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Hiya my lovelies,

As requested by you guys, this is going to be a post all about my experience of college so far. I know many of you are of school age so I hope this helps you out in some way! I’ve decided to compile some of the things I’ve learnt into a list because if you’re anything like me, big walls of text aren’t fun to read.

1.       The first few weeks are hell. A mess of disjointed classrooms, stairs that lead to nowhere and lots of free periods spent wandering through the café trying to find either a familiar face or just one that doesn’t look like it’s about to kill you. The only way through this is to be brave. Introduce yourself, ask for phone numbers, take photos of timetables and remember ‘What subjects do you take?’ is always a good conversation starter, unless you’ve approached a young teacher, in which case I’m sorry.

2.       Your free periods are not just a good time to gather your friends together and talk about all the revision you don’t have time to do. Seriously, they’re precious and are a good opportunity to type up some notes, recap last lesson’s work or attend a workshop to ask the questions you didn’t have the chance to ask because there’s always that one kid who thinks that they’re the only person in that class who is trying to learn. Apparently they’re entitled to answering every question and not giving anyone else a chance.

3.       Forget all about cliques. I know back in secondary school it was all: ‘Oh no, only those people sit on that table’ and ‘Oh, we can’t hang out with them because they’re…’ but seriously, in college it’s a different story. If someone is in your class, if someone vaguely knows one of your friends, if someone is sat on their own, if there’s a group of friends you want to talk to…then just do it. You’ll find yourself making loads of really different and interesting friends, and trust me, that’s a good thing.

4.       Go out more. If you’re invited to something, just go for it. You might only know one person, you might know many, you might not even like the activity, but the chances are it’ll be a laugh. You’ll meet new people, you’ll spend time with people who think you’re great- what’s not to love? Even if it means going to some crappy trampoline ‘disco’ on a Friday night and you’re surrounded by little kids (who are clearly judging you), something really awesome might come out of it, you never know.

5.       But saying that, remember why you’re there: to get good grades, to learn about subjects that actually interest you and get a bit more independence. Of course it’s fun to have a much more exciting social life than you did in secondary school (I hope…), but your grades must come first in any situation that doesn’t jeopardise your mental health. So this means you can probably skip seeing your friend for 10 minutes in order to finish off an English essay, but you should definitely remember that there is a life to be had outside of lessons and work.

Thanks so much for reading this guys, let me know if you have any suggestions for my next blog post!