I've seen many people do something like this, where they take some time to reflect on their experiences at university. I know people like to have a read of these type of posts to see if university is really what it is all cracked up to be and just what the general experience was like. I have debated about doing this post for a while, however I mentioned in my 'Responding to my Dear 21 Year Old Elisa Post' (which I wrote reflecting on my mid-to-long term goals for the next 3 years) that I was going to go on and do a Masters Degree; so I was going to wait until I had finished that before doing this kind of post. But I'm gonna do it anyway! My masters will probably need to have a separate post and this is going to be a long one itself. So sit back, grab a snack and enjoy...
So I decided that I wanted to go to university because, honestly, I didn't know what else I wanted to do and my sixth form were pushing for everyone to apply for uni. What I did know was that I wanted to study a subject that I enjoyed, which was Drama. It wasn't my best subject at school and I most certainly had my knock backs studying it at Sixth Form; but I knew that it was my favourite subject and that I would be able to gain so many skills from doing it at degree level, rather than taking a subject that I was good at and neither gain much from it or enjoy it. So for my course it was a requirement that I had to audition with a monologue (and for some university's 2). All my university choices were close to home; I was ready to move out but not ready to go too far from my family. My first audition was for Northumbria University, and the course was very different other unis I would be auditioning. But the uni gave a very good impression, they were so organised and made us feel at home, so I knew that I wanted to go there. I was worried that I wouldn't meet the entry requirements for the course as they were quite high, and I will never forget the moment I found out I got into Northumbria- I did genuinely think that I would end up somewhere else. So for the next 3 years I would be studying Drama and Applied Theatre at Northumbria University! I was so excited!
Background over, Freshers' Week was a funny one for me, they say that it is the best week of your life- it really wasn't. My first night at the flat, only 1 other person was there and they already made plans to go out with someone they already met the previous night- so I took up the offer which was a note posted underneath my door to head to a flat party on the floor above. Considering I had only just turned 18 2 weeks before heading to uni, it was a shock to the system how much everyone was drinking- I felt so out of place and alone. I left the house party at 11pm and went to bed crying on the phone to my boyfriend. The next day my final 2 flatmates arrived, but I invited my boyfriend to stay at the flat that same night so I could settle in. The 2 boys had plans with people they had met so myself and the other girl in the flat decided to head to the SU for a drink, the next morning I woke up to a text from her saying that she had gone home because she felt homesick. Later that week I met a girl on the Fine Art course at our faculty induction, we started talking because we had the same jacket on! I later found out that she lived in the same halls as me, so that night I decided to meet up with her to head to the SU Headphone Disco with her house mates (because all mine had vanished). From there, Freshers' Week did get better as I had found some friends; but I was also travelling back home on the weekends as I kept my part time job which was annoying when I wanted to socialise.
Onto my course, I was definitely one of the quiet ones when I met people on my course. One girl (who later became my housemate in second year) came up to me all excitable and said "Karaoke? Thursday at the SU? You up for it?" I actually turned it down as I had work the next day back home. By this point the other girl in my flat had decided to move out of our flat and eventually drop out of uni, and one of the boys in the flat began to take a disliking to me using my kitchen stuff and hurting my friend from Freshers' Week which led to us drifting apart. Another girl from Indonesia moved into the flat and I really enjoyed having her there and learning about her culture, and I was slowly making friends with people on my course. I still didn't have much of a social life, so I decided to look into the Students Union to see what they would could offer. I decided to sign up to Raise and Give week which would be taking place in November which was a full week of fundraising, making friends and meeting new people. During this week I was put into a team with another girl who I began going out fundraising with and she convinced me to join Stitch, Bake and Bitch Society which offered all arts and crafts and baking, and I really enjoyed going there and began going every week.
After Christmas, I had finished my job back home and my social life drastically improved in Semester 2, I was going out more and I had got close to more people on my course and I had decided to get involved with the SU's Volunteering Week and I put myself forward to be on the Committee for Stitch, Bake and Bitch Society as their Secretary for the next academic year. I enjoyed the 2nd half on my first year so much, I was still seeing my boyfriend regularly and I was still being social; however it did get to a point where I had to start thinking about where I would live next year- everyone in my flat had found somewhere and I didn't feel close enough to live with anyone on my course or in the SU, so I decided that I was going to apply to live in Halls of Residence again. Until I got a message one night off a girl on my course saying that she had a spare room in a house share with 3 other girls I had never met before. I decided to meet up with the girls and then before I knew it I viewed the house and had signed a contract to live with them. And then not long after that I got myself a new job at the shopping centre, forgetting that I would be moving house so it would be hard for me to get to my new place of work.
