Not only studies are coming to the end

Not only my studies were coming to the end. Apart from managing this very tense time I also managed to make another dream true. Back in first year, since the first moment I joined the Imperial yacht club at fresher’s fair, I knew I wanted to become a qualified skipper. After years of hard work and tight budget to afford this hobby and expensive certification I made my dream come true. I became a qualified Day Skipper by Royal Yachting Association. 
It wasn’t an easy journey at all, academic wise as well as yachting wise. I have been missing years of experience and meeting the demands of Royal Yachting Association was quite difficult. However, the biggest challenge was to balance pursuing the Day Skipper with my studies. The final step of obtaining the Day Skipper qualification was a one-week long practical examination. The only possible date for the exam was just before the deadline for my master thesis and only couple weeks before my exams. Consequently, it has been one of the busiest periods of my life, yet, I successfully managed to obtain the Day Skipper qualification and also prepare for exams.
This Day Skipper practical exam gave me a lot in terms of yachting as well as the world outside of yachting. The yachting lessons were a life-long treasure to me. One of the main takeaways is that once somebody is passionately pursuing some hobby and becomes good at it, it brings significant responsibility. Whilst learning to become a skipper I fully understood the related responsibility for people and property on-board. Undertaking the yachting examination in the UK, I could feel the strong roots and history in sailing traditions while seeing regulations passed down from centuries ago. This implies the responsibility for crew and boat I will be in charge in the same way it did centuries ago. The isolated environment at sea, made me realized that there is really not a plan B unless I prepared for it.
Every end is a new beginning and I am currently planning my next steps. I would like to express huge thanks to the Kellner Family Foundation without whom I would not be able to prosper during my studies. It was only because of the foundation I could study at Imperial College London, develop my academic potential, discover new hobbies and make my academic and personal dreams come true.