Hey lovelies,
This summer, it will be 2 years since I graduated from university! It's gone by fast, really fast. But it also seems like a lifetime ago. Uni really was the hardest, strangest, most challenging few years of my life, but I also had a lot of fun. And while I didn't go through university during a global pandemic, hopefully my pearls of wisdom will help some of you that are, and some that will be going through it (minus the global pandemic, fingers crossed) in the future.
Here are 5 things that I learnt during those three challenging, life-changing years.
#1: How to make friends
#2: How to make a meal out of anything
There will be times that your fridge is stocked, but there will also be times when you spent your weekly food budget on cheap (or not so cheap) booze. It's times like these that you discover you're the next Gordon Ramsey, if all Gordon Ramsey had to work with was half an onion, a tin of tuna, some pasta, and some frozen chicken nuggets. Seriously, some of the 'meals' I'd rustle up at uni were made out of the strangest combination of ingredients that just hadn't gone out of date yet. But you learn how to make them work and you learn how to make them yummy.
#3: How to live without your parents
Most people learn to function like a semi-normal human adult whilst at uni. You have to do your own cooking, washing up and laundry, whilst balancing your uni work and a social life. You really learn, or at least start to learn) how to get your sh*t together when you can't rely on mum or dad to do it for you.
#4: You will never - EVER - feel 100% well again
Whether it be fresher's flu, a hangover, or just the common cold, it is not long before you learn that you will constantly feel a bit unwell for the rest of your life. Mixing with huge numbers of people you've never met before is always going to be a breeding ground for germs, and that constant state of feeling 'a bit ill' never quite goes away.
#5: You are SO far away from being a grown-up
Sure, you know how to do your own laundry, but that doesn't stop you from bringing a bag of it home with you when you return for the holidays. You really start to appreciate what your parents did for you before you moved out. But it is actually those times that you are messing around and having fun with your housemates, acting like children, that you realise just how far you are from feeling like a 'grown-up'. And that's OK.
You learn a lot of things at university besides the content of your degree, but the learning doesn't stop once you graduate. Nope, every day is a school day. Here are 5 things that I have learnt since graduating in 2019.
#1: A degree does NOT equal a job
Sure, when school was selling you on applying to uni, they made it sound easy. Just go to uni to get a better job, right? Wrong. There are so many graduates that are in the same position as you. Did the same degree. Have the same (or better) grades. Unfortunately, just graduating from university doesn't guarantee you a job. But that's all part of the process. It's OK to not have your dream at your dream company lined up for a week after you graduate. You'll get there!
#2: No one really knows what they're doing
It's not the end of the world to have completed your degree and still not really know what you want to do with your life. It's good to have some direction, but as long as you're not just sat around, deliberately scavenging off of your parents for ages - you're doing fine. I used to look up to twenty-somethings when I was younger, excited for when I was an adult with it all figured out. But no one has their life that put together - especially not in their early twenties. You never know what's going to happen - if 2020 taught us anything, it's that.
#3 Sleep is much more necessary now than at university
Those days where you could pull an all-nighter writing an essay and still be up for a night out the following evening are over my friend. I don't know whether it is because of full-time work, or whether it's just the endless sleepless nights at uni finally catching up with you, but sleep, and coffee, will be your new best friends.
#4: You won't be friends with everyone forever
You know those friendships I spoke about earlier? Some of these friends will be life-long, Maid of Honour at your wedding, God Mother to your children kind of friends, and that's great. But a lot of the people that you meet at university, you'll never speak to again - or you speak once a month for the first few months and keep vowing to 'meet up for coffee' before eventually realising that it's been years since you last had a conversation. And that's OK too. Not everyone you meet at uni will be in your life forever. But the best ones will.
#5: A lot of the time, it's not what you know, it's who you know
So network, network, network! As I said earlier, there will be hundreds, if not thousands of other graduates with the same grades as you looking for a job in the same field. It's so important to get your foot in the door of your dream industry. Use LinkedIn, go to events (when they're running again), and make friends with other people in the industry. I know so many people who have managed to get an entry route into their dream career because they met the right person, or because their friends with someone who knows the right person. It could really help!
What are some things that you've learnt since leaving university? Are they similar to the lessons that you learnt whilst there?
With love, Chloe x
No comments