So moving into second year, in the new house, my job began to take its toll on me. And shortly after I volunteered to help out with Fresher's Week arguments and drama began to slowly form in the flat. I began to feel run down very quickly and my grades started to slip and friendships I made in first year started to dissolve. My boyfriend had also decided that he no longer wanted to stay in college and wanted to come to uni, so he began his course and was a Fresher living in Halls. He really hated his flatmates, they kept him awake late at night, using and breaking all his stuff and the whole flat smelt of weed. I thought our house was quite dirty but this was truly one of the worst environments I had ever been placed in, so he spent a lot of time at my place which began to strain flat relationships even more. One of the few things that kept me sane throughout this time was my volunteering with the SU, being on SBB (Stitch, Bake and Bitch) committee and volunteering for RAG Week again- this time as a Team Leader. That honestly was one of the best experiences I had at uni because at the end of the week I got awarded Best Team Leader!
After RAG Week and around Christmas time, being at home made me realise how unhappy I felt in that house, and I knew my boyfriend was unhappy so we decided to take a big risk and look for a flat for the next academic year, just the 2 of us. This upset a lot of people, both our parents and my current housemates. The stress of that, my job and my course deadlines began to get too much, my health started to deteriorate and I was commuting to uni from home, quite often keeping it secret from my housemates. I just began to stay away from the drama, and then my workplace went into administration so I lost my job; I quickly found a new job, I joined Musical Theatre Society and my luck was starting to turn around. SBB began to experience a few problems so I had a meeting with an SU staff member to discuss it, and in the same meeting she said to me 'someone has put your name forward to run for a Sabbatical role in the elections'. FYI the SU elections are something which happens every year at every university where the student body elects candidates that want to work in the SU as a Sabbatical Officer to lead the Union at a senior level. I was in complete shock, however I didn't want to take time out of my education to do so, she advised me to go for a part time role; however I had expressed my interest in wanting to be on RAG committee after the success of RAG Week this year, I was advised not to do both so I did have some thinking to do. This did give me a confidence boost and I decided to go for RAG Committee Coordinator for the next academic year, in the hope of running for a Sabbatical position afterwards.
3rd year comes along, I had just finished a summer job and I had got ANOTHER casual job to support me in my final year; I was hired by the Marketing department of the university helping with Open Days for prospective candidates, as well as offering campus tours to visitors and assisting in school visits to the university.It was a casual job with casual hours with a great pay so it was absolutely ideal. Once again I decided to volunteer for Freshers' Week, I let go of SBB as I knew I would be busy on RAG Committee; but for some strange reason I decided it was a good idea to get involved with the SU's Media Team where I later applied to be their Social Secretary as well as being on the Student Lead Teaching Award panel where I had to convince students to nominate their lecturers for awards which recognise their teaching. God knows why I thought that all of this would be a good idea in my final year of uni as my course was busier than ever. I was worried about uni as some of my closest friends had decided to drop out of uni and the final year was very self driven and you had to make alot of decisions about what you wanted to get out of this important year of uni. Assessments were harder than ever, I was constantly in the library working my arse off on self-driven assessments and essays as all the practical assessments were over; taking my downtime in the Students' Union, from volunteering and performing in Drama society and Musical Theatre society. I was so busy either in uni or the SU! Throughout all of this I was living with my boyfriend and oh my word- best decision we have ever made! Life was so chill in the flat, no drama because we were already used to each others habits, schedules and we would always come home knowing that we would see each other and get a cuddle at the end of a hard day.
