You know the song Shots by LMFAO? Well university is EXACTLY not like that. I feel like this is a grand version of expectations vs reality, you think you’re going into an environment revolving around drink, drugs and partying, but you’re actually getting a hell of a lot more than that. Now don’t get me wrong, those things are all at university, but it is not an environment of peer pressure, nor is it somewhere where everyone is obsessed with drinking. I always think university is what you make it, for me, I drank, I went out, I never smoked or did drugs, I met up with friends, we went on adventures, we played video games, did parkour (yep). I wrote my essays and attended my lecturers, I learnt how to be self sufficient. Basically, university was the best three years of my life.
In 2013 my head of sixth form told me I wouldn’t get into university, my grades weren’t good enough. My school messed up our A-Levels a little bit by hiring a teacher who was teaching the wrong syllabus and nobody knew, long story short we all failed our Psychology A-Level when we had all worked incredibly hard towards the exam. Demoralising right? Even more so when apparently the teacher that’s meant to guide you into your future doesn’t believe you will have the one you want. Well Mr Idiot Teach Who Didn’t Believe In Me, I did it, I got in and I went and I LOVED it. Cliche as it is, I definitely found out who I was at uni. I was surrounded by like minded people, I had so many choices of friends, I was living away from home, it was a massive growing experience.
I lived in both halls and a rented house during my three years, two different experiences, but ones I really enjoyed. Halls encompassed that exciting new feeling, you have new bedding, kitchen items, stationary, all that fun stuff! Oh and also new roommates, I was on a floor of eight people, we all had our own rooms and bathrooms, but we didn’t know each other when we first got there and making friends was the first thing we wanted to do. It’s quite scary to say goodbye to your parents and know you’re being left somewhere where you literally don’t know anyone, but I think I bossed it. I made friends immediately and we remained close for the whole of first year. Unfortunately the two closest friends I was living with both left our uni to attend another the next year, so I was back to square one again when I had to find new people to live with.
Thankfully I found another awesome bunch, two of which I am still best friends with today, so it worked out really well for me. I also met my boyfriend at uni, we met within the first week and by the December were in a relationship. I think I met him at a time where I was having a lot of fun, maturing and beginning a new stage in my life. So the relationship worked, we acted as each others stable points when everything else was changing. I liked going through university with a partner, it was certainly a different experience, there was a lot less alone time, but I liked it that way. My boyfriend brought me out of my comfort zone and probably helped me develop a lot of the traits I associate with myself today.
I was so lucky that my boyfriends house and mine kind of collided and formed one big group, parties were often had, fancy dress was our favourite. It was just such great fun! I suppose though I should probably also mention what you actually go to university for at the very core of it all – the degree. I found it suited me a lot better to work a lot harder for one subject that to study so many at once such as with A-Levels or GCSEs. This course was entirely my choice, I studied Film Production, it was a mix of practical and written work and I really liked the balance. I took on my love of editing and developed it further during this course and also saw my love of camera work come out. Whilst I started to realise that I didn’t want a career in film, the course certainly taught me a lot and gave me experience in marketing, which is where I work now.
My studies wore me down to say the least, but they also gave me a routine of how I like to do things. I found out that I am not a lazy worker, I like to work hard on what I’m doing and get it done early. To the point that I gave my dissertation in a month early so I could enjoy the freedom my friends had as theirs was due before mine. Three years of studying one thing can take it out of you, but now I’m not there anymore I do miss the learning. It’s not quite the same to teach yourself skills from a book than having a relationship with a lecturer and being set work.
University is a step I am so glad I took. I never fit in at school, those people weren’t my people. But at university I found friends who respected me and shared my interests, I learnt things I wouldn’t have learnt at school or at home. I became independent and started to look after myself, cooking, cleaning, shopping, running a house. My boyfriend and I met and we now have shared experiences of our time at university. I’ve retained friendships that I hope I will keep forever, people that I know understand me and are there for me.
God I miss it, it makes me sad to write this blog post and I don’t really know what my main point is. But I am the girl who got told she would never get into university, I made it to the uni of my dreams, I had the best time, I met the best people, I loved every second of it.
