Surviving First Year of University

About a month ago I finished up my very first year of university. 

This has honestly been one of the most challenging years of my life. Stepping out of my comfort zone is something I’ve always struggled with and add on to that, the fact that I can be extremely shy meant that starting a whole new experience was quite daunting and difficult at first. 

The first week was definitely the hardest; travelling all the way into the city by myself and then going into so many new classes with completely new faces every single time, not to mention the actual course and work itself, it was all just a lot to take in at the start. 

I found it quite difficult, in the beginning, to find people I could hang around with every day. Going from an environment where I had a group of really close friends who I saw every day to one where everyone was a stranger was something I found difficult and I learned that I had really relied on my friends in high school; they understood me and knew everything about me and I knew how to talk to them, whereas in uni it was all new people who knew nothing about me and what I'm like. 

Honestly, in the beginning I really just struggled with everything. The whole new routine, the commute, having to try and remember peoples names and faces. I felt so lonely and lost with everything at the start. It felt like everyone was getting to know people so quickly and find the places where they belonged and they all seemed to truly enjoy student life. Meanwhile I couldn’t wait to get back home at the end of every day and dreaded the thought of having to do everything again the next day. It was just a lot. 

I started university in September of 2017 and it actually wasn’t until January 2018 where I actually started to feel more comfortable with everything. I had made friends in all of my classes and managed to find them in between classes to hang around with. I was finally getting the hang of juggling all the work loads and readings and being sociable outside of uni (mostly with high school friends, but still). Things had really picked up and I felt a lot better about everything. In fact, it was just as I was starting to properly get used to everything that, before I knew it, first year was over!😄

When I first started, I was worried that perhaps uni wasn’t for me after all and that I’d made a huge mistake. Why wasn’t I enjoying it as much as other people seemed to be? Why didn’t I seem as passionate about the course I chose to do? I had just felt so out of place. But as I started getting to know more people, I found that most of them felt exactly the same; out of their depth and that it was perfectly normal and okay to be feeling all of these things.

For me, I feel that I’ll (hopefully😅) enjoy second year much more than I enjoyed first since second year is more focused on what I actually want to do, whereas first year was more of an introductory year and you had to take two classes that weren’t even related to your course. So I’m really looking forward to second year. (Let’s just send all the good vibes that I actually do make it into second year, I still need to wait on my exam results!)

Overall, I’m just really proud of myself for so many things that I managed to accomplish this year. I overcame so many fears and worries and did so many little things that I’d never thought I could do. I pushed myself this year and I want to continue to push myself a little more next year in order to further grow and develop. 

I wish anyone who’s in uni, starting uni or thinking ahead to uni, all the best! I know that it’s not for everyone and you definitely don’t have to go to uni to “make something of yourself” but I hope that whatever you choose to do in life, that it’s the best decision for you!

Bye for now, xo