Starting University

Three weeks ago, I officially started Uni. I was planning on writing this post after my first week of classes but since I was feeling a little uncertain about things, thought I'd give myself a few more weeks to find my feet. For just a little bit of context, I'm staying at home for my first year, studying at a design school in the city and hoping to major in graphic design. I'm really enjoying my classes and the work involved however this is only a newfound feeling. When I first started out, I didn't feel the least bit optimistic about design school. In fact, I even doubted whether Uni was right for me. 

Looking back I think that had to do with the fact that I felt quite alone during that first week of classes. Going into Uni, I didn't really know anyone. All my high school friends had either moved away or taken a year off to work or study abroad. I'm really happy with the institute that I'm at but during that first week of classes, I felt so out of place. After spending five years at high school, I was so used to getting assignments where the teachers were very clear on what they wanted and how they wanted it. I was used to being surrounded by the same group of people six hours a day, five days a week. Uni is very different. I expected this much but that doesn't mean that it still didn't throw me off a little bit. There's so much freedom and artistic license at design school. You're encouraged to interpret the assessments in your own unique way. As well as this, getting fully accustomed with every person in your class is almost impossible. There are so many people and when you're only seeing them once or twice a week, that doesn't leave much time to properly get to know them. Everything was just so overwhelmingly unfamiliar and the fact that I didn't know anyone prior to starting Uni made me feel even more lost and confused. I now know that many of my fellow classmates were in a similar situation to me however during those first few days where I had little to no interaction with anyone, it felt like I was the only one feeling this way. 

Three weeks in, I'd say I'm in a much more positive headspace now. I know the hardest part of the transition from high school to uni is over and I've begun to look forward to the rest of year and what's to come. I almost feel silly for ever thinking I was alone in feeling alone. I've been able to connect with a couple of people from my classes and instead of focusing on getting to know everyone, I'm going to work on getting to know a few people really well instead. Did you feel a similar way during your first few weeks of Uni? How long did it take you to get settled? I know that's everybody's different so I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below.

Thanks for reading!