My journey towards Architecture... 

Throughout my life I have wanted to be many things. As a child, I wholeheartedly wanted to be a teacher. The reason behind it? I just loved writing on the whiteboard and putting red marks on copies. However, I very quickly realised that I was not meant for this job. After that, for a very extended period of my life I was sure I wanted to study chemical engineering. Again, the reason? Someone told me their friend is a chemical engineer at Chanel who gets to have free brand products. For a girl who just turned into a teenager, this was a fairytale life. Throughout high school I was confident about what I want to be in life until I started my A levels and got introduced to advanced chemistry. All hopes and dreams went down the drain by the beginning of second year. So, when it was finally time to think about universities and majors... I was very clueless about what I want to do with my life. Now, how did I end up in the Architecture world?  

The thought of becoming an architect never crossed my mind until I was in my second year of Alevels. I had to connect a lot of dots before realising that this is something I want to do. I have been very fascinated with houses, designs, and architecture in general ever since I was a kid. I have always wanted a house of my own. Even when having a house just meant having a pale orange room with my very own dressing table where I can display my own makeup. As I grew up, I started imagining what my house will look like. I would create mental images, draw schematic plans, and create folders on Instagram and Pinterest and save anything and everything that pleased my eyes. I was infatuated with buildings and design. I loved looking at house plans. I remember I was around seven when I saw my father draw a plan for our house (spoiler alert: he is not an architect). Perhaps that was when my brain secretly started loving the concept of architecture.  

But like i said, it wasn't until one fine afternoon during my Alevels when i was going through my folder on Instagram – given up on the dream of becoming a chemical engineer- that a sudden realisation hit me: I can be an architect! It felt nothing less than a revelation back then. I can actually do something I genuinely love. The realisation struck me like a light and as dramatic as it might sound, from that very moment, I knew exactly who I wanted to be in life. I did not know much about this field and when I decided to look into it, the cons definitely outweighed the pros. Did it scare me? Very much! Did I change my mind? NO. I had never been surer of who I wanted to be. I even selected ONE major while applying, when you can choose upto three just in case you don't make it to your first. Thankfully, I did make it and now I am three years deep in.  

Conclusion is, sometimes you might run towards a road in full speed thinking that's the path you need to be on until a gut feeling tells you to change your direction. It is important that you follow that gut feeling as it might take you on a path that seems much familiar than you thought. Architecture hasn't been the easiest but at least I know this has always been the path I was meant to walk on and honestly, I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.