The Best and Worst Things about Uni

As I have now been at uni for 6 months, I feel like I can honestly comment on the best and worst things about it, (from a first years' perspective, of course - I can imagine that third years have much bigger problems than missing their mum's cooking). Some of these are things that I noticed early on, whereas others are more recent realisations, as I feel like I am constantly learning how to function in the adult world.

The Worst Things

1. Missing Home - this is a big one for me, as although I see my family more than most people (living 50 miles down the motorway is v convenient), I do miss them. But it's not just missing your actual family, it's missing the familiarity of home, knowing that everything is carrying on without you. For example, I danced with my dance school for 15 years, and this year is the first time I will not be in their show, which breaks my heart despite having moved on from them. Towards the end of term particularly, I crave the familiarity of home. 

2. Cooking - I am not a good cook at all. My specialties include pasta, stir fry, and that's about it. Most of the time I can't be bothered to cook, and the rest of the time all I have in my cupboards is pasta, so that's all I eat. I would kill for something with a bit more taste, but unfortunately some of us are not Jamie Oliver, sigh. With cooking comes washing up, and I'm not sure which I hate more. Why don't student rooms have dishwashers?

3. Feeling subpar - This is something I have struggled with forever, and has been heightened since coming to uni, as I am surrounded by incredibly intelligent people, who, for the most part, have very different backgrounds to me, in terms of upbringing and schooling. I constantly feel like I'm not good enough to be here, and like everyone else is so much more intelligent than I'll ever be, but this is something that comes with being at such a competitive place I guess. 

4. Always Being Ill - I swear I have been ill since September. Every time I speak to my nan on the phone she asks if I have a cold again, and it took me a while to realise that no, I don't have a cold again, I never got rid of the first one.

The Best Things

1. The People - I've said it before, but I have met the most incredible people here, and I am so grateful for my friends. They are honestly the best group of people on the planet and I love them to bits. As well as my best friends, I have also met so many people away from them. I've got to know so many people on my course, through societies and at work, as well as through friends, and I feel like all of these people will be in my life forever. 

2. Learning - This sounds so cringe, but I enjoy learning, especially about things that interest me (aka not the stats module), and business is something that I love to learn about. I mean, I can't say that the accounting modules have suddenly inspired me to send my CV off to the Big Four, but I have learnt so much about different areas of business that I never would have done otherwise, and I'm sure my parents would love to hear that, to know that their money isn't being totally wasted. 

3. The Opportunities - Again, cliche but there are so many opportunities at university. I am spending next year halfway around the world, which is something I never thought I would be able to do. I've met the former Apprentice winner, been to Amsterdam, and I am taking part in a huge dance show this weekend. I wish I had taken up more at the start of the year so that I could have experienced more!

4. The Independence - Although I do miss my mum doing everything for me, I do love the independence that uni brings, whether it be eating whatever whenever, spontaneously driving to Loughborough when bored, or going out all night.

Despite all the things that I moaned about at the start of this post, uni is literally the best things ever and I am happier than I have ever been - I want this to last forever. 

 

Dear February...

I have now been at uni for 5 months, and at the end of every month I have been convinced that it has been the best month so far, but I will be very lucky to have a month that is better than February was - it was amazing. 

February started off in Amsterdam, which is never a bad place to start a month. I went with people from my course as an end of exams celebration, and I have honestly never laughed so much. Of the 4 nights we spent there, I only slept for 2, and I consumed more pizza and McDonalds than someone should in their whole life, but it was so worth it. Amsterdam is beautiful (not sure it beats my all time favourite city - Paris, but it certainly gives it some competition), and I definitely want to go back when I am not delirious from lack of sleep and too poor to do some of the tourist attractions. My highlights were definitely going to the Anne Frank House (ticked that off my bucket list), and going on a canal cruise. I honestly think that everyone should visit Amsterdam at some point in their lives. It's such a diverse city, like nowhere I have ever been before, and I promise you get used to the constant smell of weed eventually. 

