Tomorrow my world changes.

[Jjtricky]

First, I will say my piece. Then I will give the bit of discussion value. Everything I am about to say can be skipped if you do so wish.

In 25 hours I will be arriving at University. The place I am going starts stupidly late. Regardless, I am currently packing up all my stuff into a backpack and as many bags as I can physically carry. Then I head off into town to meet my sister who will help me get my stuff from there to the Uni I will be attending which is roughly an hour away by train plus another however long in a cab.

Once I get there there will be no turning back. Fees are being paid and stuff. I will be an hour by train plus another hour and a half on two buses away from my closest family member. Living with 7 strangers in a hall on a Campus university in a city I have only ever visited once (The open day for said University). Both of my parents are very, very ill and live thousands of miles away.

Every aspect of my world is about to be shattered. From my comfortable(ish) middle class lifestyle down to being on (Or beneath) the poverty line and trying to live on almost nothing. From the friends I have built up over the last year (I moved a lot throughout my childhood and up till my very late teens) down to the very city I will live in.

Tomorrow my world changes. I am both terrified and excited beyond belief. For my sins I will be getting to Uni about 2 years later than most, the next three to five to nine years of my life are apparently the "Best years of your life" (Three for Bachelors, up to five if I manage to get a funded MA and up to nine if I managed to get a funded PhD).

I am standing on the precipice of a major life change. And it feels wonderful.

So! The bit of discussion value! (Bar people just saying "You will be fine, Uni is awesome!") what major life decisions changes have you made? Have you ever stood on such a precipice, with the rest of your life infront of you? How did it feel when you first went to University or, for the younglings, first went to college?

I guess that is discussion value. I will be honest, I am procrastinating instead of packing and just wanted to throw a few thoughts and feelings out to the ravenous dogs of the internet to get a few things off my chest.

Quick Edit: Noticed a few of you lot think this is my first time away from home. Nothing wrong with that, it is the obvious thing to think. I have not lived with my parents since I was 16 and got sent to something similar to a boarding school. Been living by myself or with my sisters since I turned 18 and am heading off to Uni aged 20.

What university are you going to?

OT: Wow, the ill parents must make it harder because you have less people to talk to and be your safety blanket if something goes wrong, that sucks. I am in the same boat - I barely "visited" my city. I will relay advice I have been getting:

"Everyone is in the same boat"

Not helping though...

 

[cswurt]

It's only as big of a change to your life as you make it.

For me, nothing substantial changed.

Went from going to school all day... to going to school all day while living in a dorm.

Same thing. All your classmates are in the same situation.

After 4 (or more) years, it'll be done. You'll probably move back in with your parents after failing to find a job that you can actually apply your education to and work at Wal-Mart for about a year while you continue your job search.

Then you'll finally find a job that pays much less than you expected. You'll probably discover very quickly how badly it sucks and you'll rue the day you decided to get a degree in this field.

But you'll be stuck. Up to your nips in debt, you dare not start over again. You'll live in mediocrity, never fulfilling your ambitions, day in and day out until your body has the decency to stop functioning.


...


And you might produce a few offspring along the way, so they can start the same cycle themselves.
Circle of life.

 

[Easton Dark]

Why are you... dramatizing it so much? You're moving, big deal. I took my stuff, and put it in my room here, and that was it. My life's still the same, only I don't have my family in the next room over.

 

[Mr F.]

*SNIP*

What university are you going to?

OT: Wow, the ill parents must make it harder because you have less people to talk to and be your safety blanket if something goes wrong, that sucks. I am in the same boat - I barely "visited" my city. I will relay advice I have been getting:

"Everyone is in the same boat"

Not helping though...

Lancaster. Apparently it is the best Uni in the north for my chosen subject and one of the top ten in the country. At least according to their promotional material.

Man, its 11pm and I have barely started packing. Just been procrastinating all bloody day.

The ill parents is the thing I am worrying about the most. I mean, its been a tough year all around, I lost someone I loved a few months back and now it looks like I might be losing my dad in a few months. And being thrown into the deep end, being around totally new people...

