Reflecting on my First Semester at Uni

Today I finished my first semester of Uni. I decided to read over my Starting Uni blog post and even though it's been less than three months since I wrote it, I feel like so much has changed. If you read that post, you'd know that my transition from high school to Uni wasn't the smoothest of changeovers. Everything felt so foreign and strange to me and it really made me question the whole idea of Uni and all the decisions I'd made leading up to starting. The way I was feeling was completely normal for someone who tends to get really comfortable doing things a certain way. I'm someone who takes a little longer to adapt to new and different situations however when I do, I forget all about my initial doubts and uncertainties.  

Overall, I really liked my classes this semester. There was one paper that I didn't find as enjoyable as the rest of my classes but I could definitely see the benefits of its teachings. The weeks after writing my blog post, everything started falling into place. I was settling into a weekly routine and this really helped me feel more comfortable in my classes. Throughout the semester, I found the workload pretty manageable. I found that work outside of class was almost just as important as work during class. Self discipline and studying without the teacher's aid was something that I felt pretty okay doing. However, I feel like you're more likely to get in a creative rut when studying alone. Which is where study groups came into play. Arranging study sessions with classmates was a great way to not only bounce ideas off one another but also get to know them better in a more casual and relaxed environment. I think the best friendships I made this semester were created through my study sessions with them. At the start of the year I was definitely worried about getting to know people but all it took was time and a couple of study sessions to rid myself of that fear. 

Something that's really cool about design school is that everyone has a creative passion or hobby that they specialise in, whether that be painting, typography, clothes making or digital art. During the last half of the semester, I really started to feel at home amongst all these creatives. I wasn't used to being surrounded by people who thought so similarly to me. At high school, you're interacting with a range of people with very different interests and thought processes. At design school, everyone is unified by the same goal. And that's to create. This realisation made me appreciate the institute I chose even more. Looking back at my Starting Uni blog post, it's nice to see how I've progressed over the course of 2 and a bit months. Even though the start of the semester got off to a bit of a shaky start, I'm glad things played out the way they did. It's been a real learning experience for both my design and personal life. I can't wait to see what the next semester holds! 

Thanks for reading! Feel free to let me know your thoughts in the comment section below!