Hello and welcome back to my blog, how's everyone doing? It's been a while since I last posted a post but now all exams are over and first year is done! How exciting! So now here we are with another post and it's one long over due after filming a video about it, but it is my first year university experience. Back in October I gave you my freshers experience but now I have been at the university for a year now, I think it's about time I talk about the experience I have had and hope that maybe this will help others who are either going to University in September or are thinking of going in the future.
When I chose to go off to university I didn't think I was going to last even a year but things definitely changed once i got there. I am going to break this post down in different sections. In each section I will give my experience within it as well as advice for people who need the advice.
But first off you can find my YouTube video of this down below.
When you are at university, it's easy to believe you won't make friends like I mentioned above that I didn't think I would make friends with the people I lived with. I also didn't think I would make friends with others as well. It's surprising how quickly you make friends at uni, and how many friends you make. Now of course some of these will just be friends you see occasionally in class and you might bump into on a night out. But others will be friends you'll
meet up with outside of the class and hang out with them, talk, go shopping, explore the place you're now living and just having fun and making memories.
Another way of making friends in your course is group work. Majority of uni's do
this, especially first years but probably second years too, they put you in groups as in the real world you usually have to end up working as a team for a career. When working in groups, you have to spend a lot of time with the people who are in your group, which also leads to getting to know them. I made three of my closest friends from my marketing group, and we ended up spending a lot of time at the group meetings chatting instead of doing work. One of my best friends Simran also came from being part of a group and without her I probably wouldn't have the friends I do now and I am very grateful for.
The final section is all about Societies, so this is something I advise as many of you who are going to university to join. Societies are there for a reason, they are there for you to do something you enjoy that's not your course and a place where you can make new friends and friends who all enjoy what you enjoy which makes it more fun and something to make you bond. I joined Show Choir and when I first joined I was so quiet and honestly didn't think I would enjoy it. As time went by I grew out of my shell and started talking to everyone and then became very good friends with everyone in show choir. I was also very lucky to win an award at the end of year meal for Miss Congeniality because I always had a smile on my face, I made friends with everyone and apparently put a smile on everyone's faces.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this blog post.
When I chose to go off to university I didn't think I was going to last even a year but things definitely changed once i got there. I am going to break this post down in different sections. In each section I will give my experience within it as well as advice for people who need the advice.
But first off you can find my YouTube video of this down below.
Section 1 - Living in Halls
When I first started university, I was definitely worried about living in halls, would I get along with my flat mates, would I be able to hang out with my flat mates, what if they hate me. It's a big change to go from living at home with your parents to then just jump up and leave and live in halls on your own with just a group of people who also have done the same thing. That's when you realise you're no longer at school, clique's don't exist, you can be yourself and most people don't care. I was very lucky that my flat mates made living away from home very easy, we bonded very quickly and although we had one flat mate that never really joined us, we did get on very well with him as well. I was the only girl in my flat but honestly, I didn't mind it, we all got on, we all spoke about a lot of things and we used to always hang out and do things as a flat.
As time moved a head, things with my flat started to not be the same, partly because when they got in relationships things just drifted but it wasn't that we didn't get on, we actually still got on really well but we didn't do things together as much any more. Now although that really did suck because it made me feel really lonely and that was when I started to feel slightly depressed but luckily there were people to pick me up and that definitely got better because i found people in the halls that I could go to.
Another thing about halls, is that it really made me feel so much more independent then if I had decided to stay at home and commute but also makes me more proud and happy to have come to university. I have learnt how to deal with problems on my own, what it's like to survive on my own and what I have to do. I have learnt how to slightly cook for myself although not even going to lie, I am more excited about going home and not having to cook for myself and enjoy my dads cooking again.
Section 2 - Friendships at University
When you are at university, it's easy to believe you won't make friends like I mentioned above that I didn't think I would make friends with the people I lived with. I also didn't think I would make friends with others as well. It's surprising how quickly you make friends at uni, and how many friends you make. Now of course some of these will just be friends you see occasionally in class and you might bump into on a night out. But others will be friends you'll meet up with outside of the class and hang out with them, talk, go shopping, explore the place you're now living and just having fun and making memories.
