University Thread

[yojimbo]

La-li-ho

I thought we could do with a HIGHER EDUCATION thread. Anything university related could go in here. Although I’m not sure how many of you actually are at or have been to university, this could last a couple of pages and then sink like a stone.

I’m leaving in about 5/6 weeks and I feel..nothing. It’s very disappointing. I’m oddly indifferent about it. Anyone else going and feeling the same, or are you terrified like I feel I should be? Perhaps I’m not because I don’t feel university is much of a change socially for me. I’m of a very lone wolf mentality…which makes me sound like a twat, but what I mean is, I don’t feel an overwhelming need for friendly support once I get there, so I doubt I’ll be clinging to people.

If you’re at or have been to university, how did your first term work out? Was it a nightmare? Because we like hearing those kinds of stories. I know of many people who’ve survived as little as two weeks and then retreated back to their parents. But then these are islanders I’m talking about, they don’t function properly in city environments.

Also,

Does the idea of freshers week unnerve anyone else here? Everyone else I know has been discussing it as though it’s some kind of highlight of the year, what with all the certain events they put on, live music an’ all that shiz. I think they may be a tad deluded, and I think I may adventure into London and avoid all the organised social events *shudder* I hate people trying to make things easier for me. How dare they.

[yojimbo]

Perhaps I should have made this the 'education' thread. Oh well.

[Rebekah]

My first week of college/university/whateveryou'dliketocallit was marked by hiding in my room, mostly. There were lots of student life things going on on campus I guess, and Freshmen Orientation stuff.. But I soooo did not want to take part. I faked being ill for one event, because I felt bad just saying plain "NO!" Whoops.

It took me awhile to get out and actually meet people. But it can be done!

My first semester wasn't so bad. The first night in my dorm, though.. was probably the most depressing moment of my life. I moved in before any of my friends, and my roommate had disappeared on me to go get a tattoo. I didn't have an ethernet cord for the Internet yet... Annnnd, I didn't know how to use my meal plan (which turned out to be so easy, I wanted to cry.) So, I made myself a peanut butter sandwich in my room, read a book, and likely went to bed at about 10 at night. It was ridiculously pathetic. :-\

It's okay to feel indifferent at this stage. You're still a bit away! I'm going into my first senior year, and I still get a flutter of nervousness and excitement. But then, I start classes in two weeks. Agh! Advanced Calculus is not going to be my friend.

[abolishconfusion]

I haven't applied for uni yet... looks like I'm on a gap year then I suppose.

[Deleted]

teneraestnox said:

My first week of college/university/whateveryou'dliketocallit was marked by hiding in my room, mostly. There were lots of student life things going on on campus I guess, and Freshmen Orientation stuff.. But I soooo did not want to take part. I faked being ill for one event, because I felt bad just saying plain "NO!" Whoops.

That was me an'all. I don't especially like people and having to meet new folk makes me DIE, literally, and as such, I never did anything during Freshers' Week. That, added to the fact that I had to move back out of my room and go home for 2 weeks - because most of the wall was covered in damp and mould (and the sloped ceiling was gaping) - so it could be cleaned up and repaired, meant I never really got an established set of mates. I do prefer my own company, but sometimes I wish I'd been more confident.

I partially blame my parents for emotionally blackmailing me into going to a uni that's near where I live. I think if I'd gone to one that was further away - my original choice was Exeter - I'd have done a lot better.

I'm just about to start my last year, and I couldn't care less. I don't like the course and I'm fed up with the piss poor way in which the uni is run. I've hated every moment of university and I wonder if it'll all be worth it after it's over.

[yojimbo]

teneraestnox said:

My first week of college/university/whateveryou'dliketocallit was marked by hiding in my room, mostly. There were lots of student life things going on on campus I guess, and Freshmen Orientation stuff.. But I soooo did not want to take part. I faked being ill for one event, because I felt bad just saying plain "NO!" Whoops.

It took me awhile to get out and actually meet people. But it can be done!

My first semester wasn't so bad. The first night in my dorm, though.. was probably the most depressing moment of my life. I moved in before any of my friends, and my roommate had disappeared on me to go get a tattoo. I didn't have an ethernet cord for the Internet yet... Annnnd, I didn't know how to use my meal plan (which turned out to be so easy, I wanted to cry.) So, I made myself a peanut butter sandwich in my room, read a book, and likely went to bed at about 10 at night. It was ridiculously pathetic. :-\

It's okay to feel indifferent at this stage. You're still a bit away! I'm going into my first senior year, and I still get a flutter of nervousness and excitement. But then, I start classes in two weeks. Agh! Advanced Calculus is not going to be my friend.

What's pathetic about a peanut butter sandwich for dinner and bed at 10?
I can picture myself in the same position. Although probably not so depressed about it. The lack of internet would be fatal though.

When did it get better for you?

[yojimbo]

sahara said:

teneraestnox said:

My first week of college/university/whateveryou'dliketocallit was marked by hiding in my room, mostly. There were lots of student life things going on on campus I guess, and Freshmen Orientation stuff.. But I soooo did not want to take part. I faked being ill for one event, because I felt bad just saying plain "NO!" Whoops.

