Learning to Love University

There are times when University gets tough. Being in a completely different place to home is daunting and frightening, learning to navigate the town, the people. The people may not be the type of people you've known back home, and they sure as hell will differ from the array of international students you will meet. University isn't all it's made up to be all the time, there will be boring days sat by yourself watching Dexter on repeat, days you'll be doing this with your housemates, days you will be stuck in the library doing work, pointless days walking around campus laughing with your friends, eating dinner out every night can even be a bit much.
But there is also a bright side to the very different experiences you will get from University.

• Those times when you are so bored in your room whilst everybody else seems to be frantically trying to meet their deadlines. Cherish these times because it might be the only alone time you'll get, the other nights they might be trying to persuade you out, or eat dinner with them, or just to simply entertain them. 
• Times when you yourself are bombarded with deadlines. It might be the only time you actually feel busy at University, make the most of it, because it most likely counts, and that £9000 you're paying, you'll be glad you had something to answer for it.
• Those horrible people you meet. That you can also forget and never see again if you don't want to, sure you might bump into them, but a little hello never hurt anybody. You'll realise how much you can tolerate people, and how good your temper actually is. Good practice for the working world I hear.
• The dirty kitchen, toilets and rooms. You'll finally learn to take care of yourself, after days of not having cutlery to use, after the bins are so filled you are having to move around THEM. The dishes you or your housemate didn't wash start to smell, this when you learn and start to appreciate home comforts and looking forward to moving out, and the only time you are looking to University to finish.
• So many people and opinions. You learn to take criticism like a real boss, you also learn to give it to. A little bit of constructive criticism goes a long way, even if sometimes you have to mentally re-word their harsh words into becoming "constructive". 
• Never ending invitations to society events/fundraising events/house parties/club nights. You learn what things to prioritise and which things are just a load of b***. You're major sense of FOMO also decreases by miles! Lord knows it is tiering if you are still suffering from FOMO during your final year of University.

All of these things can be seen as a negative, but actually things are pretty sweet when you're a student. All this extra time to either sleep, study, watch television, exercise, eat, or actually be productive with your life. It is endless. At the start it can be difficult missing familiar people, places, foods and smells, but it definitely gets better. Change is good.