When we got back from Amsterdam, we started 6 new modules in lectures, and once I accepted that I actually have to do maths again (I'm allergic to numbers), I realised that most of my modules this term are things that I enjoy, and aspects of business that I find interesting (except maths, obvs).

My sister came up midway through the month with a friend, and we gave them a tour of the campus, and then my friend and I went to dinner with them and my parents which was nice - we greatly appreciated the free food. 

Absolutely buzzing to be sat in the Dam sign

The day after that I found out that I will (hopefully, if I keep my grades up) be spending my second year abroad in Canada at an amazing University, which I still cannot believe, and probably will not believe until I am on a plane somewhere over the Atlantic. I worked so hard to get there, and I am so glad that it paid off, I just hope that it wasn't some sort of fluke and that I can do the same this term. That day was full of smiles, as well as tears, and finding out half an hour before I started work was not ideal, as I had to put my professional head on when all I wanted to do was celebrate. That night, however, we went to my favourite bar and I definitely celebrated. A couple of days after that, I got my first semester marks back, which were a lot better than I thought, and the celebrations continued, especially as all of my course mates did really well too (v proud of them). 

I spent two weekends at home in February. One to celebrate my Pap's (Grandad for all of you who don't speak Northamptonshire) birthday, which was so nice as I got to see all of my family. The other weekend I took my best friend home with me as her hometown was playing mine at rugby, and we had a fab weekend filled with trampolining, eating and shopping. I also got to catch up with some of my friends from dance and work at home, which was really nice. 

At the end of the month the baby of our group finally turned 18, so we celebrated that, which was so much fun.

As well as these personal highlights, I feel like February was a pretty good month for all of my friends too. One got a semester abroad in Singapore, one got into an amazing social enterprise and a sick internship (which may have technically been in March but I can't remember), and everyone did well in their exams, as well as other things which I have probably forgotten. I am super proud of them all. 

So, overall, it was a pretty amazing month. A lot of things happened that completely overwhelmed me, and, I just remembered that I got Ed Sheeran tickets at the beginning of the month - I know you're jealous. March, you have a lot to live up to...

Helloooo

If you're reading this, you are either someone who I forced the link for this post upon, or you're very lost on the internet - either way, welcome to my blog. I think I should start by explaining the name and title of this blog, as to an outsider I'm probably coming across as crazy.

hollylikethebush comes from a time when I introduced myself to someone by saying 'Hi, my name is Holly, like the bush,' which is potentially the most embarrassing thing I have ever done, and because I am the least creative person on the planet, I've decided to play on my embarrassment and use it as my blog address. The title of the blog might be changed at some point (although as previously mentioned, I am not very creative so this is probably the best I can do). The reason I am a lonely larch in a forest of spruces, is because at my University accommodation, all of my friends live in one block, spruces, however I live all alone in a different block, forever exiled from them.

Now that we have cleared that up I can introduce myself. My name is Holly (like the bush), and I am 19 years old. I am a first year International Management Student at The University of Nottingham, and I absolutely love it. I love to dance, and I have a part time job in retail so I have some great stories about the types of customers that I deal with. I used to have a beauty blog, but I realised that taking pictures of MAC lipsticks with my iPhone wasn't really attracting a huge audience, so I gave that up. Sometimes I like to pretend I am interested in fitness, but in reality I have been to the gym about 6 times since September and I eat my body weight in Nutella weekly. Apart from that, I am your average student, always poor, always ill and always tired.

The reason I have started this blog is because a) I need something to do in my spare time other that watch Gossip Girl for the third time, and b) because uni is the best thing ever and I want to be able to look back on my experiences and document them forever. I'm not 100% sure what this blog will be for, but I know that I want to write monthly recaps, maybe some advice for uni life, and if you're lucky, maybe one or two MAC lipstick reviews, complete with photos taken with my iPhone.

I hope to continue this blog for a long time, so stick with it, and enjoy.