Making the Most of Your Time at Warwick
Hi guys, welcome back to my blog! As you’ll know from my previous posts, I finished my exams (and final year) at the end of May and, for this reason, June has been a very busy (but happy!) month for me. I’ve been back home to see my family, I’ve been on holiday to Milan with a friend, I’ve had sleepovers and nights-out to celebrate friends’ birthdays, and I’ve met up from friends to say goodbye as I’m leaving Warwick. It’s been such an active and fun month because I wanted to make the most of the end of my time at Warwick, and I decided to use this blog post to reflect on some of the non-academic ways that I’ve made the most of my time at Warwick throughout the 3 years, as well as give some advice on how any future or current students can do the same. Enjoy reading!
One of the simultaneously best and worst things about university is that all of your old secondary school friends can’t come with you. For a little while, this can mean feeling lonely on campus, but it does (eventually) have the great upside that you’ll inevitably make new friends and probably be invited you to join them in whatever it is they do for fun. I went clubbing for the first time at university because my friends invited me along; I had a great time, and it was only through nights-out that I discovered how much I love dancing! I also want to state that while new friends are a great way to discover new hobbies/fun activities, also make sure to try new things even when your friends don’t want to; what’s most important is that you discover the things that are fun *for you*, so don’t be afraid to go to events alone – you’ll probably make new friends there anyway!
Another great thing about university is how many different opportunities are made available and easily accessible to you. Warwick has over 250 societies for you to choose from – including a belly dancing society, cocktail society, and even a cheese and chocolate society (the full list of all current Warwick societies can be found here: https://www.warwicksu.com/societies/all/). One of my biggest regrets about first year is not getting involved in more ‘fun-focused’ societies and joining them to do things I’d never tried before. I remember that I was really focused on finding my feet in my academics during first year, and that was my excuse for not being as adventurous as I wanted to be. Don’t make that mistake! Make the time for new, fun things!
There are a lot of amazing causes being supported at Warwick, and there are a lot of passionate students supporting them. If there’s a particular issue that you’re passionate about – or even just mildly interested in – then getting involved in related societies or one-off events on campus can really help to enhance (or develop) your passion and teach you some interesting things about the areas you already care about.
Before Warwick, I was really interested in Africa’s social and economic development, and I was a big supporter of gender equality across the globe. The two societies I’ve played a role in at Warwick have been Women for Women International, and the Warwick Africa Summit. Both of these experiences really educated me concerning their different areas of focus and it was great to learn so much alongside my degree and outside of lectures.
This might seem like a strange one, but I honestly think it’s the most important. University goes by really really quickly. The academic work, the society exec responsibilities, the social life; all of it just zooms past. I found that the best way to make sure that I’m making the most of out everything around me is by pausing every now and again – at the end of every term or halfway through each term – and just checking that I was doing the things that I wanted to and was achieving the goals I set out for myself. It might be useful to write out a list of what you want out of your university experience/your academic year before it begins just so you can always use it to remind yourself and keep on track.
Good luck, and I hope you have a amazing time at Warwick!
