The End of First Year

My wonderful, lovely, amazing, Flat 68 family. <3

THE END OF FIRST YEAR

First things first, apologies again for the lack of posts recently, and secondly this post has come about because the first person to leave in my flat has left, meaning it's officially the beginning of the end... Sad times. This time of year is always kind of strange but especially so this time round, as it's the end of my first year of university (say whaaaaaaat) and more so than previous years I've been feeling the need to really spend and enjoy my time doing things with the people I love before time runs out. At uni it's so unique in that almost all the friends you make live absolutely nowhere near you when you're not all at university, which means that when holidays come you're spread out all across the country in various different locations. So the last couple of weeks I've been trying to make the most of having all my friends in one place and trying to meet up and do random things whenever I can. I've also been making sure I make the absolute most of the time I have left with my wonderful, wonderful flatmates who I adore to pieces, and just living in halls in general (Fallowfield represent), as I've steadily come to realise that your first year of university is a once in a lifetime kind of thing. Things will never be quite like this again. For a while I've been aware that time is running out, that this amazing experience is almost over, but at the same time I've been reminding myself that yes this is the best time of my life, and it's that way for a reason. And instead of being sad that it's all over, I should enjoy every last minute whilst I can, be so, so happy that I've been lucky enough to have all these wonderful things happen to me, meet all these amazing people... Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.

For most of my life I just assumed that people were lying about how great university is, and honestly they just did my absolute nut in and I wished they'd shut up about it all. But now having experienced a bit of it for myself, I've changed my mind completely and I finally understand what they were on about. University really is amazing, first year especially as you're living with your friends/ flatmates and being independent, studying something you actually like, having people to always do things with, doing so many crazy, fun, spontaneous things like flat quizes, meals, film nights, catch ups, parties, frisbee, going to the park, dancing, clubbing, frequent trips to the pub and Sainsburys...You go from having a pretty average social life, standard day to day life in the town you've always lived in, being looked after by your lovely family, to suddenly having your social life vamped up to high voltage, your life becoming incredibly spontaneous, unpredictable, crazily wonderful with everything completely changing and you have to look after yourself for the first time ever. It's totally disorientating and new, and almost kind of surreal, but also incredibly amazing too. When I compare my days and weeks here to those back home, I sometimes just cannot believe that this is my life now, that these things are actually happening to me.

 I feel completely and utterly blessed, lucky, grateful, thankful, *insert gushing, appreciative word* to have had such an incredible first year from start to finish. Never in a million, trillion, gazillion years did I imagine that my first year would be like it has been, and that I could have this kind of life and experience beyond my wildest dreams. I just can't believe still that this has all happened to me. Sometimes I really do feel like I'm dreaming. And I know it all sounds so gushing and almost a bit bonkers, all this rambling that I've done, but trying to condense my amazement and gratefulness at this last year, as well as the fact that I've now actually completed my first year of university, is incredibly hard to do so. I know that without doubt I will never, ever forget this period of my life, nor the memories or the people, and I will always hold it so dear to my heart. I wish things wouldn't change but I know they have to. Things can't stay this amazing and perfect and wonderful forever, but I'm so glad I've been lucky enough to have things be so this last year. For me things will change a lot next year, and they'll be quite different, but I finally feel ready to embrace it and make the most of the next chapter to come in my life and everything new that is to come. I'm so sad to see this year end but it's given me so many precious memories, taught me so many different things, pushed me out my comfort zone, changed me as a person for the better, helped me to meet so many brilliant people and facilitated so many new friendships that I just know are going to last the test of time. 

So as I conclude before I start getting all emotional and banging out them crying face emoji's, and with one week left up here to go, I'll finish by saying 1) Manchester is a bloody amazing city and if you're considering going to uni there, do it because you will love it, 2) university really is awesome in every possible sense and you'll just have the most incredible time, and 3) whether you're at uni or not, just enjoy life and all those wonderful moments, get out there and live and take it all in, push yourself out of your comfort zone, say yes, meet people, find yourself and who you are and just be happy.