First blog with no idea where to start, but here we go.
Growing up, there was no pressure on me at all to go to university as nobody else in my family had decided to do it, and they all turned out OK (well, as far as OK can go).In school I was SET for going to university, but then again, I done no work for my school work, probably not the best idea when I actually wanted to be a nurse. I know what your thinking, ‘if she wanted to be a nurse, how the hell is she a final year student in CMPR?’
Lets go back to the start, firstly, I would highly advise anyone who wants to do what they want to do for the rest of your lives, pick A-level subjects you actually enjoy, that was my BIGGEST regret. That’s just the start, I chose to study biology, home economics and sport for my A-Level subjects, understandable that you don’t care about that. But how long did I actually last at them subjects? Actually the whole year, I know, SHOCK!! But did I do well? Absolutely not. This set me back a whole year, making me doubt whether or not I wanted to attend university as all of my friends were going to be there one year longer than me.
Believe it or not, because of this reason I considered continuing doing the subjects id hated and failed just to keep up with my friends. Idiotic idea, I know. The only perk of going back to repeat the year for me was that I would be able to go visit my friends all the time and get a few days in the Holylands like a legend!
Thankfully with the persuasion of my mum and the fact I wasn’t the only one going back and changing my subjects, I decided to go back and repeat. After the two years, I was completely motivated to pursue my dream career as a children’s nurse. Then came the interviews. Wow. Them interviews really was the end of that dream for me.
Believe me, I was more than disappointed in myself for not getting past the interview stage as in my eyes I had done everything I could. This completely knocked my confidence. I had convinced myself I wasn’t good enough. Not just for nursing but for every course.
After school ended and I got my results (good results they were), I decided it was best to take a year out from education. I expected to do so many things in that year out, go travelling, get a job that id get good experience from, maybe even move away. But did I do any of the things I wanted to do? No. I was working in a dead-end part time job, didn’t leave Ireland, (apart from going on a two-week girl’s holiday – would not recommend.) But did I want to apply for university again? Definitely not, and this was all because I wasn’t accepted into what I wanted to do first time round. The only good thing to come out of that year out, was the new friends I had made, friends for life (cringe)!
But one night, (two nights before UCAS deadline, I know, panic time) my friends mum (shoutout to Christina McCann), persuaded me to apply to CMPR because she knew how I felt about advertising and the way companies go about marketing.
Along came the day, I got accepted into the course. The joy I felt was crazy!! All I could think of was getting a house with the girls and freshers, just as every fresher student would think of! (Coming from a 22 year old final year student, who has been attending freshers from a young age, they get boring. Sorry to disappoint).
As months went on, semester merged into semester, I was really just going to university to keep up my attendance, every lecture was going in one ear and out the other. I left every assignment to the last minute and decided to start revising the night before each exam. I thought this was normal, all my friends done it too. It was not normal.
Doing this put me in the horrors of all horrors. I’ve always said I work really well under pressure. But doing a university assignment the night before its due really is pressure I’ve never experienced. (I swear I’m not writing this the night before.) Bare in mind I got through the first two years doing this and here I am sitting in final year trying to figure out what to do my dissertation on..
This blog isn’t just my story on my experience on my university life. I will swiftly move on to living that amazing student life that everyone dreams off, including myself. I thought moving out of my home house during the week would be the most amazing thing. That me and my friends were going to be living our best lives in Belfast, going out every night of the week. But I never thought far enough into it. I never thought about the bills id have to pay, the rent I had to pay monthly, that it would get really, really cold in the Holylands when it snows or the fact that I would had to feed myself.
Within the first month of first year my little bubble popped. I had spent most of my student loan from going out, eating out and continued to block out the fact that I had debts of rent to pay. Finally, first semester ended, and I could go home for Christmas, bare in mind I didn’t drive in first year so I had to stay down until one of my friends were driving home each week even if I didn’t have class.
Me and the girls living our best lives!! **NOTE – Hole in the roof, oops**
Felt like years before second semester ended and I couldn’t have been happier. Especially after having a rough encounter with mice in our house and living in the library before exams.
Second year came, and I don’t know why I thought it would be any different to first year. In first semester, I done exactly what I done first year. Partied my life away the same way any normal student would. After this, the friends I lived with began to one by one drop out of living in the house. There I was all alone. I had never experienced anything like this in my life. I hated living in Belfast this way without anyone in the house and having the fear of god in me every-time I heard a noise in the back yard. February came and I took the plunge to move out of the house. It was the best thing I have ever done. I finally started to actually focus on my university work for the first time in the two years.
I thought I was ready to do the student life as I was always up for a night out at home, but it gets boring after a while when your doing it every night every week for 24 weeks of the year.
Was I ready for University? Yes.
Was I ready for the student life? No.
Do I regret any of it? Absolutely not! It was a learning curve if anything.
Anyway, back to the dissertation I go…
Emma Murphy is a final year Bsc in Communication Management and Public Relations student at Ulster University. She can be found at: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-murphy-bbb628196/ , and Twitter – @EmmaMurphy97