And just like that I'm ⅔ of my way through my university degree. They're right you know, when they say that the step up between first and second year is HUGE! The essays are longer, the required reading is bigger, marking harsher, and to top it all off, you're time is now split between not only your work but your well established extra-curriculum stuff too (well in my case anyway). The lesson of this year, as you will see, is to take every opportunity you can!
A little bit of background information before we get started: I am a second year ancient history and history student at a UK university (if you know where I go, please don't share it as I'm keeping it private).
But enough of me and my random filler intro's, here's a reflection on some of the key themes of the year...
Societies
I really threw myself into society life this year. From being secretary of Ballroom and teaching ballet for a year, I have had some amazing experiences. I mean I competed in a ballroom competition at Blackpool for goodness sake! And on top of that, I choreographed my first ever dance piece for a show in March which, although still needed some polishing off (I mean trying to teach a 3 minute dance piece in 10 weeks to 19 people is no mean feat), I am immensely proud of.
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| Off to recruit people at Fresher's Fayre |
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| Blackpool Winter Gardens 😍 |
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| Living my choreographer dreams and wishing I could be Matthew Bourne! |
But to top it all off, I have made some amazing friends this year. One friend at dance in particular started off as a mere acquaintance I taught ballet with in my autumn term, and is now one of my closest friends (and my go to ballet-bud for all the Royal Ballet live screenings, even seeing Giselle at the Royal Opera House with her!).
Dance in my first year was ok, but pretty friendless, but today I am off to a dinner party with a whole group of dance friends I have gained purely from putting myself out there and getting involved! Indeed, I will always say that if you are struggling to make friends at uni, put yourself on the committee of a society. I gained so many friends in ballroom purely because I was someone new people knew and a go-to-for-help in the club- indeed my housemate and I held a party recently, inviting nearly all of the ballroom society because we (both being on committee) have become friends with so many of them - I mean I had two good friends in ballroom last year, and now have 10 at least. If that doesn't encourage you to get involved in university life, I don't know what will!
(But I mean, if that doesn't convince you, at my uni we have a scheme where you get points for getting involved in things and then get rewarded with internships - so basically me getting out of my comfort zone and getting involved got me a job this summer and made my CV look amazing 💁!)
Alcohol
Aha. So if you read last year's university reflection post, then you would know that I am a tee-total student. Well this year I slipped a bit. I didn't want to be bound to this label, and explored alcohol ever so slightly - mainly sharing bottles of Prosecco with my friend at the occasional house party I attended this year (June from 2 years ago would not believe the wild things I've got up to this year 😂). I also tried a Mojito which was wonderful. I mean, I say I went wild, I didn't get drunk and fled at the first feeling of getting tipsy, downing all the water I could- I went wild for me!
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| Mojito or Lime & Lemonade? There's only one way to find out... Fiiiight! |
To be honest, my foray into drinking has only solidified that it just ISN'T FOR ME. More than last year, I've had to defend my non-drinking stance to people, with some seeing it as a challenge to get me to drink, or seeing me as boring because I don't go out partying every other hour. And to be honest, whilst for a while I thought my taste buds might be changing, I really don't like alcohol. Give me good music and company at a house party and I'll sing along and act the fool as if I'm as drunk as the next person. I mean, yes there are some drinks that don't taste of alcohol, but why ruin your liver and wake up with a terrible hang over, when you can have just a good a time by drinking something yummy with minimum side effects (lime and lemonade over the stress of a mojito, and accompanying worry about how much water I need to drink to counteract it when I get home, any day!).
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| Look at me clubbing sober |
All I'll say to my fellow sober-students for now is: know what you like; be open to it if you want; put your foot down when necessary; and laugh off any strange looks (which, despite what I've said, were still in the minimum - the respect you get from people far outweighs the confused looks in my experience!).
Therapy
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| The only accessory I wore everyday - red 'gloves'... |
In an attempt to break all stigmas around mental health, and in the hope of potentially being useful to someone, I've been hinting at my experience with mental health at uni on my Instagram this past year. To cut to the chase, I suffer from OCD caused by Emetophobia. This means that my fear of being ill, and being sick specifically, is so strong that I am constantly over-washing, second guessing myself in the kitchen, distrust myself around chemicals, and don't like finger food (leading to some strange looks when I tried to eat prawn crackers with a fork...). My hands have been going through cycles of fresh and new to cracked, bleeding and red this past year, culminating with me going to therapy in October and finishing a couple weeks ago. I was incredibly lucky with my university's therapy service. The process of ringing them up and having a consultation call to my first appointment was only around two weeks (the busiest times are the beginning and end of term so I was lucky in that I enquired in the middle of term). My therapist was a trainee so I got more hours than the set 10 hours the university allow for, ending up with 17 in total. Whilst I am not 'fixed', I am better than I was, and am able to re-apply in September should I want to. I will, when I have a minute, write an in depth article about my experience of university mental health services, because I feel that it is an important thing to write about (especially in the light of the high profile suicides that occurred this week). Furthermore, it was a defining, if not complex, part of my second year of university and so should be explored in depth (much more so than this overview piece allows), especially when it is an issue so many students face.
In the mean time, see here for more information, advice and help:
So a slightly sombre, but important, end to this review of second year. I can't believe that this time next year I will, hopefully, be graduating! This year has been tough, with me trying (and failing if you look at my grades...), to balance my hectic extra-curriculum timetable with my studies, all whilst trying not to kill my hands ... However, there are so many highlights that I will look back on fondly.
Are you currently at university, or are you a graduate? What is your fondest memory of uni life? I'd love to hear and exchange anecdotes - lets have a chat below!
June xx