Well, It will be better than being in the house I have been living in for the last two months. Been looking after the old family home as it gets done up, 2 months of being woken up at 7:30 and having nobody whatsoever to talk to has been utter hell. But the idea of getting to know new people and trying to make new friends, being able to manage 7 different relationships (Cause if I fuck it up with any of my flatmates my first year will be hell on earth) whilst I am grimly aware that at any point my father might die? I mean, the people I will be around will, hopefully, be kind and nice and whatnot. But how would you react if someone you had only known for a month or two was breaking down cause of the death of a parent?

Its grim and terrifying. But you know what? It is going to be the time of my gorram life. I aint like most students, I have already lived, already seen the world. I know what my plans are, I am certain of the path I want to take. That certainty gives me a hell of a lot of drive and vision, the ability to see that what is going on now does not really matter in the long term, that small things do not really matter. Sure, drugs and alcohol are fun, but with a total of 47,000 pounds of debt (In total) for a three year degree I cannot afford to mess it up with booze and green.

We are all in the same boat. And, as our (I suddenly assumed you were British, if not, apologies) wonderful conservative government says "We are all in this together". I wont be the only one who is hours away from their family, I wont be the only one worried about sick parents, I wont be the only one who doesn't think much of drink and drugs these days (Not that I do not enjoy a drink, I just dont like getting blasted every weekend. Or every month, for that matter). University is going to be full of kindred spirits and I will be able to finally be myself (For the first time in years.).

Sorry for the rant, its been a long day and I am hopped up on caffeine, fear and hope. Time for another smoke so I can cool down and get more packing done.

 

[unindexedsearchengine]

Well my life went through great changes very, very often. in my brief 16 yeas of existence, the longest i spent in any give place was 5 years. I have built proverbial bridges all my life, only to be forced into building another before i could walk across given bridge. Not once have i experienced lasting friendships or relationships.I have lived all over the globe, probably seen more then most others of this age, but i'd give it all up, because if left untended for too long, the proverbial bridges do collapse.

 

[lRookiel]

I'm starting uni and my parents keep pressing me to get a "social life".

- I don't like people
- I don't like going out
- I have great friends already

I start lectures next week, I'm going to university for a qualification, not to make friends...

Yes I am a miserable twat leave me alone.

 

[II2]

Going to University, hmm?

I was hoping thread would be more along the lines of:

"Tomorrow, I will be sky diving, nude, but for a parachute, into the churning waters of the pacific, with a communion of 10,000 micrograms of LSD, bringing my synapses to forge the all-path and summoning me forth in a baptism of adrenaline and salt water to the light of the nova dawn, seen for the first time with the opening of my third eye"

...

Anyway, buy your texts early, if you have a chance. Jostling with everyone else waiting in the bookstore is a *****.

 

[Idlemessiah]

Why are you... dramatizing it so much? You're moving, big deal. I took my stuff, and put it in my room here, and that was it. My life's still the same, only I don't have my family in the next room over.

Yeah thats pretty much how I dealt with moving to uni. The "My stuff is here so this is my home." attitude worked out pretty well. And the internet always helps you keep in contact with people back home, just sayin.

 

[Mr F.]

Why are you... dramatizing it so much? You're moving, big deal. I took my stuff, and put it in my room here, and that was it. My life's still the same, only I don't have my family in the next room over.

Cause I am going to be living alone in somewhere totally and utterly new, away from anyone who I know, with sick parents, after four long years of messing things up are rebuilding my life. Like I said in the OP, it was more of a self-centered "Get shit off my chest" rant than an attempt to try and make this sound like the biggest thing ever.

Although, arguably, it is the biggest step I have taken in my life. I am getting in not cause of my parents, not cause of my schooling but because I chose to. My place was given to me because of the sweat upon my brow, through saving, scraping, living rough and managing to sort things out after an interesting life, to say the least.

Its a lot more to me than just moving and putting my stuff in a different room. A hell of a lot more then that. Uni represents the rest of my life, my chance to begin again, my chance to finally sort shit out and be happy.

I know it is not a big thing to most people, but it is one hell of a big thing to me. For you maybe Uni was just a case of "I no longer live with my parents, nothing has changed". For me it is something different, very different, the chance to fix things after fucking everything up and then starting again.

 

[Jjtricky]

*SNIP*

What university are you going to?