After the whirlwind of first semester of my third and final year, I really had to start thinking about my future and my degree got so much more serious. But I found a new passion, the SU. I had taken the bold move and decided to run in the SU Elections to be the next Vice President Communications- a full time job which is all about student engagement and ensuring that every student knows what it going on in their union and how they can have their say. It was a big thing to do, I had to lead a week long campaign to get the student body to like me and to vote for me. I let all my lecturers know what I was doing and little Elisa was doing lecture shouts to 400+ people to encourage students to vote. It was an absolutely crazy week! Unfortunately I didn't get the job at the end but the experience was something that you could never imagine, it was one of the most mentally exhausting but fun weeks of my life and I would wish the experience of running in the elections would be taken up by more people as it gave me so many new life skills and a massive CV boost. I will link a video of me giving my awful elections speech and candidate question time at the start of the week:
(My Speech at 1:20:45. Yes I screwed up... Question time at 1:34:22)
In the midst of preparing for the Elections, I was still volunteering; I did Musical Theatre, RAG, I even led a trip of 23 students to Edinburgh for a fundraising weekend. Read about my RAG experience here. But I still had my course, after the elections I completely lost my motivation to study and work hard. In the midst of preparation for my final assessments after Easter, my Grandad had a fall in the main street back home- I found out the news while I was on my placement running workshops for mental health service users and it was hard. I took some time back home for the Easter period visiting my Grandad in hospital, and it put a lot of things into perspective. I was complaining about not wanting to make the most of my degree while my Grandad was bed bound. My motivation came back, I was ready to boss all my final assessments and enjoy what was left of my final year. I started socialising more, making an effort to go on dates with my boyfriend, began to better my diet after another health scare and got stuck into my course again. This was the happiest I had been in a while, me and my boyfriend signed for the flat for another year as I had an epiphany that I just wasn't ready to leave uni. I was advised about a Masters course from my current course supervisor as she knew how much I enjoyed my independent project about Arts Management, she put me in touch with the leader of the Masters course. I went to have a meeting with her to discuss what the course entails and I was very impressed, I had a look at another local uni for a Masters degree but I didn't like the university; and then after that meeting I heard someone shout my name from the top floor of the SU building on the balcony, the next thing I know I was up there day drinking! I wasn't ready to leave all this behind...
Before I knew it, I had completed all my assessments and did my final presentation about my placement at a local theatre. It was over... I was then very lost. The very next day I applied for my Masters course and was given an offer on the conditions I would receive a 2:2 grade in my current Undergraduate degree. I was confident I would at least receive a 2:2, possibly a 2:1 but nothing more. I had a conversation with a course mate working out the minimum mark in my last assessment required for me to achieve a 2:1, she asked what I would need for a 1st and I simply replied "I'm not getting a first". Little did I know, I would be reading my final grade in a hotel room in Florida hyperventilating on the phone to my parents about achieving a First Class Honours degree in Drama and Applied Theatre!
Never in a million years did I ever think I would graduate with a First, considering I wasn't even sure that I would get into Northumbria because of the course entry requirements I am over the moon with the achievements I have left university with. Degree aside; I have learnt how to live on my own with people I like, dislike and love. I have spent endless hours volunteering for the SU developing skills and doing things that I never would have experienced from my degree alone. It has honestly been a blast, yes there have been bad times but they have been a learning curve for me. I can definitely see a difference in who I am as a person, I am alot more confident in my own abilities and I have become aware of what I want to do after uni now. Of course everybody's university experience will be different, mine was shaped by the Students' Union. I know some people who have only entered the SU to go to the bar and have still had the time of their life. University is what you make of it, at the end of the day you are there for your course and are paying a hell of a lot of money to be there. My advice to anyone who is thinking about uni is that your heart needs to be in the course you study otherwise it will not be worth it. I thoroughly enjoyed my course and everything else I did at uni was the icing on the cake. I honestly wouldn't have changed a thing, which is why I'm going back to do my Masters in Creative and Cultural Industries Management, something different to what I am used to but I am absolutely ready to dive back in and do it all again!
So I decided that I wanted to go to university because, honestly, I didn't know what else I wanted to do and my sixth form were pushing for everyone to apply for uni. What I did know was that I wanted to study a subject that I enjoyed, which was Drama. It wasn't my best subject at school and I most certainly had my knock backs studying it at Sixth Form; but I knew that it was my favourite subject and that I would be able to gain so many skills from doing it at degree level, rather than taking a subject that I was good at and neither gain much from it or enjoy it. So for my course it was a requirement that I had to audition with a monologue (and for some university's 2). All my university choices were close to home; I was ready to move out but not ready to go too far from my family. My first audition was for Northumbria University, and the course was very different other unis I would be auditioning. But the uni gave a very good impression, they were so organised and made us feel at home, so I knew that I wanted to go there. I was worried that I wouldn't meet the entry requirements for the course as they were quite high, and I will never forget the moment I found out I got into Northumbria- I did genuinely think that I would end up somewhere else. So for the next 3 years I would be studying Drama and Applied Theatre at Northumbria University! I was so excited!
