Five things you need to know before you start University.

Hey, Class of 2018! You're off to University in less than a month and you feel so scared, so excited, and so oblivious to what's ahead of you. That's exactly how I felt this time last year. So here are five things I didn't know last year that would have eased my anxiety and let me know what to expect as I embarked upon my degree. Happy Studenting!

1. University is not a party. Before I went to University it seemed like it was nothing more than a three-year piss-up, and I was pretty nervous that it just wasn't for me. But, in my experience, the people who waste their University years being drunk and stupid are actually judged by their peers in a sea of eye-rolls and lectured by their, well, lecturers, for shooting themselves in the foot. If you want to know 'where it's at' when you're at University, get down to the library. Screw the nightclub, you're about to learn the value of a silent room and endless shelves of reading material.

2. Preparation is key. No you don't have to do that set reading because, lets be honest, you're a grown up and you can make your own choices. But in my experience, if you haven't had time to do the preparatory reading for the lecture/seminar, it's a waste of time even going; the few things you do manage to grasp are so few and far between that instead of learning a whole, rounded fact, you learn 'pub knowledge' and realise down the line that you know a hell of a lot less than you thought you did. Prepare yourself by spreading your workload evenly and make sure you do everything that is required of you to make the most of your Uni years. There's no point even going to University if you're not going to come out of it with some shit-hot grades!

3. University is not secondary school. It's okay to be whoever you want to be at Uni, and you'd be hard-pushed to find somebody who has enough time to mock you for it. What's more, the pretty, ditzy types are side-eyed while the people who can offer decent conversation (and seem like a solid reliable choice for future group projects!) are favoured by their peers. Sure, it's basically snobbery just coming from the new direction, but you have worked so hard to be here and maintain your grades, why shouldn't you take a moment to revel in finally being valued for your mind? Oh, and on the school note, please don't call your lecturers 'sir' or ask them if you can go to the toilet in the middle of a lecture. Awkward.

4. It really sucks, but University has to be number one. And however old you are, there are things you'd much rather be doing. For me personally, I have two children and a husband and sometimes it breaks my heart when I have to lock myself away and ignore them for a couple of days (especially when I'm actively telling them to go away and leave me alone) because I've got a deadline creeping up or just a particularly hefty load of reading to do that week. But what I keep telling them, and more often myself, is that it is only three years out of your entire life. Things are hard now so that they can be easier later.

5. Finally, keep a dialogue going with your personal tutor. At the beginning of the year you will be assigned a lecturer from your department who will be your personal tutor (or a similarly-named point of contact) and he or she will follow your University journey closely to ensure things are going along as they should. It's really important that you talk to your personal tutor about any life changes or reasons for any long-term absences. Your PT will call you in for a meeting if there are any issues (such as poor grades or low attendance) so the best thing you can do is keep them in the loop on everything. They're not there to be scary, they're not school headmasters, their job is to get you through University with First Class Honours.

Just life and stuff

My first exam, which was for American history, actually went really well yesterday. We had to choose two essay questions and I ended up going for one about cultural conflict in the 1920s and one about political paranoia in the Cold War. I was able to write and write on both subjects, there were no points that I had to stop and think "oh God, what do I write now?!" so all in all I'm confident that I've passed and am now up to 40 credits towards my degree! (The first 20 credits being from a module that has no exam, though I'm yet to actually receive my average grade). I got home and we celebrated by having our friend Kathy come over - our Thursday night get-togethers have become somewhat of a tradition! - eating KFC, doing the Time Warp and booking tickets to see Rocky Horror Picture Show in Birmingham next January, as a bit of an impulse buy. I'm really looking forward to it, though Lord knows what we're going to do about childcare.

Today it's just more revision, really. I have a Women's History exam on Tuesday which I'm really looking forward to, and then Blood and Iron (origins of the first world war, essentially) which I'm not so much so need to really brush up. I've been watching Crash Course videos every day so I at least feel like I've got SOMETHING to say, and holla! I feel like I can finally explain the July Crisis.

On Saturday the 16th I'm having a tooth extracted by conscious sedation as it has crumbled away at the teeth on either side have already began to migrate together, making it a bit tricky to come out. And then my final two exams, Holocaust and then Kings and Confessions (all about early modern Europe) are the 18th and 19th. I'm a little worried about the little time available from the 16th to the 19th and how much pain I'll be in/how much I'll feel like studying so I really need to knuckle down and feel confident by Friday the 15th I think.

And then I'll be finished! 120 credits down, 240 to go! I'm not sure when we get our exam results, I'm really hoping not to have to do any re-sits - aside from the obvious, the re-sits are a couple of weeks before the wedding and it's the last thing I need to be worrying about while trying to plan our big day. Three months today, somehow. WHAT? 

This has been a ramble but I've got back in to reading blogs recently and it's been so nice to actually read proper lifestyle, not staged posts to see who can get the most hits and be the best 'brand'. So I thought I'd just throw in a bit of a ramble. I know I'll look back on exam madness and laugh. Or look back in 3rd year and cry into my dissertation, wishing for exams...

University.

Now that I'm happily back into my routine following Christmas, I thought I'd do a little post about my life at University. I've said I'm a student a handful of times, but haven't tended to talk much about what I'm actually studying.

I'm in the first year of a three year course, studying BA History. Within this course I take six modules. It's a lot more reading than many other courses, it sounds very factual and dry and while some of it is, there is actually a lot of room for light-hearted history! Many students take history as a joint-honours course, along with psychology or politics (or teaching, of course) and you can absolutely see why. Social history in particular is a great one for teaming up with psychology: how did people live? Why did that happen to that class, or sex, of person? I study everything from European conflicts and 18th century political groups, through to the definition and history of gender, witchcraft, and the psychology of ordinary Germans (or, more interestingly, Nazis) in Nazi Germany. All of this within the space of my first year.

This is a bit 'different' for the blogosphere, I get that. I get that most people will skip past this post because, hello, who is interested in simply hearing what somebody is studying at University? But I just thought I'd put it out there for anybody who is curious and, more importantly, anybody who is stuck thinking about what they want to do when they finish school.

In terms of job opportunities, they are endless with a history degree. It's one of those brilliant degrees that can get you jobs within many fields because of the basic skills you need to actually obtain a history degree. As for myself, I don't know what I want to do when I leave. Maybe something in an office. Maybe I'll work from home. Maybe head back into journalism. For now, I'm loving learning, loving the structure and believe it or not, even loving the 2000 word assignments that keep cropping up!

What are you studying, or what do you want to study? Did you use your degree? Let me know in the comments!