OT: Wow, the ill parents must make it harder because you have less people to talk to and be your safety blanket if something goes wrong, that sucks. I am in the same boat - I barely "visited" my city. I will relay advice I have been getting:

"Everyone is in the same boat"

Not helping though...

Man, its 11pm and I have barely started packing. Just been procrastinating all bloody day.

You've started packing...?

DAMN!! I KNEW I HAD SOMETHING TO DO TODAY!! MY TV DOESN'T FIT INTO MY SUITCASE DAMN IT!

Seriously, I don't even know if I have a suitcase, so this should give you some perspective

We are all in the same boat. And, as our (I suddenly assumed you were British, if not, apologies) wonderful conservative government says "We are all in this together". I wont be the only one who is hours away from their family, I wont be the only one worried about sick parents, I wont be the only one who doesn't think much of drink and drugs these days (Not that I do not enjoy a drink, I just dont like getting blasted every weekend. Or every month, for that matter). University is going to be full of kindred spirits and I will be able to finally be myself (For the first time in years.).

Yeah, yeah that is the optimistic way of looking at it. I think of it like everyone is in the same boat at the start, but people quickly get on lifeboats and sail away, leaving you on that boat.

 

[Korolev]

Never had to really make any fundamental adjustments to my life. I happen to live very close to a very good university - which I got into. I still live with my parents, in my same old room. And I'm happy for that. My life, really, hasn't changed at all for as long as I've lived it.

Unfortunately, that will have to change since I signed a BMP agreement - this means that Mr. Federal Government of Australia funds my medical education, and in return I have to give 4~5 years of government service in a rural town any where in Australia. Not my idea of a fun time.

On the other hand, it does guarantee me a job when I graduate. And rural experience is actually sought after in hospitals.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

When I first went to University it felt as if I was leaving an era in my life. I had to learn a bunch of things I had taken for granted. It's a shame you can't pack a mother along with your stuff because washing clothes, dishes, feeding yourself... It takes time!

Besides that however I got into the rhythm of school (and got used to the feeling of being perpetually broke) and got by with friends, video games and music. I grew to love it and I miss it everyday I wait to go back.

Best of luck to you. Its not Highschool and you will have to go some nights without sleep if you have a work ethic like mine but its ultimately very rewarding.

Protip: Force yourself to give up your online activities if you have a lot of schoolwork to do.

 

[Risingblade]

Meh I didn't really care when I went to college...oh god I should have cared.

 

[Mr F.]

*SNIP*

What university are you going to?

OT: Wow, the ill parents must make it harder because you have less people to talk to and be your safety blanket if something goes wrong, that sucks. I am in the same boat - I barely "visited" my city. I will relay advice I have been getting:

"Everyone is in the same boat"

Not helping though...

Man, its 11pm and I have barely started packing. Just been procrastinating all bloody day.

You've started packing...?

DAMN!! I KNEW I HAD SOMETHING TO DO TODAY!! MY TV DOESN'T FIT INTO MY SUITCASE DAMN IT!

Seriously, I don't even know if I have a suitcase, so this should give you some perspective

We are all in the same boat. And, as our (I suddenly assumed you were British, if not, apologies) wonderful conservative government says "We are all in this together". I wont be the only one who is hours away from their family, I wont be the only one worried about sick parents, I wont be the only one who doesn't think much of drink and drugs these days (Not that I do not enjoy a drink, I just dont like getting blasted every weekend. Or every month, for that matter). University is going to be full of kindred spirits and I will be able to finally be myself (For the first time in years.).

Yeah, yeah that is the optimistic way of looking at it. I think of it like everyone is in the same boat at the start, but people quickly get on lifeboats and sail away, leaving you on that boat.

Hey, the overwhelmed and terrified boat is the BEST BOAT THERE IS AND I WILL HEAR NOTHING AGAINST IT xD. That way you can make friends with all of the other missfits who couldn't make it to the original lifeboats. And then you can sail around in your REAL boat and not a crappy inflatable boat. Ok, this metaphor is getting tired but still.

Its 7:50. I have another 4 hours to sort out everything. Maybe got four hours sleep. Man, shit would be so much easier if I had a car. Or did not live alone and had someone who could help me. Heh.

