Adjusting to the Student Lifestyle

Dolly Parton (RIP) had a point about the whole "working 9-5". 

Once you have your timetable, exam days or assignment deadlines, reading lists, and contact points you're pretty much set to go. Of course, you want to do as well as you can, but it would be borderline unhealthy to focus every waking hour on your academics. What if I told you, you can achieve those high grades while also maintaining a social life?

My first tip would be treating uni life like a 9-5 so that you have more time to relax in the evening and work your way to getting used to office hours. This way you have support readily available such as PAT/Ls, module leaders and student services. During my undergraduate, I would stress so much about deadlines that I felt too guilty to go to any Community sessions or just to hang out with friends, especially when my grades were not to my standard. But setting my own office hours (with breaks!!) allowed me to ease that academic guilt.

Another piece of advice is if daytime isn't your thing, there is no shame in being a night owl. I myself have found myself struggling to work during the day but when the sun sets all my ideas are flowing. The "office hours" method still applies here. However, you will be limited to the support available. Which is why you should use your "rest hours" to your advantage. It just means that you need to find your support earlier than needed. When I was in need for support i had to plan at least a day ahead for responses. For example, i wanted to get some feedback for my dissertation draft, but I could only concentrate from 6pm onwards, so i set my deadline a couple days earlier than planned so I could send my draft to my supervisor at 2am, then still be on time for feedback once they replied to the following day.  

Long story short, there is no right answer to organisation, as long as your organised, and in this case being early is on time.

Speaking of the "life" part of university, it is natural to want to make lifelong friends in one of the most important times of your lives. Where to begin is the first question. In my experience I was in a new city, knew no one, and living alone in accommodations for the first time. Not to mention very socially anxious i hated socialising back home. But I wanted to change that, one way I did was attending halls events. They were free and happening almost every day, and I saw they held dungeons and dragons' sessions too which I always wanted to try. Rest assured by the end of my undergrad, I made some lifelong friends who i will never forget and had fun with my year campaign (and bought too many dice).

Alot of freshers are in the same boat when it comes to their new uni life, and whether you meet course mates, flatmates, or fellow Community members you will find things in common, the more passionate the better too. It's just a matter of taking that first hard awkward step, the rest becomes easier. 

On the topic of friends, one advice I feel no one prepares you for uni and even the wider world, is that not everyone you meet is meant to be your friend. To put it kindly, some people are for the moment, and some are for a lifetime. I've had my own cases of trying to keep every relation I've ever made but in life you learn that isn't possible, I could waste that energy, but I had my life and relationships to think about. If you feel that the two-way relationship isn't bringing you joy or safety, there is no shame or harm in cutting people off. In the now, it seems scary but once you let them go after doing all you can to fix it, then it's much more freeing. Besides, you're not paying more than £9000 to exert your energy in ensuring your social circle has high numbers. 

Finding your routine takes trial and error, and everyone is or has been in the same boat before, there's no rush or pressure of getting things right all the time. When academics or social circles go wrong, that's just life. Trust your gut and experiences this far and enjoy university!!