That was me an'all. I don't especially like people and having to meet new folk makes me DIE, literally, and as such, I never did anything during Freshers' Week. That, added to the fact that I had to move back out of my room and go home for 2 weeks - because most of the wall was covered in damp and mould (and the sloped ceiling was gaping) - so it could be cleaned up and repaired, meant I never really got an established set of mates. I do prefer my own company, but sometimes I wish I'd been more confident.

I partially blame my parents for emotionally blackmailing me into going to a uni that's near where I live. I think if I'd gone to one that was further away - my original choice was Exeter - I'd have done a lot better.

I'm just about to start my last year, and I couldn't care less. I don't like the course and I'm fed up with the piss poor way in which the uni is run. I've hated every moment of university and I wonder if it'll all be worth it after it's over.

Bah! We're all antisocial weirdos in here.

I don't often hear stories that are that negative. You should rant more, as I'd like to hear it. ;D

What university are you at now, what course are you doing?

[Deleted]

yojimbo said:

sahara said:

That was me an'all. I don't especially like people and having to meet new folk makes me DIE, literally, and as such, I never did anything during Freshers' Week. That, added to the fact that I had to move back out of my room and go home for 2 weeks - because most of the wall was covered in damp and mould (and the sloped ceiling was gaping) - so it could be cleaned up and repaired, meant I never really got an established set of mates. I do prefer my own company, but sometimes I wish I'd been more confident.

I partially blame my parents for emotionally blackmailing me into going to a uni that's near where I live. I think if I'd gone to one that was further away - my original choice was Exeter - I'd have done a lot better.

I'm just about to start my last year, and I couldn't care less. I don't like the course and I'm fed up with the piss poor way in which the uni is run. I've hated every moment of university and I wonder if it'll all be worth it after it's over.

Bah! We're all antisocial weirdos in here.

I don't often hear stories that are that negative. You should rant more, as I'd like to hear it. ;D

What university are you at now, what course are you doing?

I'm full of rants. Don't get me started on people who don't know what's in Brazil-nut crunch ice-cream.

I'm at Royal Holloway (part of the University Of London) in Egham, studying English. To be fair, I enjoy a lot of the critical theory studies - Lacan, Freud, Kierkegaard, etc - but...I dunno. I was diagnosed with depression during my first year - whether it was partly caused by uni or it just made uni worse, I don't know, but either way it was a lot more difficult to enjoy myself. I got distracted by a lot of silly things (namely, a boy), and it's mostly my own fault.

Maybe I picked the wrong course...I'd like to go to a different uni in a few years time and do classics or ancient history.

[Rebekah]

yojimbo said:

What's pathetic about a peanut butter sandwich for dinner and bed at 10?
I can picture myself in the same position. Although probably not so depressed about it. The lack of internet would be fatal though.

When did it get better for you?

Haha, well, I don't usually go to bed until 12 or so. It was just really early to go, and I was all aloooone. I was sad.

Uhm, it did get better once my friends arrived, and I learned how to use my meal plan... But maybe once the semester really got started, and I met some people in my building. I had lots of friends freshmen year from where I lived. We've since drifted, though. But it was fun then.

[stentorsrevenge]

I was honestly thinking about starting this same thread earlier today. I'm leaving in fewer than two weeks. I'm going to college in New York City... I come from a small town, so it's going to be a huge change for me. At first I was slightly nostalgic, but mostly indifferent. Now, however, I am itching to leave this terrible place. I feel so lost in this place where I don't belong. I don't expect to have a whole bunch of friends in college, but I do want to meet a few people. I'm tired of the loneliness of this place.

[youhippy]

i'll be living at home my first year not sure how thats gonna impact on the making friends front. I'm planning on lots of big hats and headphones and massive facially obscuring books. God we're all such hermits!

[bridgetbegins]

stentorsrevenge said:

I was honestly thinking about starting this same thread earlier today. I'm leaving in fewer than two weeks. I'm going to college in New York City... I come from a small town, so it's going to be a huge change for me. At first I was slightly nostalgic, but mostly indifferent. Now, however, I am itching to leave this terrible place. I feel so lost in this place where I don't belong. I don't expect to have a whole bunch of friends in college, but I do want to meet a few people. I'm tired of the loneliness of this place.

Which school are you going to in NYC? I have plans to do my undergrad (in my dreams) at NYU with a double major in social services/business/minor in pre-med...

[allison]

I think I'm going to start University/College this fall (as in August 23rd) at San Francisco State. But its actually all still up in the air.

I hate school, I love to learn but I hate the way school works. So I half failed out, half dropped out of high school in January and that has kind of fucked up my hopes of a proper college. And I was fine with it all. Until the other day I was going to check out a truck I was considering buying and be a nomad instead of going to college but the guy who was selling the truck and I got to talking and he was this pathetic middle aged guy who never when to college and lived with his mother and I had this vision of myself as a failed 30 year old with no job and no money and no talents and no hope and I had a minor freakout but luckily my mother has been doing all this college stuff behind my back (or rather I've known about it but every time she's brought it up I've yelled at her and stomped my foot and ran away) so at the moment SF State is processing my pathetic transcript and I've signed up for some shitty classes. If they decide to let me in I'll go, if they don't I'll probably go back and buy that pick up and see what happens.

