I am now a few weeks into my last year of undergraduate studies at Stirling University and must say that I am very busy at the moment with academic and extracurricular committments. Still, I thought it would be a good idea to take just a little time to talk about a few things. Firstly, I am going to talk about Steve Jobs who recently passed away and examine his legacy. I remember the day when I was still working at National and Steve resigned from Apple where many people were already speculating about his health condition. Not many weeks later Silicon Valley has lost one of his most prominent, inspiring and innovative resident and entrepreneur.  Many people where very shaken and sad when news broke about his death and I was a bit shocked myself when I woke up in the morning, turned on my laptop and read the news. However, I don’t want to go on too much about that as a lot has been covered by the media already. What I would rather like to talk about is what he did and what impact he had on our world. The Economist recently called him 'The magician' because he was able to put magic into his products. He had some very admirable qualities and although he has also been critisised for how he behaved towards some of his own employees, there is a lot to be learnt from Steve about how to persevere as an innovative entrepreneur and not to give up when life throws obstacles in your way. I had a look into his speech at Stanford University from 2005 where he talked about persevering in the face of what might seem insurmountable obstacles. I think it just shows that once you have an idea in your head that you think is worth investing in or working for than there is nothing that should stop you to pursue that idea. Clearly, in fourth year at university, there is a lot of work ahead of us but with the right attitude and optimism it is much easier to get through and see the rewards at the end. Steve Jobs has changed the world in an important sphere of life and even critics of Steve would agree with that statement. That being said, I think that we as Saltire Scholars can change the world as well back here in Scotland and can make our impact whichever route we take. The Saltire internship has enhanced this sort of 'can do' attitude and I am so amazed by the fact that if you are thrown into a new environment such as during the internship how well one can deal with the new situation and deal with the issues at hand. Thanks again Saltire Foundation for a truly brilliant summer.

Finally I would just like to talk about what has been happening since coming back from California. I returned on 12 September and I actually had quite a bumpy ride on the plane coming into Edinburgh with severe gales shaking the plane about. It was a rather scary experience but I am glad to say that I landed safely. I struggled quite badly with the jet lag which has never really happened to me before but eight hours time difference take their toll, I guess. University has been going well so far and it is nice to be back to see familiar faces. I have also attended a few Saltire events such as the Saltire Aluminate, helping out with the Information Session at Stirling University and meeting up for a Feedback session in Edinburgh where I enjoyed talking about my own experience and hearing others being excited about theirs. All in all, fourth year is set to be a very busy and challenging but overall enjoyable year. Good luck to everybody with their exams and assignments.