It's been a year since I graduated now.
A whole year! That's a scary thought. But with this daunting reflection also comes pride when I see my friends graduating this year donning their mortarboards and robes as I scroll through my timeline. Never was the Facebook 'Love' reaction more applicable.
A few months after graduating I hit a wall and suddenly the question of what I wanted to do with my life kept me up at night. I'd always wanted to be a journalist but then came another worrying thought: how on earth would I find my way into the industry? That's the problem with negativity, one worry snowballs into another. Around that time I was feeling ever more nostalgic for my student days and I published this article on my
Wordpress site.
I thought now would be a fitting time to reshare it. The moral of the story?
Everything will be ok. It just takes a little time and perseverance to enter the big, scary adult world. I don't know a single person who fell straight from final year into their dream job. Sometimes taking time out to think and revaluate is invaluable. So many of my friends who graduated at the same time as me are now starting to settle into their careers and I couldn't be prouder or more excited for them. As for me? A year out has given me clarity and focus, and the determination to pursue journalism.
Originally Published September 2015:
Ahhhhhh. That’s the long drawn-out sigh of me coming to the
realisation that now September is coming to a close a new set of
freshers are currently embarking on the wonderful rollercoaster that is
starting university life.
It has now been 3 years since I also made this transition from the
mollycoddled security of sixth form and my parents’ home to become a
newly independent, little fresher (and I use that term literally, for me
Freshers’ 14 was unfortunately no myth). This September, however, for
the first time I am not returning to formal education as the perpetual
student status I held for 17 years will officially be redundant.
Quite frankly, it’s terrifying. No schedule. No one instructing you
on what to do and when it needs to be done by. I always moaned about
returning to school as a child but I secretly relished in it: the
promise of a fresh start, the intellectual progression of moving up a
year, and most importantly the trip to WHSmiths to buy that shiny, new
pencil case. Essentially, September has always been more of my ‘new
year’ than January ever has.
The preparation for the sudden halt to the conveyor belt of education
has been slowly introduced over the years. First it started with free
periods in sixth form. Expectation: Heading up to the library and
spending an afternoon being oh-so-studious. Reality: Lounging in the
common room playing Shithead (a card game) and hiking up the road to
Macdonalds. Then came the uni days. Spending a mere 12 hours on campus
was certainly a welcome shock.
Luckily I do still have an outlet to pretend I’m a student. This
weekend I got to go back to my uni town and spend time with my friends
who are still studying. It was then that I realised it is the student
lifestyle I miss the most. I miss the “it’s ok, I’m a student” approach
to life. Yes, it is perfectly acceptable to live off instant noodles,
order another round (or five) of sambucas or spend all day in bed as a
student. As an adult not so much. Unfortunately there is no student loan
payment coming every 4 months once you enter the big, bad world.
I even miss the library. Yes, the library. Something I never thought
I’d feel, let alone admit. Those times were dark: the all-nighters, the
overpriced cappucinos, the many breakdowns when my laptop died and I
forgot to hit save. But some laughs were had there also, especially when
procrastination was the goal. I suppose it’s like a break up; you hone
in on the positives. A big chesire cat smile comes across my face when I
recall the nights that ended in the best way, eating questionably cheap
pizza while having a heart to heart with my nearest and dearest. Yet I
don’t quite seem to reminisce how awful I felt the following day. I look
back with affection at my last student house, somehow forgetting the
occasional slug infestation and icy atmosphere on a winter morning.
I heard a quote recently that struck a chord: “Don’t cry because it’s
over. Smile because it happened”. What a brilliant way to view life.
University was undoubtedly the best time of my life so far, but it was
only one chapter and there are many more to come. I will always have the
memories to look back on but now it’s time to create some new ones.
So a word to the wise for this year’s freshers: enjoy it. Every last
minute of it because it really will be the best 3 years of your life and
it will be gone before you know it.
NG <3
Photo Credit: John Walker via
Flickr.