Background over, Freshers' Week was a funny one for me, they say that it is the best week of your life- it really wasn't. My first night at the flat, only 1 other person was there and they already made plans to go out with someone they already met the previous night- so I took up the offer which was a note posted underneath my door to head to a flat party on the floor above. Considering I had only just turned 18 2 weeks before heading to uni, it was a shock to the system how much everyone was drinking- I felt so out of place and alone. I left the house party at 11pm and went to bed crying on the phone to my boyfriend. The next day my final 2 flatmates arrived, but I invited my boyfriend to stay at the flat that same night so I could settle in. The 2 boys had plans with people they had met so myself and the other girl in the flat decided to head to the SU for a drink, the next morning I woke up to a text from her saying that she had gone home because she felt homesick. Later that week I met a girl on the Fine Art course at our faculty induction, we started talking because we had the same jacket on! I later found out that she lived in the same halls as me, so that night I decided to meet up with her to head to the SU Headphone Disco with her house mates (because all mine had vanished). From there, Freshers' Week did get better as I had found some friends; but I was also travelling back home on the weekends as I kept my part time job which was annoying when I wanted to socialise.
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| My Halls of Residence |
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| Learning to cook... |
After Christmas, I had finished my job back home and my social life drastically improved in Semester 2, I was going out more and I had got close to more people on my course and I had decided to get involved with the SU's Volunteering Week and I put myself forward to be on the Committee for Stitch, Bake and Bitch Society as their Secretary for the next academic year. I enjoyed the 2nd half on my first year so much, I was still seeing my boyfriend regularly and I was still being social; however it did get to a point where I had to start thinking about where I would live next year- everyone in my flat had found somewhere and I didn't feel close enough to live with anyone on my course or in the SU, so I decided that I was going to apply to live in Halls of Residence again. Until I got a message one night off a girl on my course saying that she had a spare room in a house share with 3 other girls I had never met before. I decided to meet up with the girls and then before I knew it I viewed the house and had signed a contract to live with them. And then not long after that I got myself a new job at the shopping centre, forgetting that I would be moving house so it would be hard for me to get to my new place of work.
So moving into second year, in the new house, my job began to take its toll on me. And shortly after I volunteered to help out with Fresher's Week arguments and drama began to slowly form in the flat. I began to feel run down very quickly and my grades started to slip and friendships I made in first year started to dissolve. My boyfriend had also decided that he no longer wanted to stay in college and wanted to come to uni, so he began his course and was a Fresher living in Halls. He really hated his flatmates, they kept him awake late at night, using and breaking all his stuff and the whole flat smelt of weed. I thought our house was quite dirty but this was truly one of the worst environments I had ever been placed in, so he spent a lot of time at my place which began to strain flat relationships even more. One of the few things that kept me sane throughout this time was my volunteering with the SU, being on SBB (Stitch, Bake and Bitch) committee and volunteering for RAG Week again- this time as a Team Leader. That honestly was one of the best experiences I had at uni because at the end of the week I got awarded Best Team Leader!
