Editor’s Letter – “Was my first year like the movies?”

[dropcap]H[/dropcap]ow does one envisage their first year at Uni? Just like in the movies. Or maybe Asher Roth’s “I Love College” video.“That party last night was awfully crazy, I hope we taped it.” One big mess. Booze, incessant partying and maybe for those of who are a little more frisky; Geordie Shore like reckless abandon.

You’re led into believing every night will be a reverie, filled with visions of red cups strewn over alcohol splattered kitchen worktops.

Surprise, surprise. As with most things worthwhile in life, the gulf between expectation and reality is huge – unless you are actually a giant pisshead. It was a little like waiting anxiously for a killer injection but feeling instead a gentle pinprick licking the surface of your skin.

My first year experience was far from concentrated carnage, yet I still had a whale of a time. I can honestly say this was (almost) nine grand well spent. So far so good.

What many people, including myself, didn’t bank on when they went to university was how much it can help you advance as an individual, no matter what field you want to one day work in and what kind of person you are. Shy or extrovert, sporty or lazy, campus is one giant lucky dip, full of opportunities you can plunge your hand into.

Take me for example. I like chocolate. There’s a cheese and chocolate society to help me gorge myself and stuff my face. I like Kanye West. There’s a hip hop society to let me blow off steam and rant about his genius. I like tennis. There’s a tennis club for me to work up a sweat whenever I choose. I want to be a journalist. So here I find myself waffling for the Boar.

You get to do what makes you happy and find out what could make you even happier. Most us of are more independent than we’ve ever been before; light-years away from our comfy beds and our mother’s cooking.

This is a chance for us to use that newfound freedom to shape our futures. Not just for our CVs and jobs applications, but to meet people who love the same things as us, make lifelong friends and potential sparring partners in pointless arguments for years to come.

University is way more than simply a chance to let loose, although shaking a leg at Smack on a Thursday night is always good fun from time to time.

First year has been a blur, and in a very different sense to what I expected. Hopefully when the end credits run and I graduate, I can sit back and say it was all worth it.