First year university tips

These tips may not apply to all because everyone has a different university experience but I know it would have done myself and others well to have known these:

• Have an awesome time in freshers and go wild, meet as many lovely people as you can – these will be some of the best memories of university life and once it’s over and you’re bombarded with work you will miss it. You’re only really a fresher once so grab every opportunity that comes your way.

  

  Wine window in my flat

• You can never go out too many times as a first year and it’s perfectly fine to drink a whole bottle of wine, you’re just having a good time and anyone else who tells you otherwise doesn’t know what they’re missing out on. Just make sure the night before that you’re prepped with all the hangover essentials – Lucozade and Oasis are lifesavers.

• Some boys (and some girls) are definitely not the be all and end of all in life, don’t waste time crying and stressing over the silly ones, just have fun with your friends and all the other brilliant people around you!

• It’s okay to live on a diet for a while consisting of pasta and chicken dippers, we can’t all be extravagant cooks and on a budget you got to do what you

  

  Pasta, pesto, chicken & broccoli = one of my favourite meals.

  can. And I’d say it really doesn’t hurt to have a few takeaways when cooking seems like too much effort.

• You’ll meet people who you become close friends with quite fast, treasure these people as they’ll be the ones around at the end when you need people the most.

• Don’t regret any of your experiences and cherish all your memories. Yes, you may make mistakes – wrong friendship, wrong course – but you’ll learn from them (hopefully haha) and come back a better person.

• To be homesick is completely okay and it’s pretty natural for everyone to feel this way, you’re not on your own! So frequent trips home and covering your room with homely things is something most of us will do.

 

University is a rollercoaster of emotions but it’s a pretty good one that hopefully you’ll love and never want it to end! I already miss first year and I’m not even done yet, your time will go so fast so just make the most of everything and enjoy it.

 

Life decisions

Deciding what to do with your life at the age of 17/18 or any age for that matter is a hard choice for many and there can be a lot of pressure at a young age to decide on a life path. Some choose to go to university whilst others decide to go straight into work and some take a gap year to have a break and decide on what to do next.

My home at uni – Cranborne House. Photo by: Ellen Walapu

I chose the path to go to university and even when seeing friends out travelling in Thailand and Australia, I do get extremely jealous of the beautiful places they are in but at the same don’t regret the choice I made. Yes I would love to go travelling and can’t wait to explore the world we live in, but for now that’s on hold and I’m perfectly fine with it, because at the moment I’m somewhere doing something I particularly enjoy a lot.

Studying journalism is so much fun even if it is tough at times (shorthand being the most of it), I have so much to choose from. What do I want to be – a radio presenter, a television host, a feature writer or do I want to work on a newspaper? The opportunities are endless and every step is so exciting.

Figuring out your career path, your passion and even your purpose is no way an easy process but just one that includes a lot thinking until you figure out exactly what it is you’ve been looking for. I thought about it from a young age and I can’t lie my mind changed so many times – social worker, nurse, barrister – before I finally found the one.

We all want to do and be something different, which is what makes this world so interesting. Deciding what you want to do is a difficult decision and it’s okay to be unsure or have no idea at all what that is. Who knows what my life will be like in 10 years? For now I’m just living in the moment, taking every day as it comes and very much enjoying the decisions I’ve made so far.