Another Real University

Hello!

About six months ago, maybe longer, I wrote a blog post about what university was really like (HERE - you should probably read this before reading anymore of this post), from a current students perspective. Well, since then, I have moved into a new flat, I live with new people and my view has changed a bit. 

I still think people are given the completely wrong image going into university for the first time - Freshers week is exactly how it sounds: great but messy. Other than that, everything's different after that first week. Obviously I'm in my second year now, so things are different for me just in light of that. I'm living with different people to last year who are also in their second/third years, so we're all a bit more mature and focused this year... just a bit though!

I love my flatmates this year. Let me just put that point out there. Last year, I got dealt a rather horrible hand of flatmates that consisted of a lot of bitchy girls and a guy who liked to hoover at four 'o' clock in the morning whilst playing extremely rubbish music at ungodly hours. This year I stayed in university halls but moved flats with one of my flatmates from last year (one of the nice ones) moving to the same block as me... if that makes sense. As in, I'm on the same campus but I moved to a different flat in a different block that was especially for returners (second years and above) and everyone in the flat is so nice; it's a massive shock to the system after last year. 

So let's have a run down of this years flatmates: The guy who's kind of old-fashioned but unbelievably kind - he came and retrieved a daddy-long-legs from my room at 5am one day because my friend and I were freaking out (I don't do creepy-crawlies! Complete aside here but did you know daddy long legs would be the most poisonous insect if they had the brain to use the poison? Nope? There's something to terrify you further then!). Anyway, back to flatmates; then there's the one I'm going to refer to as the musician because he is an amazing guitar player, like seriously - wow, and no he didn't pay me to say that! There's the loveliest Londoner you will ever meet as well as her being the one who exaggerates everything she's already exaggerated but it just makes her even funnier. There's the kind of quiet girl but has one hell of a partying streak in her (not that that's a bad thing). There's the guy I can't actually tell you anything about because the only word he's ever said to me, and most other people in the flat, is "hi". I can't forget the dude who I've never seen in anything but pyjamas and, finally, there's the quiet guy of the flat who is probably one of the loveliest people I've ever come across in life.

Added to my flatmates this year is the one guy I got on with really well in my flat last year - he lives in the flat below me, along with a girl I've grown really close to this year; the amount of deep talks we have at stupid times in the morning are ridiculous, but also great at the same time. I say she lives in the flat below me but the majority of the time she lives up here and occasionally goes to sleep in her bed downstairs - she's probably slept on my floor more times than her bed!

So out of my eight flatmates this year, I can't say I actually don't get on with any of them and I definitely don't dislike any of them. There are obviously a couple who I don't know extremely well for one reason or another but I'm pretty sure that if I knew them better they'd probably be really nice.

The weird thing about my flat this year is how I'd go out of my way for most of them and vice versa. Whereas, last year, nobody wanted to help anyone (aside from the guy who's still here this year - let's pretend he wasn't a part of the flat last year) because they were too busy trying to be better than each other and it's that kind of bitchiness I hate, so I'm glad there doesn't seem to be any of that this year.

I've mentioned in many previous posts that I don't generally drink much and I mentioned in the other post that I didn't go out much because I never wanted to. Wow, how that has changed this year. I think I've been out more times since the end of September than I've ever been out - which probably has a lot to do with my flatmates, because they're all genuinely nice people; I feel safer and I know I'll have a good time without them walking off and leaving me or anything like that (which, on one of the few occasions that I did go out last year, I experienced that - it wasn't nice). I'm still of the opinion that if you don't want to go out or you don't want to drink you shouldn't though. I've maybe started doing more of both this year but only because I know I'm safe, I'm going to enjoy it and I know my limits. But there have been plenty of occasions where other people have been going out and asked me if I was coming and I've said no because I haven't felt up for it or I simply couldn't be bothered.

Not going to lie, the whole lecture/seminar side of life hasn't changed much since last year; I still think the same things. Very few of them are genuinely interesting for the whole two hours or however long they last but you should probably still make sure you go to them - especially if it's a year that actually counts towards your final degree...

I still miss home a lot and I have been back a few times since I got here but it's not as bad as last year and I think that's simply down to the fact that I have some great friends this year and we're like a little family away from home. It's super cute. We even take turns in cooking etc. so we don't have to each cook every night - we have this thing figured out! I still live the furthest away out of everyone in my flat but that was pretty much inevitable, it's not too bad though, after doing them for over a year, I've gotten used to the long train journeys!

So this is the new kind of university that I've discovered this year. It's still not everything people make it out to be when you hear about it in sixth form and college but if it starts off bad, it can get better :)

There's still a bit of this year to go, seen as when I wrote about this last year it was near the end of the final term and I'm only just nearing the end of my first one when I'm writing this, but this has been a better start to my second year than I ever could have imagined.  

A few of my favourite pictures with my flatmates (and friends) so
far this year :)

Katie x

I PASSED!

Hello!

Today is a celebratory day!

I PASSED MY FIRST YEAR AT UNIVERSITY!

With a 2:1, too!

You have no idea how happy I am about this.

I know that your first year at uni is supposed to be the easiest because it doesn't count towards your degree, you just need to pass it to get to the next year but I worked hard in  my first year and I couldn't be more pleased.

There isn't much to this post.

I was just so excited about passing that I thought I have to share this, so I did!

Is there anyone who's got their results lately? 

Katie x

When I Look Up...

Hello!

Yes, it is two 'o' clock in the afternoon and, yes, I am in bed.

Best start to a blog post yet there. I feel I have a good enough excuse though that I'm allowed to be lazily lolling in bed for the rest of the day.

This morning I had my final exam of the year. And when I say 'this morning' I mean actual morning. As in I was up and in the shower before my alarm had even gone off. At seven AM I fell out of my bed (literally fell - what can I say, I like to start my mornings off with a bang... Ouch) and by eight I was ready and eating my weetabix! Unfortunately, I wasn't ready this early out of excitement, it was panic instead.

I'm one of those people who can sit and write an essay in the comfort of my own room no bother but when it comes to walking into that big exam hall, I panic. A lot. I have no reason to either because once I'm in there and the exam's started I wonder what the hell I was panicking about so much! Oh well, maybe one day I will realise how much useful energy I'm wasting in the hour I spend in a frenzy because I'm worrying about an exam. Then again, probably not.

I find there are three moments in an exam that I hate more than any others:

1.

When I look up at the clock.

This can go either way, I can look up at the clock and panic because I've got less time left than I thought, or I can look up at the clock and panic because I have loads of time left and not enough to write. It's a lose-lose situation.

2.

When I look up because I think I'm finished.

I know what you're saying: this doesn't sound like a problem if you're finished, Katie. But it is. Whenever I look up, thinking "thank god, I'm finished!" I look around and see that everybody else is still writing, so guess what I do? Yep, you got it, I panic. I go through everything I could have missed out because I must have missed something if everyone else is still writing. Most of the time I just sit and panic and forget to add anything extra to my answer...

3.

When I look up and see an invigilator walking down the aisle.

I don't think I'm the only one that finds them scary as hell! Even though I know I've done nothing wrong, if I see an invigilator walking near me I automatically think "act normal, act normal" when I was acting normal in the first place!

Basically, what I've figured out here is, I just shouldn't look up in an exam!

Katie x