A three year thank you

This blog is meant to say goodbye.

Except goodbyes have always been something I struggle with, I hate finality, closure and the end of the book, so to try to sum up my university experience is one blog seems impossible.

My motto for when it comes to goodbye is that “it is not goodbye, it is see you soon”, however I think “all good things come to an end” is more apt now, because the truth of the matter is I am not going to be returning to study at Southampton, yes that is sad (heart breaking even), but it is true. It is also natural and exciting and simply a way of life. Since my leaving Southampton entails me arriving somewhere else, it means future adventures and more excitement elsewhere.

I am sure that the university which set me up for future life wouldn’t want to see me pining for the past – they would want me to do what I ought to with the degree they provided me – to go off and be daring and ambitious and to make a path.

So that’s what I am doing.

However with goodbye comes a series of thank yous.

Let me begin with an endless thank you to my family. Financial, emotional, physical and psychological support has most definitely been provided by them all countless times. I could not have come to university without them, I could not have coped and got as much out of it without them, and I definitely wouldn’t have left the person I am now without their help. They are essential to my university experience.

Thank you to all of freshers. Some of you lucky lucky freshers will be arriving so soon and I cannot begin to describe how jealous I am of all of you – despite knowing my body cannot take another year of being a fresher I want it back - it was the most fun I have ever had. I met so many lovely people, never felt stressed and revelled in my new freedom! That year set me up for everything that university could be – the societies, the trips, the people and yes, even in first year, the studying.  My first year is shrouded in such fond memories and a week doesn’t pass with my housemates and I reflecting on how good it would be to go back to first year:  as much central heating and hot water as you wanted, hours to watch re-runs of The OC and endless people to meet and friends to make. 

This is the first night of my first year! I knew then that I had made the right choice. 

A thank you must go out to the University of Barcelona – by being able to do my Erasmus over there with the support of the English department in Southampton I undoubtedly made one of the best choices of my life. That magical city still means so much to me and I can honestly say that no other amount of time changed me more than my Erasmus did. Moving to university in my first year was easy for me as everything was organised – from where you were living, what you were studying and how you met people – it was not like that in Barcelona. It was a steep learning curve but not one I would change for the world. I grew in confidence and spirit. I made friends that I treasure and adore and, most importantly, I had so much fun!

Barcelona; my second university city. 

As I am thanking the English department it only seems fair I also give a thank you to the Philosophy department. The friendly professors that seemed to live there really aided me and made me so thankful I studied that topic. I would specifically like to thank my dissertation tutor Sasha Mudd (who won an excellence in teaching award) for the support she gave me. The encouragement I was given to go off and write about something I was passionate about, something that excited me and something that I wanted to learn from really felt like what university should be all about. 

My university experience, like most people’s, wouldn’t be the same without my friends. I was lucky enough to live with the ones most important to me for three years and grew so close to them that I now cannot imagine not knowing them, not having them influence my life and the direction I choose. In those people I feel most lucky and it is to those people I say a bottomless thank you. I happened to live with them in my halls in first year and they were such an amalgamation of people – a real odd bunch if I am honest. If someone had told me I’d be living mostly with boys, boys who liked football and did exercise for enjoyment I wouldn’t have believed it. However from these people I somehow learnt the most and am now so thankful they are in my life.

I also want to thank my course mates who helped me out constantly, even if it was just by being as utterly lost as I was, and my society friends who pushed me onto do more things than I thought I was capable of. These people made me a better person. 

How lucky I am to have met these people. 

There are many more things and people that deserve a thank you – thank you SUSU café for your really cheap big breakfasts, thank you Hartley library for opening later in exam times, thank you sabbatical officers for genuinely caring and thank you SUSU shop for your cracking chicken and bacon wraps – all these things make this goodbye difficult.

But I am trying not to dwell on the past, I am focusing on the future and being grateful for the opportunities I was given and the experience I had. The University of Southampton, with its wonderful student body, will no doubt continue to thrive without me.

Florence