It still hasn't sunk in that I've finished my second year of university. I'm going into my final year. This time next year I'll be done with my education. All of this doesn't feel real and to me it still feels as though it was yesterday I packed up and moved to uni. I will be sharing my honest thoughts on my second year of university. Obviously, there will be some areas where I will be vague as to maintain privacy for those around me.
It is difficult to say outright whether this year was good or bad as this year ended up being very unusual. No one could have seen the current situation hitting us and it has affected every single university student across the world. I'm lucky that I was at the half way point for my degree, that this didn't happen in my first or final year of university. It was definitely a bummer that this happened when it did. It has impacted how I feel about my second year of uni, but not by much.
One thing I spotted was the jump between first and second year. First year, looking back, was quite chill. We had work to do, but it didn't feel like we were drowning in work. This year it felt a bit more intense and I imagine third year will be even more so. I did notice that the work increased and that I would finish the week and have a decent amount of work to fill my time. There were a few occasions when it wasn't as bad, but most of the time I was working hard.
A big change this year was that I joined a society. I hadn't found any that I wanted to commit to in first year. I looked over the summer and found that we had a student newspaper, something I new nothing about. I decided to join and actually ended up being one of the editors. I'm now the editor in chief, which is something I never thought would happen. I'm so glad I decided to join a society as it's expanded the social side a lot and I've met people outside of my course and existing friendship group.
Another change was that I decided to apply to be a student ambassador for my university. This is a paid role and means that I help out at any event that the university is hosting. Again, it was an opportunity to meet people outside of my course and so on. It's quite a chill job and I look forward to doing it in my third year.
Possibly my favourite thing about this year was the group of friends I made and hung out with outside of uni. We would meet up every now and then for drinks and board game nights. I am not a big drinker or party person so this was exactly my type of social event. I'm sad that they came to an abrupt end when we all got busy and then had to move home. These are memories that I'll treasure for a very long time.
Compared to my first year, I suffered a lot of health problems this year. In the first term, I had a viral cold that lasted for two months and meant I was constantly run down. I felt awful all the time and was really struggling a lot. I got better over Christmas and thought that I would manage to make up for lost time in the second term, but I was very wrong. I got really sick in February out of the blue and ended up in hospital overnight. I still don't know what happened to me, but it took it's toll on me again. It got to a point where I thought I would fail this year because of how ill I was. Luckily I managed to soldier on and pass, but this year ended up being quite difficult for me. I'm hoping that third year is better.
Second year ended up being quite a solid year. There were ups and downs. Going to university during a global pandemic was something I never thought I'd experience. It is changing the way that I will be completing my degree. I hope that I can finish my degree with a bang, but we'll have to see what life has in store.
Carenza :) x
It is difficult to say outright whether this year was good or bad as this year ended up being very unusual. No one could have seen the current situation hitting us and it has affected every single university student across the world. I'm lucky that I was at the half way point for my degree, that this didn't happen in my first or final year of university. It was definitely a bummer that this happened when it did. It has impacted how I feel about my second year of uni, but not by much.
One thing I spotted was the jump between first and second year. First year, looking back, was quite chill. We had work to do, but it didn't feel like we were drowning in work. This year it felt a bit more intense and I imagine third year will be even more so. I did notice that the work increased and that I would finish the week and have a decent amount of work to fill my time. There were a few occasions when it wasn't as bad, but most of the time I was working hard.
A big change this year was that I joined a society. I hadn't found any that I wanted to commit to in first year. I looked over the summer and found that we had a student newspaper, something I new nothing about. I decided to join and actually ended up being one of the editors. I'm now the editor in chief, which is something I never thought would happen. I'm so glad I decided to join a society as it's expanded the social side a lot and I've met people outside of my course and existing friendship group.
Another change was that I decided to apply to be a student ambassador for my university. This is a paid role and means that I help out at any event that the university is hosting. Again, it was an opportunity to meet people outside of my course and so on. It's quite a chill job and I look forward to doing it in my third year.
Possibly my favourite thing about this year was the group of friends I made and hung out with outside of uni. We would meet up every now and then for drinks and board game nights. I am not a big drinker or party person so this was exactly my type of social event. I'm sad that they came to an abrupt end when we all got busy and then had to move home. These are memories that I'll treasure for a very long time.
Compared to my first year, I suffered a lot of health problems this year. In the first term, I had a viral cold that lasted for two months and meant I was constantly run down. I felt awful all the time and was really struggling a lot. I got better over Christmas and thought that I would manage to make up for lost time in the second term, but I was very wrong. I got really sick in February out of the blue and ended up in hospital overnight. I still don't know what happened to me, but it took it's toll on me again. It got to a point where I thought I would fail this year because of how ill I was. Luckily I managed to soldier on and pass, but this year ended up being quite difficult for me. I'm hoping that third year is better.
Second year ended up being quite a solid year. There were ups and downs. Going to university during a global pandemic was something I never thought I'd experience. It is changing the way that I will be completing my degree. I hope that I can finish my degree with a bang, but we'll have to see what life has in store.
Carenza :) x
