Life after university

I vividly remember my first few moments at the University of Southampton. After my friends from home had dropped me off and left, I was on my own in my new room at Connaught Halls. I took in the view of my surroundings. It was littered with bags and boxes that were beckoning to be unpacked. Despite the seeming urgency of the task, I instead sat down on my bed, bewilderedly thinking inwardly: what in the world do I do now?

Three years on, I have finished my last ever undergraduate exam and found myself in exactly the same situation: sitting bewildered on my bed and thinking the EXACTLY same thing. Here I was again fearing the unknown. But, as I am writing my last ever blog post for Life at Southampton, I realise that boy, are things different.

Maturity

I feel more grown up. I will be making a living soon and this has hit me HARD. When I started at university I thought I was pretty mature but you really don’t know just how much more you can change until you go through exams, coursework, a part-time job and society commitments all at the same time. I remember at one point doing 10 hour retail shifts on both days of a weekend and heading to the library after to write an essay. The fact that this paid off in the end highlighted to me the importance of hard-work and ploughing through in order to reach a goal.

Filipino Society stand at AISEC’s Global Village, part of Union Southampton’s International Culture Week 2016

Sociability

The knowledge alone that I have learnt from my course in Politics and International Relations has measurably increased my confidence. I’d like to think that today I am more comfortable getting to know new people. The 18-year-old me would never approach someone randomly at a social event to say hi. Uni life has taught me that people genuinely like to be talked to first!

If I could change one thing? In first year, I thought that the best way to meet my coursemates and new people was through ‘Dutch courage’. I look back on that now and find that this was certainly not the case. Going to lectures and actually talking to your coursemates is the best way of getting to know them.

Freshers' Week!

Analytical skills

Practical group work certainly helped my analytical skills in a team. I was part of a group which conducted qualitative research for Southampton City Council in Second Year as part of our Research Skills in Politics module (PAIR2004). In addition, a field trip to Brussels wasn’t bad either! Thanks to the Social Sciences department, I was able to take part in a stakeholder trip to the EU institutions. We were able to meet with EU politicians and NGOs and got to know more about what they do.

Politics Brussels Trip

Became independent but closer to my family

Back in first year, I struggled a lot with not seeing my family every day. I soon got used to it – it helped to have my uni friends around all the time. However, I actually found myself getting closer to my mum. We would chat on the phone once a week and ironically enough our conversations were on a much deeper level than what we had when I was living back home.

Professionalism

I can talk to senior staff and not feel scared about doing so. University really develops your employability in this way. The University of Southampton has lots of help and support available to kick start your employability from day one. I went to countless Careers talks and workshops which are invaluable for me in and outside of the work place.

Graduation Day with the family

Of course, not everyone will have the same university experience, but my time at university has taught me that you yourself can shape the outcome of any experience. Life after university hasn’t got a 100 percent happiness guarantee – your outlook will shape the outcome - much like my overall outlook on university life shaped its outcome today!

I can’t stress how much I LOVED university. The best friends that I have made here are the people I know I will keep in touch with for the rest of my life. What will I miss about it? The ability to pop round the best people’s houses and just hanging around, having a cup of tea.

If you have also graduated, cheers to you and good luck on this next step on the ladder of life. If you’re coming back to uni again next year, count yourself lucky and make the most of it! If you’re just starting uni, welcome to this amazing roller-coaster of a ride.

Rylyn Bernardo, signing off one last time.