So my university experience started in September 2013 when I went to Cardiff University to study Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies. I was no where near ready to leave home and go to university (I was and still am a massive home bird) but I felt pressured to go because it seemed like that's what you just did after a levels. So off I went and surprise surprise I absolutely hated it. The course was nothing like I thought it would be and all I wanted was to be at home. The girls in my flat in halls were lovely but I just had no interest in being there so I went home every weekend from Thursday - Monday. I had a boyfriend at home and was finding it hard to be away from him, as well as being away from my family. I was also very ill with a long term health condition which meant that I found it very hard to go out and join in with freshers events - something which is a big part of your first year of uni! 2 months later I decided to leave university and move back home - what a relief that was!!
When I got home I got a job at New Look and after being a working gal for only a few months I decided that I would go back to university that coming September. This time I decided to apply for The University of the West Of England in Bristol as it is only about 40 minutes from my home. I also decided that Journalism wasn't for me so I applied to study Criminology and Sociology. I studied Sociology at A Level and enjoyed it and Criminology sounded super interesting.
September came round very quickly and I was off to uni for the second time. This time round I was feeling more positive about going and I made more of a conscious effort to settle in. I was enjoying the course and I was going out with flat mates, living in Bristol was the best! I still wasn't 100% sure if uni was for me but things were going much better than the previous year. Sadly, during December I was having some family problems and in the end I felt it was best for me to move back home. As uni was close to home I was still able to commute to uni for lectures and I kept my place in halls so that I could stay for the occasional night. Moving back home was the best thing for me at that time, but it did mean that it made it very difficult for me to make friends during first year and I wasn't able to get involved with things that were going on. As I reached the end of 1st year I decided that university wasn't for me and that I would drop out once I had completed my first year. During the summer between my 1st and 2nd year of uni my relationship with my boyfriend at the time ended and I was pretty devastated about that. This meant that I did A LOT of thinking and realised that I didn't have a clue what I would do with my life if I left uni - so I went back in September to start my second year.
I was still living at home at this point and was commuting to lectures. My course was going well, Criminology (not so much Sociology) was so interesting and I made some friends on my course. In January I moved back up to Bristol with 3 friends from school and this was just the best experience of my life. We had so much fun and pretty much every Saturday my best friends from home would come to stay and we would go out, drink way too many prosecco's and have hungover bed days on Sunday. Finally I was starting to love uni.
Everyone says how horrible 3rd year is, but it was actually by far my favourite year of uni. I had way more control over what subjects I was studying and I loved writing my dissertation which was on the police. I still hadn't made many close friends at uni but at the beginning of 3rd year I met two friends on my course (Adam and Jack) and very quickly they became my best university friends and I spent all of my time at uni with them, we were a little team! Jack is now my boyfriend which is a cute little story to tell. Anyway, after spending a year and a half hating uni and praying for the day it ended - when the end did come on May 12th 2017 I was gutted. I graduated in July 2017 with a 2:1, something which I thought I would never be able to say. It was a very proud day of my life.
Overall, I didn't have a great university experience. This is mainly because, for various different reasons, I couldn't get stuck into university life. This did happen towards the second half of my 3rd year but by this point uni was almost over anyway. I absolutely loved living in Bristol with my friends and I did enjoy the Criminology aspect of my course so it wasn't all bad. I have absolutely no idea what I am going to do with my life now but I have learnt a hell of a lot of life lessons from my university experience and I do have some great memories.
If you are at university at the moment and you aren't sure whether to continue - my advice would be to give it time. In my experience, it does get better and the pride you feel when you walk up on that stage at graduation is like no other!
Love from Emily xx
