SO, HOW'S UNI GOING?

When I was planning my posts for this month, I decided that seeing as though I've been pretty quiet lately, it was only necessary to do a little catch-up. The thing with doing a catch up is that my life is pretty much a 'Uni life' these days. Therefore, I thought it was more than necessary to make this catchup a general look at how Uni has been for me so far. So, for anyone mildly interested or any future students who just wanna get a feel for this University malarkey, continue on.

Making friends.
I've been lucky enough to make an amazing couple of friends. The gals that I 'hang around' with are all on my course and, even better, totally except me for being the loser that I am. And by that I mean, I couldn't ask for better friends to expect me as the anti-party-animal that I am. Not only that, but they make me feel so much calmer in the city, in my lectures and around everyone else because we've all clicked so well. We got to know each other before Uni started, through a Facebook group chat so, if you're going to be starting Uni in the future, I'd definitely recommend taking advantage of these group chats.

My course.
If you didn't already know, I'm at University studying English Language. It's a subject that I'm really passionate about and so far it has not disappointed. As you can imagine, there's a lot of reading that comes with my course which can sometimes make me feel really pinned down - I tend to put a lot of pressure on myself with these kinds of things so I'm still trying to find a healthy balance. Nevertheless, I am pleased that we have got right into the learning and that there are challenges to face, rather than just painstaking, too-easy work. I'm definitely enjoying learning again after a year out.

General social life.
I touched on it a little bit up there but, to be honest, I have had a lot less worry and stress about not being a big drinker than I expected. Moving up to Newcastle meant that I was scared of being judged for hating nightclubs and being fast asleep after two glasses of wine but, to be honest, it's fine. I've found myself some friends that accept me for who I am and I actually think that people just generally prefer you to be honest. I've actually begun to realise that being honest is what makes you a better person in the eyes of others and, more importantly, yourself. Other than that, I feel as though I have a nice balance of work and social right now as I've been making sure to say yes to lunch with friends and stick around Uni to work together.

Living away from home.
Since I moved away from home, I've actually felt a lot better than I expected to feel. I am typically very homesick when I'm away from home (on holiday for example) but I think that being not too far from home, being able to FaceTime home whenever I need to, and having my boyfriend (and best friend) living with me, it just seems to be so much easier. I think I'm lucky with this one though - not everyone can go to a University that's the perfect distance from home, nor can everyone move in with their best friends, but I think the most important thing to know is that it's okay to feel homesick - definitely don't let it break you apart.

A new job.
I cannot believe I'm saying this. If you'd asked me a month ago 'Are you going to get a job while you're at Uni?', I would've point blank said 'no'. I really didn't want to come home from a long day of studying only to have to go back out and paint on a smile in retail. It wasn't until the role of Digital Content Creator came up within the University's Marketing Team - I just knew that, with my love for writing, my creativity, and my experience with having a blog for god-knows-how-long, it sounded completely perfect for me. I was incredibly lucky enough to get through the long and shortlist and was employed; I literally can't believe it, especially as those on my team seem to have so much talent. Everyone within the team seems lovely and I feel so grateful to be earning money to do something that I enjoy.