How To Survive Your First Year At University

  I am no longer a fresher. Sad times. However, I have had the best year of my life and university has been everything that I expected it to be and more. Highlights of this year include all the great people that I've met, learning how to be my own person without my twin sister, the crazy traditions of my uni such as three-course formal dinners, bops, matriculation, crew dates, intense but enriching tutorials, May Morning, sub fusc, 'drinks with the Master' and more. I also became surer of my beliefs and grew emotionally. Although I won't be a fresher next year, I will be the CU Rep, Netball Captain and Access Rep for my college, so quite a lot of responsibility on my bony little shoulders! I am very excited for the latter position because certain events this year have proved that Access is an area that means a lot to me.

  So, with all this in mind, here is a Kenny guide on how to survive your first year at university. Refer to here for my other guide on Descartes, a guide that I forgot about then came across when I was revising for my Philosophy exam and then I nearly cried at how useful it was to me. Shout out to Past Kenny!

1) Get involved with as much as possible- If you think that you might get home sick and miss friends from home, the best way to counter this is by getting out there, meeting new people and doing activities that will keep you occupied! Most of the friends that I made this year were through societies like ACS, Wine Soc and French Film Soc, Netball, being on the marketing team for college plays, tutoring in local secondary schools and more!

2) Don't be a recluse- Get to know the people that you live with. You can do this from the day that you move in by simply keeping your door wedged open throughout the day. That's how I befriended my neighbour on my first day and we're still really good friends.

3) Cook- If you're not fully catered, don't be afraid to use the kitchen whenever possible! Cooking is a great way to get talking to others and two of my closest guy friends are people that I met in my first weeks in the kitchen.

My friends are amazing :)

4) Be yourself- Don't feel like you have to compromise your beliefs or give in to peer pressure in order to fit in at university. You will find people that will accept you and love you exactly as you are. For example, from reading this blog, you can probably tell that I am a devout Christian and as a result of this, there are certain things that my friends do that I don't do and vice versa e.g, going to church. However, my friends do not ostracise me for this; they totally understand and respect my beliefs and the things that I do. In fact, they were so enamoured by these things that a group of them decided to nominate me for a prestigious college award. Due to their many kind words, I won and was presented with this award in a JCR meeting. I was totally taken aback and I cried like the sap that I am. What is the point of this story? It truly pays to be a good person and little actions can go a long way and touch people in ways that you might not expect.

5) Speak now- If certain things rub you the wrong way and make you feel upset, it is better to speak, be honest and confront your friend in order to save your friendship than to let these negative feelings fester and slowly ruin your friendship.

6) Don't be afraid to try something new- That's what university is for! Get out of your comfort zone; you're not paying £9,000 a year to be the same person that you were in secondary school. I tried rowing and failed at it (lol) but at least I can say that I tried it! Don't go too cray with trying new things, though. Be sure to keep it safe and legal!

7) Work hard, play hard- If you work all the time, university life will become a chore. Yes, it is very important that you do all your work and hand it in on time but also make sure that you make some down time to chillax and hang out with friends. My 'down time' included cinema dates, having tea with friends and chatting until the early hours of the morning and night outs, where I proved that it IS possible to have a good time completely sober sans alcohol.

That's all, folks. If there's anything I missed out, read my sister's own guide on the same topic. You'd think we were twins, or something....

The wanderer returns...

After 8 exams (21 hours in total), more than 50 essays and essay plans (I have the writing bump on my finger to prove it), 18 primary texts, countless essay crises, late nights/ early mornings with one or two tears, prelims are officially over, as is my first year at university!

Sub fusc fun

  Highlights of prelims included getting to wear 'sub fusc', different coloured carnations and getting papped by bemused tourists. Darker aspects of prelims included the exam hall that was more than 30mins of walking from college, taxis that turned up 45 minutes late, one of them actually made me late for my sixth exam and I wasn't given extra time! Fun times. Thankfully, the essay questions in that particular exam weren't too bad and I didn't need the extra time in the end but such unnecessary stress!

  I'm just so so glad that they're finally over. I would never have gotten through those two weeks without the support of my family and friends. They provided multiple hugs, chocs, text messages, notes and snap chats to cheer me up when I had my low moments. One great gal even made me packed lunches on the days when I had two exams because I couldn't come back to college to get food. I was so touched that I cried.

 
I am so thankful to God for getting me through the dark tunnel that was prelims and for helping me survive my first year at uni! Freedom feels so so good and I am so pumped to be back on the blogging scene, I've really missed this! Maybe I never left and you just missed my posts...wait, what?