Hello!
Before I came to university, I had an image of exactly how it was going to be in my head and I'm sure I wasn't the only one.
The image that was created in my head made it the best place that ever existed - you were going to move into a flat with a load of random strangers who knew absolutely nothing about you which, to me, was perfect. I could try and shed the 'shy girl' image I had obtained from sitting at the back of classes, staying silent and just getting on with my work. We were all going to get on perfectly (how I created that image, I have no idea) and watch loads of movies - I was even willing to go out to parties more often. Lectures and seminars were all going to be super interesting. Living away from home was going to be easy as pie and everything was going to be perfect. That's the image that is fed to you when ever university is talked about in high school, I think.
Well, I'm calling bullsh*t on that.
University is nothing like that.
Images (and people) don't change that easily. I was branded as a shy girl throughout school because I was and I am. I'm getting better in my old age, but I'm still not the kind of person who can go and talk to a complete random stranger just because I feel like it.
If you take anything from this, I want this to be it: the chances of eight people (or however many are in your flat), who have never met before, all getting on perfectly are so slim they may as well not exist. Including myself, there are eight people in my flat. From that, one of them is a complete d*ck who likes to slam doors at three 'o' clock in the morning. Another has already moved home and is commuting. One girl is super lovely... When she actually leaves her room. There's a girl who thinks way too much of herself and suddenly stops talking to people for no apparent reason. Someone who is constantly talking on the phone (at all times of the day and night). Another who is actually pretty awesome, as long as she's not around the previously mentioned self-absorbed one. The final is probably my favourite person in the flat, and I definitely get on with him best, most probably because he doesn't care about anyone else in the flat - it's refreshing to talk to someone who doesn't want to bitch about everyone else! Basically, if you get on with just half of your flat, you're doing good.
If you don't want to go out, don't. That's the biggest lesson I've learnt - don't do something just because you think it'll please everyone, do it because it will please you (woah, deep).
Let's be honest, lectures and seminars were never all going to be interesting. That was just wishful thinking. You do get a surprise every now and then though, so you should probably still go to them all.
Moving away from your home and family is not as easy as it sounds. Even more so if you do what I did and move four hours away from home. Why did you do that, I hear you ask? I have no flippin' idea! 'I thought it was a beautiful place' doesn't seem like it's going to cut it when you could just really do with a hug. Also, food shopping is expensive! Make the most of when your parents come to visit - if there was ever a time to exploit your parents, it's when you're at university. Stock up on cheese when they visit; it's more expensive than it looks. You may think you love to cook, I do, but when you have to do it every single day, and wash all the dishes up after, you'll yearn for the day when you had your mum there to cook you something when you can't be bothered.
So yeah, university is not all it's cracked up to be.
Small disclaimer here: Don't mistake this post for me saying university is a waste of time, because it's not. I love university and I have met some amazing people here, who I know will be friends for life, and I love my course. I'm just saying that the image everyone has of it, isn't necessarily true for everyone. I still wouldn't change anything. I'd still go to university and, although I'd like to think I might choose one closer to home, I'd most likely still choose Nottingham.
Katie x