Four hours till I start travelling. 8 hours (Thereabouts) till I get to Uni. I cannot fucking wait.

 

[DugMachine]

No big life changes yet. I hope to move sometime within a year or two when I've saved up enough money as well as finishing college.

 

[Nickolai77]

*snip*

I'm going to Lancaster tomorrow to start my masters course, having studied there for the past three years as an undergraduate, so i'll give my two cents about the place. I'm sorry to hear about your parents illness btw, i recommend you make that known when you are assigned a personal tutor- and heck if it gets bad you could even see a counselor free of charge.

I don't know what you're studying and what your interests are, but i'd recommend joining a society or two at the Freshers Fair because a strong point for Lancaster is it's diverse array of societies. Some of them will want to sign you up as a member and have you pay a membership fee- but personally i reckon you could simply ask them when and where their first social is- go to a couple of those first, see if you settle in, and then only pay if you fit in. Might save you a few quid. But still, in the unlikely event that you don't get on with your flatmates in freshers, you can find friends through societies instead.

Do a few extra curricular activities as well, not only to improve your CV but also to do something interesting that you wouldn't normally be able to do. I did tour-guiding, worked on the university newspaper SCAN and tried to learn a new language. If you're focused on getting a good CV you can sign up for the Lancaster Award- because in order to get it you have to do extra-curricular activities and it serves as a good motivator, and it gives you some idea as to how the graduate recruitment process works after university.

Personally the most challenging aspect i found about Freshers Week was socialising with people who you've only just met so i got quite home-sick- not sick for home itself but for my friends who i've known all through high school, i felt like i was purely in the company of strangers. This may or may not bother you i don't know, but i think it helps to remember that practically every Fresher get's home-sick.

Finally, as other posters have said- get a right balance between work and socialising- but in Freshers remember to be especially open and friendly to other Freshers. They may become your life-long friend or you may never see them again, but basically i think the more acquaintances you make the better position you are to fall into the best friendships.


To relation your discussion topic, i too am obviously standing on a pinnacle as well. I studied History and International Relations as an undergraduate and now i'm going to be doing an MSc in Management, something that's going to catapult my life in a whole new unseen direction. I'm under no illusions it's going to be hard, but my anxiety is just how hard is it going to be and will i still have time for my old friends and making new ones on the course? I don't think there is anyone here who can answer that for me so i'll have to find out for myself.

I plan on taking things very easy today, being my last day at home. Obviously i've got packing and some chores to do, but it's a sobering thought to think i won't have as much free time as i've had this summer ever again- at least until i've retired perhaps.

 

[Xaio30]

I had to move to my own apartment at the age of 17.
I had never bought any food, kept a home clean, laundered my clothes before that or lived totally alone.

Routines is a big part of my life, so learning all these new things as such a short notice was a shock to me,
but it made me a stronger, more independent person.

Though it was hard at the time I will never regret it.

 

[Mr F.]

*snip*

*SNIP*/quote]

Cheers for the advice and encouragement. Your degree(s) sound rather interesting IMO, coming from the academic family I came from it was hard for me to settle down. Being interested in history, psychology, politics, geography, I eventually boiled everything down to Sociology with Media and Cultural Studies + Politics as minors.

Not long now till I get my move on.

As for societies? Being the power-geek that I am and what with my love of walking I am going to be joining the hiking soc (My sister had a blast at Manchester's hiking soc) and attempt to find some LARPER's, people who need a DM or Wargamers. That lot is definite, dunno what else I would be interested in but I just have to wait for the freshers fair. Been to one once, on the other side of it (We were not supposed to be there, it was in Cambs and the security was lax. We snuck in with a table, set it up and tried to recruit people into the Young Socialists. Got a few signs, it was one of my better initiatives)

Both the Lancaster Award and the newspaper sound rather interesting, I did write for a newspaper for a while. Both the YS paper (Not as juvenile as it sounds, it gets sold to quite a few people. Small circulation, not for profit, hated writing for it because my articles were edited to make sure they fit the party line. But still, it was an experience.) and the student paper back at college. Cheers for that advice.

God, so much more to do. I should stop procrastinating and get going!

