I headed to my graduation ceremony feeling both excited and apprehensive. I had a humongous fear of tripping over, like Jennifer Lawrence at the Oscars, during the ceremony but thank God I didn't. Upon reflection, I think excitement and apprehension sums up my university experience pretty well. When I left my home town I was excited by the prospect of independence, elective studies and the opportunities to make new friends and find my place. However, I wasn't prepared for everything else, at my ceremony Professor Julia Buckingham said something to the effect of 'university is an academic achievement but your time at university is also full of adversity', for me, and so many, this is certainly true.
During first and second year I spent my time not studying, not focusing, not partying, not making the friends I needed... not really doing a lot of anything unless it was part of my 40-hour working week at Wetherspoons or spending time living my life for someone else. Anxiety and depression had taken a pretty encompassing hold on my life and somehow had done it insidiously; no-one knew and I didn't want anyone to know; until I hit a crisis point. I got to this point of being eternally frustrated with everything and did myself a favour and booked six weeks abroad saving sea turtles with Archelon, as I'm sure you'll know from my previous posts. However in these six weeks, plus four that I extended in to, there was an opportunity to become me, reset my life and resettle my mind.
Anyway moving on to third year, I had the opportunity to succeed, bring my grades back up, prioritise myself, my family (and my pride, my beautiful nephews) and my friendships. Although my anxiety was still niggling, I was finally managing! Third year was a whirlwind of forming, strengthening and testing friendships with the immersive world of my student flat, Flat 24, while focusing and excelling in my studies, specifically my dissertation, and meeting my incredible boyfriend who is someone I could never have imagined existed!
Now upon graduating with a 2:1 in Psychology and officially adding the title 'BSc' to the end of my name I'm overwhelmed to have finished. I'm nervous because I have no idea what's next and excited to head off into the wide working world to explore and succeed! In hindsight though there are definitely a few things I would say to prospective university students:
Make your own space. Whether that's your student room, your desk, a blog, a journal or a quiet beauty spot nearby your university. You will need a sanctuary to retreat to, be by yourself to mull over stuff, study in and 'escape' to every now and then.
Find a friend. One who you can attend lectures with, hit the library with, share notes with, socialise with, confide in and if all goes well then 'keep them' for the duration of your time at university and forever after!
Get into a routine. Having a good group of people around you helps this, the routine makes stuff easier so stick to your lecture schedule, find some library/study time, a day to go food shopping, an evening to chill with friends and catch up on your favourite TV series and a weekend a month to visit home.
Budget and save. Getting through university cheap isn't credited by anyone as the most enjoyable experience, but saving allows you those little luxuries like holidays, new clothes or those dreaded £60 textbooks and at least you won't look back each term and wonder where all your money went. P.s. that's what I did.
Take part in extra-curricular activities, university has something for everyone. This gives you a focus outside of your studies, that isn't drinking or partying, a wider group of friends and a new challenge.
Above all, something that I wish I'd done is push myself to be more outgoing and try new things like rock climbing or netball, but synonymously I know that just isn't me. I did university my own way and struggled, just like everyone else does, but I'm glad to say I came away with much more than just a degree.
