2016 turned out to be a major year for me and below I have listed some of my highlights:
January – May
The most memorable part of my year was my semester abroad in the beautiful medieval capital of Europe, Rouen.
When in France...eat macarons
View from a bridge in my beautiful host town
This was an unforgettable experience and I am so proud that I pushed myself to undertake an Erasmus trip. I somehow managed to live on my own in a flat and cope with 30 contact hours a week (without blackboard to assist)! I made friends for life, which seems bizarre given the language barrier and cultural differences. I cannot express how grateful I am to everyone in my L2 géo class for not laughing at me whenever I stammered but constantly supporting me throughout the semester.
Of course, there were bad times. I can easily recall countless times when I felt stupid because I could not understand anything going on around me and my head would be perpetually aching from concentrating all day.
Academically though, the risk was worth it: I still achieved a first class average (despite all learning/assessments being in French). Furthermore, I was awarded the Dean’s List Award for my grade average!
Whilst abroad I also campaigned for and was elected GeogSoc President. It was very nerve-wracking watching the AGM take place through FaceTime! This is my most time-consuming extra-curricular to date but I could not be happier to ensure that geographers have a fantastic time here at Southampton!
Summer
This was my busiest summer for as long as I can remember. This included my first holiday with my boyfriend (Ireland), family holiday after three years (Turkey) and an excellent fieldtrip (Berlin).
Most notably, I spent two months back at Camp Morty in the USA. Returning for the second year in a row, I not only adopted a new position as counsellor but also juggled my dissertation and conducted all of my data collection for my dissertation.
Dining inside a fancy restored church!
A touching note from one of my campers
As well as some work experience in finance and accountancy, I became a student blogger!
Third Year: Semester One
This past semester was very different to the Southampton experience I was used to. I suddenly had three contact hours a week - all French and no Geography, which was a massive adjustment from my 30-hour week in France.
Without lectures forcing me to go to campus, I realised it was up to myself to self-motivate. My key to success was waking up early - fortunately I have always been an early riser so I just had to make sure I maintained up my 7am wake ups and hit Jubilee gym!
Having played throughout my childhood and competing abroad, I missed playing netball and joined the GeogSoc 1st team. We have had an amazing season so far and I love being part of a sport family again. A couple of weeks ago we held our annual GeogSoc Christmas Ball at the Grand Harbour Hotel. It was extremely stressful as President and a lot of pressure to have a successful night, but in the end the event was spectacular and one of my favourite nights at uni!
I am very pleased that I managed to squeeze in all of my extra-curricular activities in third year so far, despite being warned and advised to cut down and focus on my studies. Although I do worry about my work/play balance sometimes, I am really glad I made the time to have fun: from karaoke at The Stags to participating in Jailbreak for the first time.
Highlight of 2016
To top it all off, I have been offered a place at the University of Cambridge to study a masters in Education, International Development and Globalisation and gain an MPhil (Masters of Philosophy).
To summarise, the only two words to describe my 2016 would be: busy and rewarding.
Let’s see what 2017 brings!
Aditi
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