 

[Nickolai77]

As for societies? Being the power-geek that I am and what with my love of walking I am going to be joining the hiking soc (My sister had a blast at Manchester's hiking soc) and attempt to find some LARPER's, people who need a DM or Wargamers. That lot is definite, dunno what else I would be interested in but I just have to wait for the freshers fair. Been to one once, on the other side of it (We were not supposed to be there, it was in Cambs and the security was lax. We snuck in with a table, set it up and tried to recruit people into the Young Socialists. Got a few signs, it was one of my better initiatives)

Both the Lancaster Award and the newspaper sound rather interesting, I did write for a newspaper for a while. Both the YS paper (Not as juvenile as it sounds, it gets sold to quite a few people. Small circulation, not for profit, hated writing for it because my articles were edited to make sure they fit the party line. But still, it was an experience.) and the student paper back at college. Cheers for that advice.

God, so much more to do. I should stop procrastinating and get going!

There defiantly is a sizeable LARPER society in Lancaster i can tell you that because they are quite well known. There also appears to be a historical re-enactment society which i will investigate once i get there. Give SCAN a shot as well, i used to edit the Features section of that paper and i can say we were fairly lenient on letting people express their opinions on there so you might like to write some uncensored articles. If politics and socialism is your thing, SCAN Comment the section for you.

 

[Mr F.]

As for societies? Being the power-geek that I am and what with my love of walking I am going to be joining the hiking soc (My sister had a blast at Manchester's hiking soc) and attempt to find some LARPER's, people who need a DM or Wargamers. That lot is definite, dunno what else I would be interested in but I just have to wait for the freshers fair. Been to one once, on the other side of it (We were not supposed to be there, it was in Cambs and the security was lax. We snuck in with a table, set it up and tried to recruit people into the Young Socialists. Got a few signs, it was one of my better initiatives)

Both the Lancaster Award and the newspaper sound rather interesting, I did write for a newspaper for a while. Both the YS paper (Not as juvenile as it sounds, it gets sold to quite a few people. Small circulation, not for profit, hated writing for it because my articles were edited to make sure they fit the party line. But still, it was an experience.) and the student paper back at college. Cheers for that advice.

God, so much more to do. I should stop procrastinating and get going!

There defiantly is a sizeable LARPER society in Lancaster i can tell you that because they are quite well known. There also appears to be a historical re-enactment society which i will investigate once i get there. Give SCAN a shot as well, i used to edit the Features section of that paper and i can say we were fairly lenient on letting people express their opinions on there so you might like to write some uncensored articles. If politics and socialism is your thing, SCAN Comment the section for you.

The only thing I dont like about Lancaster right now is how apolitical their union seems to be. The brochure I was given was all about starting up a business and stuff like that, not enough about giving the Tories what for and yelling very loudly about the rise in student fees. Read it at my open day just before chatting to the man I later found out was head of department. I jokily said that I would get them marching within a year, he encouraged me to do so.

Yeah, I saw some of the Larpers on my open day. It is the sort of stuff I like. Walk up a hill and beat the crap out of each other with foam weaponry? What is NOT to love! I didn't know there was a historical re-enactment society, that does sound interesting. Although I wonder if they are more medieval rather than 17th century, which is much more my thang.

And politics is most certainly my thing. My spare time is consumed by rabidly reading everything from the Daily Mail (Chips give you Cancer! Or was that the express? It was this week anyway) to the Guardian, with light spatterings of Private Eye and blogs. Again, double cheers for pointing me towards SCAN, I will most certainly look it up.

As for writing for a censored paper? It was rather... Interesting. An intriguing intellectual experience. The best example I can come up with is my coverage of the Tuition Fees/Welfare Cuts protests outside Senate House in Cambs. Most of my article remained in tact, the only bits that were removed were things like a glass bottle being thrown at the police, the fact that they were pushed up against a wall and outnumbered to the tune of 50 to 1 prior to drawing batons. Strangely they did leave my coverage of a 15 year old girl getting hit so hard she could not walk.

Writing for that paper, essentially writing Lefty propaganda (Every article had to end with how the problem could be solved by Socialist government or why the good thing was due to the Socialist movement) is what got me interested in Media and Cultural studies though. So it was not purely an intellectual exercise.