Going back to uni should be something students look forward
to. You get to see all of your friends, decorate your uni room, experience new
things and learn more – exciting right!
But this isn’t always the case. I have told myself that I
want to be honest with these blog posts, so I can look back on them and see how
I really felt. Although these things are different for everyone, I hope it will
help some of you get a better picture of what these things were, and are like
for me. So, that is what I am going to do with this post on how I really feel
going back to uni this year.
When
going back to university for second year, I was excited to see my housemates
and course mates having spent the summer going through all of the memories captured
on photo and video. I was looking forward to getting back into cheerleading
again, after trying to keep up my training over the summer around work. I
couldn’t wait to learn more and take the next step to my career. I would also
take another step into the life of adulthood as I moved from student
accommodation into a house!
However, I knew second year would come with its challenges. I was no longer a first year, meaning my grades meant something more towards my final percentage. The work load would increase and the difficulty level would rise. I also knew a house would come with its own challenges.
However, I knew second year would come with its challenges. I was no longer a first year, meaning my grades meant something more towards my final percentage. The work load would increase and the difficulty level would rise. I also knew a house would come with its own challenges.
Looking back, I’d say I was more excited than nervous to
start second year, hoping it would be as amazing as my first year at
university.
If I’m being 100% honest, second year for me was
challenging. I soon found that things were quite a lot different from first
year in many ways. Friendships had changed, family had changed, the course was a lot harder than I thought
and I faced more challenges that came with adulthood. I’m sure I will talk
about each of these in more detail someday.
I don’t want to be a Debby downer and say it was horrendous, because that wouldn’t be true. But, I would say it was very different to my first year in many aspects and it took me completely off guard. I did have some amazing memories as I did more work experience within the events industry, had some crazy nights out and had great fun competing with the best cheer squad I could ever ask for. However, if I’m being honest I’d say there were more negatives than my first year.
As a result of this, I found over the past week I have made
myself very nervous and anxious about going back to university for my third and
final year. I have been worried about how friendships may have changed again or
how much harder the course will be. I have the pressure of job hunting on my
shoulders also, with the idea people are expecting me to get a job in the events
industry straight away. I was worried that it may be like second year and that
I won’t enjoy it as much as I would like to...
That is when I realised what my problem was when moving from
one year to the next. I am comparing it too much to the year before. I have
realised now that every year is different. It was at school, college and now
university. So my advice to you (and to myself) is this:
Yes, things will get harder and people will grow and change,
but these things should just be accepted and embraced. Don’t dwell on the past,
make new memories and save the old ones instead of trying to re-create them. Take
every day as it comes, they may not all be great but that is part of life and
growing up.
