Editors’ Letter – I am definitely not a fresher

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he one thing that every second year wants to tell themselves is that they are still a fresher.

They can still roll into lectures and seminars with a cursory look at the reading, party until they pass out on a mate’s sofa and live on a steady diet of alcohol and Vialli’s until they eventually have to pull their proverbial finger out.

I came into this year thinking that I could have all of those things and live in a nice house in Leamington, far away from the fresh of campus and ease into the year now settled, without the pit-of-your-stomach nerves that accompanied Freshers fortnight last year.

However, I was duly brought back down to earth with a bump… when I slipped and broke my ankle in Neon last Friday, which has left me on crutches and sporting a metallic blue mobility scooter to get around campus. If you see me rolling, come and say hi. I am definitely not a fresher anymore. That much is abundantly clear.

It got me thinking about my own attitude towards this year and what has changed in a matter of months.

From speaking to a lot of refreshers, the most prominent change in their attitude is a sense of perspective.

After having the cushion of first year, job applications are now starting and the real world is peering into view. Suddenly essay deadlines seem closer, seminars seem shorter and getting a degree seems a scary prospect.

The fun element is still there, but there isn’t this burning desire to get drunk and go clubbing, or to crash a predrinks in a kitchen with people that you barely know. If anything, that part of my life is going to have to take a rest for a few months because I physically can’t do it at the moment.

This year is going to be new for different reasons. I am going to have to do more work and take more of an interest in my degree. I am going to have to balance my responsibilities between my societies and my friends.

But most of all, after a year of trying everything under the sun, I am going to have to decide the sort of person I want to be and where I want to go.

It feels incredibly daunting. The excitement of having every door open is starting to fade knowing that soon we are going to have to pick a couple and run with our eyes open towards them. It has been easy to tell ourselves that nothing matters up until this point, but now that isn’t the case. Now everything is a little more real.

I am definitely not a fresher anymore… And I’m bricking it.
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Photo: flickr/philliecasablanca