Starting University

Having just read Michelle from Daisy Butter's blog called "I'm Too Shy for  University" (link here), I thought it would be a great opportunity for me to write my first proper blog post and tell you my experience of starting university.

During my school years I was an extremely shy person, I had friends but would always dread going to parties and often made excuses for not going. I changed school for sixth form but it was a school close to my old one with quite a few familiar faces either starting at the same time as me or who were already there. I chose to go to university in Bath which is around 2 and a half hours from home and I was absolutely terrified, so much so that I seriously considered taking a gap year just so I could put it off for another year!

When it finally got to move in day, I decided to take the approach of 'pretend to be confident and then you will become more confident'. My mum dropped me off and left me quite early so that I could unpack my things and then get to know the other people in my flat but everyone else seemed to still be with their parents and I was too scared to leave my room. I was in a flat with 15 other people and eventually heard a group of people in the kitchen so I braved leaving my room to go and socialise. Everyone was really friendly and as cliché as it may sound, everyone is in the same position and is happy to get on with everyone (especially as people start drinking) and by the end of fresher's week it honestly felt like I had known everyone for so much longer.

One of my biggest pieces of advice if you are worried about making friends at university is to join a society to meet like-minded people. I joined a couple of choirs at the beginning of my first year and this is how I have made some of my closest friends. Having a common interest with people really helps to break the ice and societies tend to organise socials and events to help everyone to get to know each other too. Even if you are someone who doesn't like to drink a lot, many societies plan socials with that in mind.

It's also important to remember that even if you feel that during your first year you haven't made any really good friends, this doesn't mean that that's it for the whole of your time at university. I enjoyed my second year a lot more than fresher's and got to know so many more people. I feel like as a fresher you are put in to live and consequently socialise with people you get on with but may not exactly have a huge amount in common with, whereas, in second year you can choose who you want to live and hang out with.

Before I started university i was warned about how fast the experience seems to go and it really doesn't feel like just under two years ago that I was a terrified little fresher moving my stuff into halls. I think as long as you go into university with an open mind and get as involved as you can with student life, you will be just fine!


Pippa xx