So I did not hit my weekend target. I wrote about 2000 words yesterday and I’m gonna aim for another 500 or so words this evening if I get a chance but I am a long way off my 10 000 word target. I’d say my excuse is life got in the way, but honestly, I do t really like that phrase. I feel like if something is important enough to you you will find time for it, even with life doing all it can to stop you. The thing is, much as I’m enjoying nano, and I love writing, and I do need to make more time for it, nano is not the most important thing in my life. I spent the weekend with my best friend, who I get to see nowhere near as much as I would like, and this evening I helped my sister with an essay because she needed me too. I had an amazing weekend, and honestly those two things are two thousand times more important to me than hitting word count for the day. I will write through lunch tomorrow, and maybe all week if I need to, to make sure that I do have enough words to be okay, but I do t in any way regret not writing for the last two days. I had a brilliant time and it was completely, 100% worth it.
~ Becca x
Tag Archives: friends
Off to University?
It’s that time of year again when everyone starts getting ready to trundle off to university, or they do in the UK at least. Looking back to my time at uni, leaving for Freshers was both one of the most terrifying experiences (the need to make new friends, living away from home, long distance relationships or friendships, having to actually cook your own food and pay your own bills, the first time I used a cheque book) but also one of the most exciting (freedom, new friends, freedom, learning, freedom). I loved my first year and uni and was actually desperate to get away from home by that point and find out who I really was in my own way. I was lucky in that I didn’t really get homesick, but I know a lot of people do and that that can make it really hard. Leaving is hard. But it is also amazing. I don’t want to spend my time giving you a long list of all of the reasons uni is great and why you should go/stick at it/ not worry if your homesick because there are loads of those on the internet, particularly at this time of year, and they all say the same thing (TLDR: Uni is great).
I do want to give you just two pieces of advice though, which were both things which really helped me make the most of my four years at university. And I think they apply to anyone, even if you’re not a fresher.
The first is to make friends with the staff. At Oxford that was the porters (people who look after post and man the front desk), the maintenance staff and the catering staff. They will be an invaluable help no matter how long you’re there from, and the more they know you, the more willing they are to look after you and go out of their way to help. Once I had my handbag stolen and one of the porters at the time, Trevor, was an absolute babe about helping me through the panic and telling me what to do (go to the police, obvs, but I was too panicky to think of it at the time). He also made sure that I had a new set of keys so I could get into my room in the mean time, and he already knew my room number because I knew him so well which was amazing when I was in floods of tears. In situations like that, when you’d usually run to your parents, having someone who knows your name and knows what to do is the biggest blessing. The same with catering/bar staff for me. My college had two cafes and I spent almost all of my finals and Masters years working in one of them with my best friend to the extent that the cafe staff knew us ridiculously well and half-knew our timetables if one of us was ever looking for the other. Finals at Oxford where an absolute nightmare of stress and pressure and tears, and the two women who worked at that cafe were one of the main things that got us through it, from bringing us croissants and hot chocolates when one of us was having a breakdown to saving us a portion of lunch if they knew we were going to be late. They got me through. They were amaze. So yeah, make friends with staff. They know your university. They have access to things you don’t. They have knowledge you don’t. Making friends with them can really help you out.
Second is do everything. Or at least do as much as you can (don’t do so much that you can’t deal with the workload for your degree but still filly our time as much as your comfortable with). At no other point in life will you be presented with so many clubs, societies and options all in one place and easily accessible and cheap. You can try new things, things you never knew were available like Octopush and Cheerleading, to that sport that you school just didn’t offer. And to begin with there’s basically no commitment. Most won’t ask you to pay subs until a few weeks in, so if you decide after a couple of sessions that you hate it you can leave and go do something else. And if sport isn’t your thing do something else. Join a debate team, a band, perform in shows, do wine tasting, volunteer to teach, join RAG, get involved in your student union. Do what you love. It doesn’t matter what it is, there will be something there for you. So go find it. Once you leave university, opportunities sadly get a lot more limited so make the most of it while its there. And on a more practical and definitely more boring note: it’s an easy way to fill your CV, which gives you more to talk about in job interviews and makes you a much more likeable candidate. Just saying. So do things you enjoy and do as much as you want to.
Ultimately though, have fun! That’s the most important thing. Work hard and come out with a good degree, but enjoy it 100%.
Good luck to all those going to uni this year! I hope you have the time of your lives 🙂 And as ever, if anyone ever has any questions about my time at uni or anything else, I’m always happy to answer!
The Paper Ship 