Lessons Learnt

The space of three months is not a long time when you think about it,  however the last three months for me personally, have been a whirlwind of lessons taught and learned. Who knew that moving away to university could teach someone so many social and personal lessons as well as academic studies in three months.

Leaving the east coast town of Kirkcaldy to move into student accommodation at Strathclyde University on the river city of Glasgow has probably been one of the best decisions I've ever made.  There has been moments of pure bliss and fulfilment as well as states of depression and homesickness.

After studying at a smallish high school for 6 years and seeing the same people everyday makes starting this new chapter in life quite daunting. You are no longer seeing the same faces everyday, the faces you've come to love and maybe for others not so much. For some people it is not such a big leap as they do not move out of their family home. For those who do though, it's a massive milestone in life moving into you're own home and having to do everything for yourself, especially when you're use to having others there to help you. On top of that there are many other fears and worries about starting university.

Having reflected over the the last three months while at home for Christmas brake, I realise there are many lessons I have learnt in this time. The lessons I am about to share with you all now are only a few I have learnt. I could not possibly have enough time or words to write about all of them. So without any further ado, here are my top 5 lessons learnt at university.

Lesson no. 1: Country Girl In A Big City

The lessons began on day one of living in the mysterious city of Glasgow. First of all, I had to learn how to live in a city. That may sound very weird and confusing for many of you reading but if you think about it, I am a country girl. I grew up and lived my whole life in the peaceful country side where my only neighbors were cows, sheep and birds. Living in the city is the complete opposite; student accommodation if full to the brim of different people with different personalities as well as constant traffic and sirens in my case as my flat is next door to the hospital. At night I am use to the silence that fills the country side at any time of the year. The city is a mysterious but wonderful place, it has its pros and cons, pros being everything I could possibly need is in walking distance from my flat, I get much more exercise that usual because my flat is on the top floor so have to walk up and down the stairs more than once a day and with the amount of walking I do on a day to day basis is definitely making me feel a lot fitter. However, the cons are the constant waking up during the dead of night to sirens and not being able to concentrate throughout the day because I'm not use to the constant traffic. Even though I have learned to live with the constant hustle and bustle of city life, I'm still adjusting and not sure if I ever will fully adjust.

Lesion no. 2: Moving In With Stranger

It is always extremely daunting meeting new people, but meeting people you're going to be sharing a flat for at least a year with for the first time is even more so. In the beginning it was extremely difficult as I'm very particular when it comes to shared living space such as the kitchen. I hate it being left in a mess as other people have to use this space, not just you. Finding a good medium of how much tidying I should do and how much the others should do becomes easy after a while. Everyone learns to muck in making it a joint effort, or as we all like to call it, a flat effort. Also, the people we live with all have different hobbies, interest and different ways of learning. For example, I like to have music on when I am studying as it helps me to concentrate where as one of my flat mates can only work in complete silence, another example would be one of my flat mates loving having everyone over to our flat for pre-drinks on a night out and coming in at 4 or 5 in the morning drunk where as I like to have a few quiet drinks and not get too drunk so I can go to bed at a reasonable time. It is all about working with each other to find what works well for all of you, not just certain individuals.  I have been awfully lucky with my flat mate as we all get on extremely well and it is as if we've known each other for years rather than a few months. It is true when people say, who you share your accommodation with really do become like family to you.

Lesson no. 3: Just Ask

Many people who come to university have different struggles weather it is a form of anxiety or dyslexia. A large majority of these people do not know what help is available to them or are too shy to ask. What everyone needs to remember is that the university is there to help you and if asked for help with personal issues - as well as help with corse work - help will be given. I am dyslexic and found out at an assessment that my spelling rate is at 25% as well as my reading rate being the same percentage which is very much below average. I would never have found this information out if I did not ask for the help I need. After the assessment I had an appointment with a kind and helpfully woman who works for my universities disability service; the appointment was to discuss what help I need for during term time and exam arrangements. Due to the type of disability I have, I am being funded a laptop, printer and other items/computer programmes in order to help with my dyslexia. Some people are not too anxious or scared to ask for help but just don't know who to ask or where to start looking for the information needed. The best way to find out is to go on to your university's website and use the search bar to attempt to find what you are looking for. If that fails, then use the phone number or email address provided to get in contact with the main reception at your university and whoever answers your query will be more than happy to help. The key with university is to just ask for help when you need it. The help you want is always there and will not be given if you do not ask.