Another way of making friends in your course is group work. Majority of uni's do
My advice for people nervous about making friends at university is just be yourself, and don't think about past experiences at school with making friends, because I garentee you, it's not like school when you have to fit in and be part of a "clique", people will just easily talk to you and just be approachable and you will make friends, quicker then you think you will.
Section 3 - Friendships at Home
This is something I definitely wished more people spoke about before I left for uni, because my closest friends who go to uni both commute so I still got the chance to see them when i was back home last year before coming to university. Friendships at home are something you want to make sure you can keep them going so when you go home you can go to them, you can spend time with them and catch up. Now luckily for me most of my friendships at home stayed the same, mainly because we were used to not seeing each other that often and when we did it obviously meant a lot. But uni did strain one of my friendships at home and as much as I want to say I think we'll still be friends in the future, things have been complicated, with some friends thinking I have changed since being at uni, well that was inevitable, but in my eyes and majority of my friends I have changed for the better but in one of my friends eyes I changed for the worse and wasn't making time for my "real friends" But I was for my uni friends. Going with this at uni you're going to spend time with people at the uni otherwise you'll be lonely but that doesn't change how i feel about my friends at home. With this, my closest friends at uni are my real friends alongside my friends from home and I shouldn't have to seperate them because I have met them at uni, because when you're around people every day at uni, you get closer to them quicker then you think.
Although it can strain friendships like it has with one of my friends, it does make you value your friendships at home more because it gives you something to look forward too when you have to go home. When you have attached yourself to a group of friends at uni and then you have to go and not see them for a certain amount of time, it's nice to know that when you go home you can catch up with your friends from home and have a lot to talk about and catch up on.
Section 4 - Stress
As you are aware when you grow up, you will get more stress but something they don't tell you yet you kind of expect with university is Stress! I have definitely encountered a lot of stress over the time of being at uni and it hasn't exactly been fun dealing with this stress but it has definitely been something to learn from and I have definitely learned from this. One of the big stresses is Money! As a student you are given a maintenance loan with your student finance and this is great and you see a large sum of money in your account but the problem with that is for me anyway is that I just wanted to spend it on anything and before I knew it I was slowly running out of money. It became stressful because I had to turn down some amazing things but the stress it left me with was more will I have enough money for whilst I am at home in holidays and using an overdraft is a big stress because you don't want to use it all up.
Another thing that I ended up stressing about was finding someone to live with next year and having a place to live. It's not easy finding people to live with and it's also not easy finding a house and it led to a stress. Luckily this stress only lasted a few days for me because when I started stressing over it, I then met someone who needed one more person to live with next year to make a group of four of us and luckily for me, I love making new friends so it wasn't that hard for me to say yes.
Something everyone expects to stress about is Deadlines, the Dreaded Deadlines that approach very quickly even when you don't expect them too. It's easy for you to get caught up in exciting things before you then realise you have like a week to get this essay written. I mean I got stressed about them more because I didn't understand some of my coursework that led to me having four days to write an essay that I didn't really understand but luckily I got it done, didn't get the best grade for that one but either way it was definitely a stressful time.
Section 5 - Societies
The final section is all about Societies, so this is something I advise as many of you who are going to university to join. Societies are there for a reason, they are there for you to do something you enjoy that's not your course and a place where you can make new friends and friends who all enjoy what you enjoy which makes it more fun and something to make you bond. I joined Show Choir and when I first joined I was so quiet and honestly didn't think I would enjoy it. As time went by I grew out of my shell and started talking to everyone and then became very good friends with everyone in show choir. I was also very lucky to win an award at the end of year meal for Miss Congeniality because I always had a smile on my face, I made friends with everyone and apparently put a smile on everyone's faces.
That is the end of my First Year University Experience, so I know it's a lot of writing and not many pictures but there was a lot to say. Hope you do enjoy the pictures that are there though.
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