As you read this, there’s a strong likelihood I’m somewhere (probably
lost, given my lack of geographical prowess!) in the city of Edinburgh,
surrounded by reams of performers, either watching a show or desperately trying
to turn crowds towards ours (if you’re at the Fringe at all, we’d love to see
you at Hanging Bruce-Howard)!
One thing’s for sure: there’ll be photographs to show and stories to
tell aplenty upon my return, as well as some much-needed sleep!
But outside of the theatrical bubble I currently find myself immersed
in, it’s been a momentous day for many students across the country with the
arrival of A Level results, and through them the confirmation of places to
study at universities nationwide. If you’re unlucky enough not to have received
such an assurance yet from your university of choice then commiserations, don’t
panic and keep optimistic: there’s sure to be plenty you can do yet.
After all, I’m a firm believer that if something’s meant to be, it’s
meant to be. For example, since selecting Southampton as my first choice and
attaining the necessary grades for my course in Software Engineering, a vast
amount of factors just seem to have fallen into place for me out of sheer
fortune from day one, such as my placement in my halls of residence flat where
I first met my current housemates, my assignment to some inspirational tutors
and my chance meetings with many of the people here who now are always bringing
light to my day.
On the flip side, one of my best friends didn’t quite manage to attain
the grades needed to match the offer supplied by their first choice, but have
since gone on to similarly revere their time at another educational
establishment elsewhere – as I say, perhaps it was meant to be for both of us!
I was lucky enough to be put with a great set of flatmates from day one
–
and we’ve yet to move apart since!
If you have received confirmation of a successfully fulfilled offer,
let me offer you many congratulations, particularly if that offer happens to be
from Southampton! You’re on the verge of what may well be the most extraordinary
time of your life so far, but for now I’d urge you to relax (especially if
you’re like me – I could barely unwind even after receiving my confirmation!)
and celebrate a job well done!
Given the sheer speed at which my time at Southampton so far seems to
have raced by, I struggle to grasp the fact that it’s been two whole years
since I was in the position of receiving results, hoping to make it into Electronics
and Computer Science’s undergraduate programmes. In the build-up to the day I
was the typical neurotic panicking mess, struggling to unwind at all despite
knowing that, ultimately, what was done was done, and there was nothing I could
do to change anything at the time.
I’d often spend days in the run-up to results day pacing, considering
all the possibilities and potential alternative plans I’d have to make in case
of the failure I was sure I’d meet on the day, a common activity amongst the
peers I chatted to, it seemed, as at the time all the examination papers we’d
sat seemed hugely harder than anything we’d encountered previously. In fact, I
can recall thinking that the migraine which laid me low the day before actually
did me a huge favour in giving me something else to worry about!
But I needn’t have worried, and the delight which encompassed me when I
was lucky enough to receive confirmation of my place in Southampton was only
surpassed by that which I experienced when I opened up my results envelope.
After two years’ worth of struggle I knew it had been worth the hard work, even
the hours spent being perplexed by Cicero’s prose and Ovid’s verse in my fourth
A Level, Latin, which I’d picked purely out of previous enjoyment!
Following some much-needed August celebrations, however, I can recall
finding the intermediate period between results day and starting at University
a curious stretch of time. On the one hand, it was brilliant to finally be able
to relax, with all stressful matters resolved and very few other obligations to
fulfil, and a few of us treated ourselves to a week in the Spanish sea and sun
to blow away any lingering notions of results and the like, not to mention
embellishing ourselves with reasonably bronze (or in the instance of one
unfortunate fellow, sunburnt pink!) tans!
On the other, the time passed, for me at least, very quickly indeed,
signified by the shrinking number of attendees at the farewell meals we kept
making excuses to put on for one another. It was a fairly surreal experience
as, despite having been surrounded by these friends for the whole of my school
career, one by one they were being introduced to their new lives in other parts
of the country.
Farewell meals were commonplace before University,
which was
particularly convenient for visiting some great restaurants!
As a result, I remember always feeling slightly in the lurch, in the
knowledge that it would soon be my turn to depart for pastures new. I think it
was when the Michaelmas term began at my high school and I wasn’t there for the
first day that it slowly began to dawn on me things were moving on, moving
forward into the obscurities of a future away from home! But as I recently
wrote, I’ve found University, and indeed my life as a student, has been at its
most exhilarating when accompanied by a sense of journeying into the unknown
(particularly when this unknown is related to food!).
And thus, regardless of whether you’ll be at the University of Southampton (if you will, I look forward to meeting you!) or elsewhere in the
forthcoming new academic year, I’d like to wish you the very best of luck; you
have an incredible amount to look forward to, and the world really is your
oyster!
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