Making mistakes

Wow.

Following two and a half quite astounding weeks at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the cast and crew of “Gone Rogue Productions” have all made it home completely shattered, severely lacking in vitamins and more than ready to catch up on the substantial amount of sleep lost during that time, yet on the other hand absolutely bursting to the seams with stories, photographs and memories to share.

It. Was. Extraordinary!

But rather than ramble on through all my thoughts and reflections on the trip in the heat of the moment, I’ve instead opted to give myself a bit of time to process it all before I depict it for next time in the form of a blog post or three – or possibly even a novel, given how much went on!

Indeed, it’s been quite a shock to suddenly emerge from the Festival to find that the rest of the world has carried on as per normal. Life outside of the Edinburgh bubble (seeing three or four shows every day really takes up your time and energy!) seems just as animated and hectic as ever, particularly with social media feeds awash with the celebrations of many a successful results day student at both GCSE and A Level and, more prominently, the excitement of incoming University undergraduates and postgraduates travelling to distant climes up and down the country.

Preparations for the new academic year are already well underway with accommodation being sorted, lecture timetables drafted and the release of details that the University of Southampton’s very own Students’ Union, SUSU, is plotting an introduction to student life here which will span the best part of two unforgettable weeks for the lucky individuals involved.

As I mentioned last time, although it seems a long time ago, I can recall vividly my own first few days here which, although terrifying at first, slowly but surely morphed into more comfortable weeks and months as I found my feet, and settled into a routine – or something occasionally resembling one, anyhow!

Starting life at the University was, for me, an absolute vault into the unknown as, given Southampton’s distance away from my hometown, I knew nothing of the city or its surrounding geography. Moreover, I’d never really tried my hand at the majority of standard domestic skills, and from a friendships point of view, I only knew one other person who would be also be in Southampton – living in different halls and studying at a different course on a different campus!

So as someone who tends to worry incessantly (particularly so if I can’t find anything to worry about!), I remember stewing over the many questions I had regarding all aspects of my soon-to-be life – how do you go about meeting rafts of new people after seven years’ of the relative comfort of school friends? Where would I live (and would I get on with my flatmates)? Would I be able to sensibly manage my own finances, and organise my own independent study, and cook (not just make toast!) and keep a room clean and tidy (the answer to this one is generally “no”!)?

And with three or four weeks following the success of results’ day, there was just enough time to build up nerves and self-doubt to leave myself suitably petrified for the car journey down on moving-in day, frightened of what was to follow: the rest of my life!

Remembering this bizarre mix of curiosity and apprehension, I caught myself imagining earlier what I would say to a fresher-faced Robin about to start University if I bumped into him in the street, and I realised that, actually, although I’d be able to point him in the direction of the University website for any specific information he’d require, it’s difficult to say anything which ultimately would have reassured me other than: go and make the most of it!

Because no matter what the scenario, I’ve found in my first two years here that, in terms of developing myself most effectively, it’s only through trying something new, making mistakes or disliking it, laughing about it (particularly useful when picking up cooking!), and then learning from it, that I picked up any domestic, extracurricular or academic skills at all. It’s a philosophy which seemed to apply for outside of the flat, labs and library too: after all, it’s through this process I learnt during a taster session that one sport in particular was not for me, the mistake arriving in the form of, rather inevitably, a dodgeball to the face (my own fault for not dodging)!

And when cooking did go wrong, there was usually an alternative!

Likewise, I’d encourage my fresher persona to throw themselves into as many events and welcome meetings and societies as realistically possible because, particularly around the beginning of the year, he’d soon be surrounded by people who also wouldn’t know each other and would thus be equally as nervous as a result, regardless of how they’d show it.

Breaking the ice is never easier than during Freshers’; I lost count of the number of conversations I had that began with the standard four questions of “What’s your name?”, “Where are you from?”, “What are you studying?” and “Where are you living?”, which was always enough to, at the very least, put a name to a friendly face!

And when packing, if I wasn’t sure whether to take something with me, there’s usually no harm in taking it if you can bring it back later – so don’t worry if it seems that you have too much stuff at first (anyway, by the end of the year you’ll probably have more)! It’s better to start with more rather than less, and then work out what you don’t need as you go along; for example, lots of flats club together when they first move in and buy a communal kettle, saving precious dirty-dish space on the desktop!

Although this probably IS too much!

So to all Freshers joining the University of Southampton at the beginning of this new academic year: congratulations, and have a fantastic final few weeks of non-University life!  After all, as long as everybody enjoys the experience, it doesn’t really matter what mistakes we make!

Robin