City University London
Student Blogs

The lessons I have learnt. .

Second term will be upon us and I honestly cannot believe where the time has gone; it seems like just yesterday that I was stood like a wide-eyed lost puppy in the middle of Northampton Square, wondering where on earth the library was and how am I meant to use it anyway? Nevertheless, first semester came and went, and as I’ve never been the type of girl to make a list of New Year’s resolutions (think I’d just be setting myself up for disappointment), here are a few things I’ve learned since September that didn’t come from a textbook or Powerpoint–

1. Every lecture is important. So is your health. Although I luckily had no 9 AM classes first semester (or 10 AMs, for that matter), getting out of bed every morning was still pretty difficult and I admittedly never really looked forward to making the trek from my halls to City for a packed day of lectures and tutorials. That being said, you need to do your best to attend every class you have; even if you already know the material from high school or what have you, you want to know your professor and your classmates, and you want to be able to make the mental adjustment to life as a university student. Moodle is really useful and almost always has notes/Powerpoints online after every lecture, so if one day you’re genuinely too sick to go to class, do me a favour and JUST DON’T GO. This is because there is always someone coughing and sniffling in the back of every lecture room, and this person will get you sick but more importantly is just well annoying.
2. If you don’t know how to manage your money, prepare to be homeless and/or starving. I, like many first year university students, have never lived by myself before this year, and so for the first few months the most common sentences out of my mouth were “why don’t I have any food?” “why don’t I have any money?” “where did all my money go?” and “is it more important to buy myself dinner or this new necklace?” (The answer was always surprisingly unclear.) In London, you are always, always, broke, no matter how much money you have. You have been warned.
3. Going home for the first time will be very, very, very weird. Expect it. Living in a tiny room in an exciting city with no supervision can really change a person, and you won’t even realize it until you’re back at home with your family, friends, and smelly dog. At first you’ll be beyond excited to be back in a warm house with a functional shower and plenty of food in the fridge, but within a few days you might even be missing your tiny student flat and your measly budget. You’ve changed a lot; it’s okay.
4. A lot of movies say uni is the best years of your life, so we should probably enjoy it while we can.