And I'm kind of worried that I'll fuck college up too, but it'll be even worse cause I'm actually paying for this. And I'm living in a four person dorm on campus. Which is a plus for the social benefits but sometimes I need to lock myself in a room by myself for a week and that won't really be possible. I've also got Crazy Mental Problems and I don't know how well that part of me will deal with college/dorm life.

Anyway, I think the way I feel is like Meursault from The Stranger. But maybe my saying that makes the statement false. Either way, I haven't even thought about it to see if it's actually truly how I feel. post reply...

[mimicry]

I'm moving back to school on the 25th! I'll be going into my sophomore year.

First semester last year was... um... well, my group of friends (which are the people who I am going to be living with this year, mind you) came together because we were all united with the same fear of eating in the dining hall without anyone else. They're lovely people, don't get me wrong, but I don't really think I have a single friend who really gets me or my interests. Sometimes I'd rather just draw in the graveyard or sit by the river than hang out with people who look at me oddly when I tell them that The Notebook is one of the most awful films ever created. Sometimes I honestly hate being around other people. This one guy I know once accused me of holing up in my dorm room all day and not socializing. Completely untrue because one, I spent most of my time in the humanities building working on my art projects; and two, there is nothing wrong with being unsociable. I just recommend befriending other unsociable people so you can all not hang out together.

But speaking of horror stories, I have some mild ones about my former roommate...

[Rebekah]

mimicry said:

I just recommend befriending other unsociable people so you can all not hang out together.

This is my roommate/bestfriend and I. Well, I am more unsociable than her, I think. But like, this will be my third year living with her. Mostly, we sit in our rooms on our computers and go about our own business unless we feel like actually interacting. At least we can both agree that I have excellent music taste, and she doesn't make me put on my headphones. This is brilliant, as headphones give me headaches.

Freshmen year I had two different roommates. Each of them an... interesting experience. And/or horrifying.

[Lawrence]

I plan to go to the university of surrey, and if I dont get in... asda for me!

[birdwhistle]

^ S'my second choice, yay. Nice place, that, I wish you lots of luck.

Results day on Thursday. FNAR. I am so frightened. And I am even more frightened of university. There, I said it. Mostly because I've forgotten how to socialise effectively, and I've always been a bit inept when it comes to autonomy, and I am relatively sure the place I'm headed will be full of people who've read more books and thought more thoughts than I ever will.

It's honestly like going into secondary school all over again. With more alcopops.

[Clare]

Oh dear, you've all made me really scared now.

I plan to go to university next year, hopefully, to study art. Now, I have two options, really. Glasgow School of Art or Central St. Martin's, in London. Going to London is my dream, but I really don't know if I could afford it. Tuition fees are £4000 / year, and I would have to pay that back if my loan application was accepted. I would be given a loan of a further £4000 / year, and a three year course means my debt would be about £24, 000. Hell, that's... A lot of money.

Compared to if I go to Glasgow. My loan would be £800 / year, and my tuition fees would be paid for me. The possibility of being able to live with Boy would mean that I would have no rent to pay, since his family own his flat. It's perfectly possible to live quick life in Glasgow.

But I fell in love with London, and I fell in love with a boy from London... And when you're young, throwing your life away to go to the other end of the country and getting into tonnes of debt... Well, that's following your dreams, isn't it? When you're old, it's just being an idiot. I don't know any time when I can do this apart from when I'm young.

No one tells you when you're growing up that following your dreams means forking out a lot of cash, do they? :-\ I don't even know if I'll be able to study at university at all, it's all so expensive.

[Lawrence]

good luck with results! I've got mine a week on wednesday, but that's only GCSEs

[BoyHeroine]

My first night at halls was horrible, i was terrified, firstly it was an intercolliagate halls, so loads of different students from the different uni's in the University of London were there (ULU, Kings, SOAS...), which meant some of them had moved in earlier and had already formed groups and knew each other, so when i got there and say people already clumped together i decided to opt out of going down to dinner, and stayed in my room with my mac and my internet and a pot noodle. I ventured out around 11pm and walked around Russell Sqaure for a while then just went back to my room and went to sleep. It didnt help that i rang my best friend at his uni and he was at some party already drunk off his face.

Next day, luckily i peeked out of my bedroom door and the guy in the next room down from me was coming out of his room at the same time. He had been there for a week already so had met some people and introduced himself and we went down to breakfast together. We sat next to another guy by himself, also from my Uni Kings, and they turned out to be some of my closest mates through 1st year. After that, once i'd started talking , i couldnt stop, would just go around and randomly introduce myself (it helped that i'd sometimes have a few drinks in me), and most people appreciated it cos they were all shit scared too.

To be honest, even though it was quite terrifying, it was the most exciting time of uni, becuase everything was new and exciting, now its all work and exams and careers and debt, the first few nervous weeks has such energy and possibility.