Lesson no. 4: Is This Love?

With university comes love and relationships, it is all part of the bundle. You may meet your life long partner at university or you may just meet a short term partner who may become a close friend later in life. My experience with boys and love at university has been quite confusing to say the least. After meeting a boy on freshers week and spending a large majority of my time with him for the next month he asked me to become his girlfriend. Now, I'm the type of person to panic over every little, minuscule thing when it comes to relationships since I haven't had the best experience in the past. I decided to keep him as a friend as I did not want to lose him if we were to brake up. After that moment I really began to regret saying no to him and became slightly depressed with the whole situation. Things only got worse when a family member became extremely ill in November. My friends and I decided to go to Edinburgh at the weekend and the boy I was crying over came to me because he wanted to make sure I was alright as I had not been myself the last two weeks. It was after that moment I knew if we were in a relationship and something bad did happen, he would not ignore me or treat me badly. So the week after I spoke to him about us and now we are happily in a relationship. Love and relationships do not come easy, mistakes will be made but they can always be rectified if you talk about your thoughts and feelings with the other person involved.

Lesson no. 5: Keeping Yourself Healthy

It's extremely easy at university to stop paying as much attention to your personal health. The amount of alcohol consumed during the week is unreal due to some clubs doing free entry and £1 vodka shots. Of course with a deal like that, many students will be overjoyed to be able to drink at such a cheap price as their bank account will not have been hurt too badly. Although this may be an enjoyable experience for many, it is not an enjoyable one for anyone's body. Putting alcohol aside for the time being, it is also important to remember to be eating healthily. Now a days it is so simple to pick up the phone and order some food if you cannot be bothered to cook anything that night. Most takeaway food is very unhealthy you and your bank account. From personal experience, I feel miles healthier after eating food I have cooked myself rather than from picking up the phone and ordering it. In the later weeks of November 2015, there was a day I came back to my flat after lectures feeling terrible and slept for 16 hours. That is 16 hours of not drinking any fluids or eating any food which is extremely bad for your body even though I felt like sleep was the best thing for me at the time. This caused me to experience light headedness and to have excruciating pain behind my eyes the next day which was an awful feeling. The best thing I could have done was forced myself to eat, even if it was something as simple as a sandwich. Keeping on the topic of not eating, the weekend after I only had one proper meal over the corse of two days. On the second day, I decided to stay in bed all day watching films. When I decided to actually leave my bed at half 6pm to get a shower I fainted. This could have ended a lot worse than it actually did as next to the shower there is a sink which I very nearly clattered my head on, as well as fainting I could have potentially cracked my head open or knocked myself out of consciousness. Luckily it did not come to that but it very closely could have. I learnt after that incident that I had to be eating three healthy meals a day and not having any food because I do not feel hungry. Now, I cook every dinner time and always try and make it healthy and cut out deserts, I make myself sandwiches for lunch that either have tuna, chicken or an other filling along with salad, and for breakfast - because I don't like milk - I always have toast with strawberry jam and butter or have a strawberry yoghurt with different berries. As well as eating healthy, I like to do some form of exercise every Monday, Wednesday and Friday night after all my university stuff is finished with. The key to keeping yourself healthy is by having a healthy lifestyle, exercise regularly and eating healthy meals to keep your body in tip top condition.

Being at university is a great experience for many people academically and socially. The lessons I have learnt are ones that will stick with me for life and have helped me to become a better 'me' as well as opening my eyes to the real world. The world you are exposed to where you do not have parents breathing down your back 24/7, the world where you have to fend for yourself for the first time. Even though it seems awfully frightening going to university and moving out of your family home, I cannot express enough how enthralling and rewarding it is.