The End is Nigh
Every day on my walk to University where I will spend another long, boring day in the library on an essay that, let’s face it, I’ll probably be lucky to scrape a 2:1 on, despite my efforts, I see in a window of a student house a little board that say, ‘The End is Nigh’. This sign has been up all year, so I can guess that, like me, they’re probably third year students fine tuning their dissertations and praying that they do come out with a 2:1. This sign could be read in a positive or negative light and it’s something I’ve only recently begun to understand.
First of all, I have been at University for four long years. I’m twenty-three, living with twenty-year-olds – who are absolutely lovely – but I feel like I’m sort of done with the student living now, like I’m passed it. They might have a few more years in them, but I need to go. I don’t like sharing a bathroom, a kitchen and sitting area with people all the time. I do love their company, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes I just want to be on my own after a long day and not make small talk. Anti-social, aye? But it’s tiring sometimes especially when, like all third years, we’re under so much stress it’s nice to just chill out alone sometimes. On top of that, my housemates are very clean – thank god – but the house still isn’t immaculate, I mean why would it be, it’s a student house in Hyde Park, we can’t expect miracles. But at my grand old age, I’m at the point where I want a nice house. I don’t mean I’m expecting to be on Cribs once I graduate, but I want a house that’s just mine, decorated how I like it, and kept tidy with the only mess ever being mine….Okay, I’m starting to sound like my mum, but you get the point. So in that way, I am kind of looking forward to finishing uni.
However, on the flipside, when you move back in with your family you don’t actually get to do what you want to do – and you don’t have any money to buy that dream, quiet and clean house you’ve been thinking of. Also, some days I come in from Uni and I do want to talk to my housemates, I want to sit and cook meals with them, laugh at rubbish TV (we don’t have access to all the channels so TV can be a little bleak) and go for a drink with them now and again, to a pub that’s pretty much on our doorstep surrounded by other, like-minded people. There’s a bit of independence about living in a student house, I know the flat on your own is also independent, but as I said, no student ever graduated with a bursting wallet. And when we do finally move in on our own either with a significant other, or maybe another professional, the days of doing nothing, being carefree and not worrying too much about the state of your house – because at the end of the day, it is a dump – will be long gone.
Uni work is another end to your studies that has both the pro’s and con’s. I hate writing essays – I do enjoy writing but not essays. And not after I’ve spent a week in the library making page after page of notes to use probably a third of a page of that information all up in my work. It’s tiring, it’s boring, and I know not everyone will be the same, but for me, I just do average. I give a hundred percent and sit around the low 2:1 area. Fantastic. Also, there’s no such thing as a weekend, especially in third year. There’s no ‘time off’ or ‘break’ and every time you take a break you feel guilty and stressed because you’re not working. At least in a job you walk out of the door and you’re done – you can go home and chill and start again tomorrow.
Flip it over though – in work you are expected to complete given tasks when they are set. You can’t just procrastinate on ASOS or write an article for a Uni magazine (like I am doing now!) – if you don’t get it done, you’re out the door – unemployed with no money and you will probably struggle to get your next job. Also, there’s a reason why people go for ‘after work drinks’ – the working world is tough and stressful. My boyfriend put it right when he said, ‘Work is just like Uni, expect you get paid to do all the work you’ve been doing and then use that money to buy beers before you have to face it again’. I mean he was joking, but I guess he’s kind of right really…and unless you’re very lucky or a walking brain, chances are you’re not going to walk into your dream job. You’re going to have to start at the bottom and work your way up and do all the rubbish jobs that no one really wants to do…but there is money at the end of the day. So I guess it’s not all bad, you can now actually afford those clothes from ASOS you only used to dream about – that is after you’ve paid all your bills and rent which a student loan no longer covers…hmm…
The end is nigh for my university journey, and I’m excited but also a little sad and a little bit scared. I think I’m done with University now, and ready to move on. But it will be sad to go and it’s scary going into an uncertain position. But it will all work out, it has to! Or else, I guess I’ll be living at my parent’s house until I’m forty…SOS.
Images:
1st Authors own
2rd Authors own