As a nostalgic final year, I have reminisced on my brilliant university experience over the past 4 years. It has led me to remember what expectations I, and many others presumably had, as a first year beginning University.
Expectation: I’m rich!
The student loan is a source of excitement particularly for prospective young fresher’s who imagine all the endless possibilities of their newly acquired ‘wealth’. But whilst the loan may be the most money you’ve had enter your current account, it certainly doesn’t stay there very long. Once you factor in rent, food, clothes and alcohol, you really don’t have much left for those not quite as essential items such as electric, gas, and toilet roll…
Expectation: Hey MTV, welcome to my crib!
Whilst you may expect to live in a nice house, the chances of that happening (especially in the Holylands) are pretty narrow. The slick pad you envisioned sharing with your friends will probably include mismatched furniture from the 80s, a shower with the force of a leaking tap, and a bedroom considerably disproportionate in size to the rest of the bedrooms – AKA “the box room”.
Suddenly, your home house feels like a palace in comparison, filled with luxuries such as in-date food, television, heat, and clean clothes! Which leads to the next expectation…
Expectation: I’m a strong independent university student.
Expecting to live self-sufficiently in your student house without regular visits home is a commonly misplaced expectation of university life. The reality is so, so different. Friday’s are typically when you go ‘home home’ to your family house, as opposed to ‘home’ which is your student house – get it? And if you’re lucky and have no classes on Fridays there is no doubt that you will be straight up the motorway on a Thursday evening. This is probably when you will beg kindly ask for money to get you through the following week when the loan has officially run its course… Whilst simultaneously raiding the cupboards for food to bring back to Belfast with you.
Expectation: Party every night woo!
The hopes of going out every single night are usually short-lived and by Thursday you’re more than ready to head home for a weekend of comforts.
Expectation: I’m going to cook all the time!
All the simple student cookbooks in the world will not encourage you to cook more than a maximum of 10 home-made meals in the duration of your first year. Instead you will have a vested interest in trying every takeaway available to you (provided they deliver – obviously). If you do decide to venture into the unknown that is cooking then you will probably whip up something like pasta, after sufficiently googling how to make it, of course.
Expectation: I will never miss a class.
Most of us probably told ourselves this at the beginning of University life, but in reality, it rarely happens. There will almost certainly be a day where you chose Netflix or drinks with your friends over class, and as a first year, no one can blame you for it!
Whilst university may not be entirely as you first expected, most would agree that it’s a brilliant, unforgettable experience that goes by in the blink of an eye. So embrace student life and enjoy it whilst you can, because the real world *shudders* is just around the corner!
Emma McVeigh is a final year BSc in Communication, Advertising and Marketing student at Ulster University. You can contact her on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-mcveigh-611462a4/ or on Twitter @emmamcveigh_