My First Year of University

So, I can officially say my first year at university is over and let me tell you, it has flown by! I cannot believe how fast the time has gone. Before I know it, my uni days will be over and I will officially be out in the real world on my own! But enough scary future talk for now. 

If I had to sum up my first year university experience in one word, I think i'd have to go with incredible. It was something i've never experienced before and there's nothing I would change about the past year. I've made so many memories this past year with people I didn't even know anything about. I think one of the great things about going to university is that you get to experience new situations in a completely new place and make some great friends. I lived in uni halls during first year, Flat 76, Room E02, Trefloyne. Living in halls makes the university experience all the more fun as you get to host flat parties, become friends with other flats in your block (and neighbouring blocks, as everyone just seems to turn up at flat parties), as well as just have an amazing time living with some amazing people. 

Okay, back to the beginning. On our first 'official' day, we all decided to take a little road trip to the neighbouring town of Borth and have a little picnic on the beach. It was a beautiful day, the sky was clear but the water was freezing!! Emma and American Cam (and if you're wondering why we call him American Cam, its because we know two Cams) were crazy enough to actually go swimming. The rest of us just went paddling. After the picnic and the swim/paddle we had ice creams on the beach, then slowly made our way home. 

Above: This was our second night of freshers week and we had literally only known each other for two days, but already I felt like we had known each other for years. I think choosing to live away from home and in university halls as opposed to living at home  and commuting everyday makes going to university that little bit easier. I'm one of those people that really hates new situations and being around people I don't know, especially when I'm on my own, but when you're living away from home, everyone is in the same boat as you and for some reason, that makes it a little less scary. I think one of the reasons you become such good friends with particular people is because you live with them, so you really get to know them and find out what interests you share. You then move on into year two and continue to live with all or some of the people you shared accommodation with in your first year. All of these things make uni life a lot more fun. 

Below: This is an example of one of those times where we got rather bored one night and Aron decided to put on a pair of my high-heeled shoes, in attempt to prove it wasn't difficult to walk in them, which he found out the hard way and Jason decided (for reasons unknown to me) to put on a dress and tights. And believe it or not, he wasn't drunk at this point and he took it a step further and even went out into town on a night out like this! Sometimes I question the sanity of my friends...

The above picture is the result of a very dangerous shopping trip. Myself, Emily B, Chelsie, Aron and Jason thought it would be a good idea to take a little trip to Chelsie's hometown and go to Primark, H&M and many other shops which we definitely shouldn't have gone into. I think its fair to say, this is the time when I found out I have a shopping problem. Since then it sort of escalated out of control... I have a weakness for sales especially! Anything that is on sale, I instantly convince myself that I need it in my life. But thankfully, my flatmates talked me out of not to get any of those things so luckily my 'slight' addiction is being controlled. 

Now onto halloween. It was my first halloween away from home and I was quite excited. Me and a few flatmates carved pumpkins and put little tealights in them (even though we weren't technically allowed them, but shh, I won't tell if you don't). After we carved our pumpkins, we just chilled out in our flat and were thinking about going out. I was really excited to go out in my skeleton costume, but then I became ill so going out was off the table. But at least our pumpkins were best in the block :D

I'm not sure what was really going on in either of these two photos, but somehow Emily S had managed to acquire an umbrella hat and wore it while cooking her dinner and a moose hat which she wore on a night out in the club. But it turns out that a lot of other people had these moose hats, so she didn't look completely bonkers. I thought it would be nice to include them so you can see what really goes on in uni life. 

Christmas was next. We all decided we were going to have a christmas hat that we were to wear at the table - I went for the most normal one. Now as students, you wouldn't think that we would bother with a christmas meal. Oh no, not us. We went all out, stuffing, yorkshire puddings, turkey, the whole lot. And it was delicious! One of the best meals i'd had since moving to university. Then after dinner and desert, we played games like twister (which failed miserably, as we didn't stay upright for very long) and maybe a few drinking games...

My first year was truly an unforgettable experience and I had such an amazing time. I made some awesome friends, I met someone, who even though they may be one of the weirdest people i've ever met, was kind enough to buy me flowers after our January exams because I was so stressed and I generally just had the time of my life. I would highly recommend considering going to university as it is one of the best experiences you will ever have. You meet new people, experience different situations and get to learn about something you are actually interested in!

This is one of my favourite pictures that I took over the past year. It was taken from the sidewalk next to the pier looking out onto Constitutional Hill and the seafront residences. It reminds me of how lucky I am to be where I am and to have made friends with some great people. I hope if you're thinking about going to university, you just remember that everyone is in the same boat as you and I promise you won't regret it.