Editor’s Letter – “You can’t stay a fresher forever”

[dropcap]I[/dropcap] got my place at Warwick through clearing after thinking I would go to LSE. I was mortified and never thought that I was going to be happy here because all I knew about it was that it was made from loads of concrete and my friend got rejected from here.

Honestly? I was an Oxbridge reject with a grudge. The only reason I applied to LSE was that it was the next down on the league table from Oxford. I didn’t apply there out of love. In retrospect, I definitely ended up at my perfect university because my first year at Warwick was a glowing success.

as second year begins I realise just what everyone meant when they told me ‘first year doesn’t count’

I managed to maintain a long distance relationship between Warwick and Exeter, get a 2:1 and join 3 execs. I wrote about lad culture for The Boar, mooted in Law Society and made two new best friends. First year also saw me join a sports club, something which none of my friends or family believed until I showed them a picture of me with my lacrosse stick.

I learnt how to down a pint in less than five seconds, went on tour and got my own song. So cheers Warwick Lacrosse, you really made my first year.

However, as second year begins I realise just what everyone meant when they told me ‘first year doesn’t count’. Everything matters now, my grades, my CV, my work experience portfolio; now I can’t just say I want to be a Lawyer, I actually have to make myself one. It seems that it’s always been “when I grow up I want to be a…” but now I am grown up. I’m actually 20. What. Even.

I think it truly hit home that I’m now an adult when I almost turned down the family holiday to Barbados because I needed to clock enough hours to pay my rent and living costs for first term.

I think it truly hit home that I’m now an adult when I almost turned down the family holiday to Barbados because I needed to clock enough hours to pay my rent and living costs for first term. Madness. And I almost shed tears when I sent off my term-time job applications. I’ve now actually got an Excel spreadsheet to manage my budget.

But just because old age beckons doesn’t mean that I’m not going to enjoy myself. I will still be circling, getting inappropriately intoxicated and drunk-dialling my mum every Wednesday for at least two more years.

I will most likely continue to skip my lectures and use my creative skills to fluff my way through seminars and I’ve still got my school kilt to wear in Skool Dayz to remind me that I’m still young.

No amount of growing up is going to change the fact that I shall forever be a fresher at heart. I just might be spending less time in the pub and more time on Floor 5, that’s all.