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| RAG Week Team Leader! |
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| Volunteering Freshers' Week... Expect the unexpected |
3rd year comes along, I had just finished a summer job and I had got ANOTHER casual job to support me in my final year; I was hired by the Marketing department of the university helping with Open Days for prospective candidates, as well as offering campus tours to visitors and assisting in school visits to the university.It was a casual job with casual hours with a great pay so it was absolutely ideal. Once again I decided to volunteer for Freshers' Week, I let go of SBB as I knew I would be busy on RAG Committee; but for some strange reason I decided it was a good idea to get involved with the SU's Media Team where I later applied to be their Social Secretary as well as being on the Student Lead Teaching Award panel where I had to convince students to nominate their lecturers for awards which recognise their teaching. God knows why I thought that all of this would be a good idea in my final year of uni as my course was busier than ever. I was worried about uni as some of my closest friends had decided to drop out of uni and the final year was very self driven and you had to make alot of decisions about what you wanted to get out of this important year of uni. Assessments were harder than ever, I was constantly in the library working my arse off on self-driven assessments and essays as all the practical assessments were over; taking my downtime in the Students' Union, from volunteering and performing in Drama society and Musical Theatre society. I was so busy either in uni or the SU! Throughout all of this I was living with my boyfriend and oh my word- best decision we have ever made! Life was so chill in the flat, no drama because we were already used to each others habits, schedules and we would always come home knowing that we would see each other and get a cuddle at the end of a hard day.
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| My final practical assessment (Yes, I did get mistaken for a 14 year old pupil at the school I performed in) |
(My Speech at 1:20:45. Yes I screwed up... Question time at 1:34:22)
In the midst of preparing for the Elections, I was still volunteering; I did Musical Theatre, RAG, I even led a trip of 23 students to Edinburgh for a fundraising weekend. Read about my RAG experience here. But I still had my course, after the elections I completely lost my motivation to study and work hard. In the midst of preparation for my final assessments after Easter, my Grandad had a fall in the main street back home- I found out the news while I was on my placement running workshops for mental health service users and it was hard. I took some time back home for the Easter period visiting my Grandad in hospital, and it put a lot of things into perspective. I was complaining about not wanting to make the most of my degree while my Grandad was bed bound. My motivation came back, I was ready to boss all my final assessments and enjoy what was left of my final year. I started socialising more, making an effort to go on dates with my boyfriend, began to better my diet after another health scare and got stuck into my course again. This was the happiest I had been in a while, me and my boyfriend signed for the flat for another year as I had an epiphany that I just wasn't ready to leave uni. I was advised about a Masters course from my current course supervisor as she knew how much I enjoyed my independent project about Arts Management, she put me in touch with the leader of the Masters course. I went to have a meeting with her to discuss what the course entails and I was very impressed, I had a look at another local uni for a Masters degree but I didn't like the university; and then after that meeting I heard someone shout my name from the top floor of the SU building on the balcony, the next thing I know I was up there day drinking! I wasn't ready to leave all this behind...
Before I knew it, I had completed all my assessments and did my final presentation about my placement at a local theatre. It was over... I was then very lost. The very next day I applied for my Masters course and was given an offer on the conditions I would receive a 2:2 grade in my current Undergraduate degree. I was confident I would at least receive a 2:2, possibly a 2:1 but nothing more. I had a conversation with a course mate working out the minimum mark in my last assessment required for me to achieve a 2:1, she asked what I would need for a 1st and I simply replied "I'm not getting a first". Little did I know, I would be reading my final grade in a hotel room in Florida hyperventilating on the phone to my parents about achieving a First Class Honours degree in Drama and Applied Theatre!
Never in a million years did I ever think I would graduate with a First, considering I wasn't even sure that I would get into Northumbria because of the course entry requirements I am over the moon with the achievements I have left university with. Degree aside; I have learnt how to live on my own with people I like, dislike and love. I have spent endless hours volunteering for the SU developing skills and doing things that I never would have experienced from my degree alone. It has honestly been a blast, yes there have been bad times but they have been a learning curve for me. I can definitely see a difference in who I am as a person, I am alot more confident in my own abilities and I have become aware of what I want to do after uni now. Of course everybody's university experience will be different, mine was shaped by the Students' Union. I know some people who have only entered the SU to go to the bar and have still had the time of their life. University is what you make of it, at the end of the day you are there for your course and are paying a hell of a lot of money to be there. My advice to anyone who is thinking about uni is that your heart needs to be in the course you study otherwise it will not be worth it. I thoroughly enjoyed my course and everything else I did at uni was the icing on the cake. I honestly wouldn't have changed a thing, which is why I'm going back to do my Masters in Creative and Cultural Industries Management, something different to what I am used to but I am absolutely ready to dive back in and do it all again!
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| I GOT A DEGREE! |
Are you heading to university soon? Is there anything else you would like to know about uni? Feel free to ask me in the comments below or Tweet me @Elisa_A__
Elisa :-) x
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