Bachelor of Development Studies program at ANU and pivot to a more accessible university program. While this was heartbreaking for me, I came to appreciate my time as a student at the University of Colorado Boulder.
That said, as I was finishing my undergraduate degree, I could not get the ANU out of my mind when anyone asked me, “What’s next?”. My friends were shocked when I said that I was going to move to Australia and get a master’s degree, but they didn’t know just how close I had come to my escape three years previously.
From Boulder, Colorado to Canberra, Australia holding an ANU Graduation Duck!
All of this is to say that when you know, you know. And I knew that Canberra was a beautiful, beautiful city that had the power to heal me. The ANU is an institution full of learning, thinking, innovating, and experts that will push you to not just be your best but learn your best as well. I knew that the ANU was where I would learn some hard but necessary lessons in life and the world. And finally, I knew that I would find the answers I had been searching for in refining my position in the world and where I wanted to be to do the work to help people.
While I have been in the ANU system for only a year, I have expanded my knowledge exponentially. I am genuinely grateful to ANU for providing me with the opportunity to learn from some of the most intelligent and accomplished people in the development and anthropology fields. I have been connected to this university for a long time, almost as if there was an invisible string pulling me here. Whatever my future endeavours, I will succeed because of the lessons I have learned this past year. I am so proud to be an ANU alum.
By Clara Butler
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