Words dedicated to Warwick: Post-university nostalgia

As the year comes to a close, most of us have returned home or will be doing so soon. If you’re a finalist like me, you might be finding that this return trip feels particularly different. Either way, you’re likely to be feeling some bittersweet pangs of nostalgia.

Nostalgia originates from the Greek word for a return home (nostos) and the word for pain (algos). Previously, it was used as a medical diagnosis for people who felt isolated or were experiencing symptoms such as depression. Nostalgia is often associated with the homesickness experienced while undertaking an epic journey, such as in Homer’s The Odyssey. After all, what is moving away from home to university if not a modern-day odyssey?

Living between two places is a uniquely strange feeling, so it’s no surprise that moving back for good can feel intimidating

Visiting home from university always feels strange. I remember the first Christmas holidays, when I was surprised at how uncannily nostalgic I felt about returning to a house I had lived in all my life. Living between two places is a uniquely strange feeling, so it’s no surprise that moving back for good can feel intimidating. If you had asked me last year, I definitely would have told you that I didn’t know how I was going to feel about moving back home after uni. I assumed that I’d have the post-university blues.

I even vaguely considered applying for a panic Masters just to cope with the FOMO about my friends who are staying on

Yet, when it was actually time to move out at the end of the year, I was really excited. It isn’t that I didn’t enjoy the year. Although exam season was rough, this year has been one of the best of my life (shoutout to the girls’ trip to Barcelona). Moving out wasn’t without tears either. I may have cried a few times after saying goodbye to some of my best friends at uni. It is sad to think that I won’t have the comfort of seeing some people every day anymore – even if they live down the road or a bus ride away. I even vaguely considered applying for a panic Masters just to cope with the FOMO about my friends who are staying on and living in Leam still.

However, I don’t think that it would ever be quite the same, and I think that for me it’s time to join the real world (and hopefully get a job soon). Plus, I’ve heard people talk about moving home as losing a sense of routine, but what routine can most uni students really claim to have, in a place which runs on last-minute plans and side quests?

All the meaningful connections and lasting friendships which I have fostered at university won’t just disappear after graduation

Over the past year, I have just realised how lucky I am to have such great family and friends at home, and how all the meaningful connections and lasting friendships which I have fostered at university won’t just disappear after graduation. Although a lot of people seem set on the idea of life peaking at university, this seems a bit sad. Yes, these have 100% been the best three years of my life, but only so far, and I’m ready for some change and a new chapter. I will always cherish my university memories and Warwick will always be a nostalgic place. For this reason, I had a final walk around campus and Leamington before I moved back home, and visited my first-year accommodation with some of my old flatmates. It reminded me that as much as Warwick will always have a special place in my heart, it’s important not to get swept up in nostalgia, and to focus on making new memories in the present and future.