My expectations before university

Hello, Reader!

This week, I’m moving into my halls and beginning my University Experience. In a way, I’ve been waiting for this for so long - about two years - that it doesn’t feel like it’s actually happening. Obviously, with a long wait comes an abundance of worries and expectations because it’s a new environment, new experiences, new people… and I’m not sure how I’ll navigate this new situation. I figured that it would be interesting to write down all these worries and expectations so I can look back on them later and be able to see how the reality measures up. So here we go, my expectations of what my uni experience will bring.

1. I’ll be a wallflower but also I’ll spread myself too thin.

Have I mentioned that I took a gap year? I thought so. A lot of my worries stem from the fact that I’m ‘a year behind’. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t regret it, but it does make me wonder whether it will make it harder for me to adjust. I’ve gotten used to the peace and quiet of focusing on myself and my personal projects; I haven’t attended many social events and when I have, I felt out of place and awkward. I suppose I’m worried that I’ll be the ‘grandma’ of my circle - quiet, knits in her room instead of socialising, drinks 15 cups of tea a day… that kind of thing. Although I know there’s nothing wrong with being shy or quiet, I wish I was a bit more sociable and made friends easier. On the other hand, I have a lot of interests and things I want to get involved in. There are so many societies I want to check out and so many events I want to take part in that it’s inevitable that I’ll meet new people and socialise and stay busy. With that being said, because I want to do everything at once, I’m worried I’ll end up spreading myself too thin and not taking care of myself enough. That brings me to my second point.

2.   I’ll struggle to take care of myself.

I feel like this one’s kind of common, but I already struggle to take care of myself when I’m at home. I often forget to eat and there are days when I find myself at 5 pm not having had any food all day. If I do remember to eat in the morning, I tend to skip lunch out of convenience - if I’m busy it’s easier to just put it off until, suddenly, it’s dinner time. Because of this, I’m worried that I’ll struggle to eat enough, let alone drink enough water - although I’m a bit more attentive to that one. Not only that, but I’m seizing the opportunity of living away from home to implement changes to my lifestyle; a more plant-based diet, maybe even vegan. I’ve been vegetarian for a few years so now it’s just the matter of cutting out cheese and butter. The problem is that with a more ‘restrictive’ diet it may be even more difficult for me to eat enough if I don’t make a conscious effort to do so. But I suppose that the solution is to… make that effort.

3.   I’ll be behind in my course and everyone will be smarter than me.

The majority of people in my course will be straight out of their A-Levels which means that the material will be somewhat fresh in their head. Because I took a year off, all of those things I learned are a little stale and faded. As soon as I realised this, I started revising topics that completely disappeared from my memory but nevertheless, it worries me that I’ll be somehow behind because of that. Additionally, I’m already overwhelmed by the content and I haven’t even started yet-- I just need to remember to take it day by day. 

So these are my expectations of university, a week before my course starts. If you’re worried about starting uni too, you’re not alone. 

Love,

Agnes xo