Graduating from University

Hi all!

That's right, I am now officially a BA (Hons) Multimedia Journalism postgraduate! 😁

Nothing feels any weirder than writing about having graduated from university. I have said it so, so many times but I honestly still can't get over it.

University has been a roller coaster ride: from not actually wanting to go to university, to never wanting to leave (can I redo these 3 years please?!). 

I've said this to a lot of people, but when I started my course I would have never imagined finishing it wanting to pursue the things I want to now. 

I initially didn't plan on studying Multimedia Journalism, I wanted to study Photojournalism - because that was what most of my voluntary work and work experience was based around - but when I firmed my choice at Southampton I was then told that the course I wanted to do would no longer be running and that I could either defer a year or choose to study Multimedia Journalism.

I was so stressed when I got this call. They gave me time to think about it, but I obviously (at the time) didn't want to do anything but study Photojournalism. But I also did really want to go to university (before not long after deciding I didn't want to go, lol), so I opted to start studying Multimedia Journalism in September 2015 - and man am I so grateful I chose to do so.

Graduation day!

All I ever wanted to do when I started university was to write, take photos, and edit. If you asked me to do anything in front of the camera - nope, wasn't gonna happen! So when I saw people in the years above me presenting in front of a camera doing a LIVE news bulletin, it's fair to say I was more than terrified. Fast-forward two/three years and anything presenting and broadcast became a passion of mine; if I had the chance to present, you could guarantee that's what I was going to do!

But going back to before I even started my course, even though I initially did want to start studying at uni straight after finishing A-Levels, there was a point where I couldn't care less whether I was at uni or not.

This lack of care I guess you could say helped me in one way, i.e. the fact that when it came to collecting my A-Level results and finding out whether I got a firm place at uni was not a stressful ordeal for me as much as collecting my results in the past had been. 😅 But it was still a big choice I had to make: to go to university, or not to go.

For me, I initially decided to apply for uni because it was what the majority were doing. It was also what was very much influenced upon us at school. We were given the options of going on to do other things, but nothing was pushed on us as much as the idea of going to university. So for me, it just felt like the done thing to do.

I also wasn't a very independent person at the time - which sounds ridiculous when you think about the fact I was going to be living in a completely new city, by myself! But the person I was at the time didn't have any desire to be doing much independently. I wasn't interested in travelling by myself, going off and doing my own thing etc. I didn't have much drive or ambition is essentially what I'm saying; so it just seemed safe to go to uni whilst I still wasn't entirely sure of where my passions were.

But when I started volunteering more and getting more involved in things to do with anything journalism in the summer before starting uni, I started to drift away from wanting to start my course in September.

My thoughts were that if I was already doing what I wanted to be doing in the long-run - and still continuing to learn at the same time - then what was the point in going to a different city and paying loads of money for it?

But am I so glad that I opted to start studying. I'm grateful to have become the person that I am now, know the people that I do, have the experiences that I have created and now have the passions that I do. And I think that if I chose to otherwise, it would have been a mistake.

My first day having officially moved in!

I love looking back over my years at uni and seeing how much has changed and all the fun times that I've had (I honestly feel like crying right now because I can't go back and do it again).

First year seemed so hard at the time, but if I had the assignments in third year that I had when I first started, I'd be cruising through; but even things like that prove how much I have learned and what skills I have developed in just 3 years!

It's not just the course itself that was for me, absolutely incredible, but definitely also my experiences outside. Living with people you barely know is frightening, stressful, and fun all at the same time. And don't get me started on the tenancies and landlords I've had (that's for another blog post).

I'm sad that I won't be seeing the people that I saw every day as often now. I made a lot of amazing friends - definitely more so in my final year - but two friends in particular made my whole university experience incredible and made even the unbearable days, bearable. The lecturers on the course who saw us all through, made me feel as if we all stood on equal ground and made lectures and seminars worth coming along to - although I can't say that applies to two units in particular, lol. I'm also very much going to miss the pub nights at The Hobbit and of course, the game nights.

And as much of a passion for broadcasting that I have now developed, it's fair to say I wouldn't enjoy it as much as I did if it wasn't for all of my experiences presenting. My last year of uni was spent as a co-presenter of Inside Solent (the University's monthly news broadcast) with one of my very good friends Josh Stokes. The link for the playlist that includes all of our broadcast is attached to the picture below:

There's so much more I could write about, I could go on and on for hours because there's so much to say - but I've already rambled enough!

Uni is over, I'll come to terms with that one way or another! As for now, I'm in no rush to officially start my career because I would like some time to travel, do some more voluntary, and continue saving up money in order to travel! I've got a lot of things I'd like to experience before I'm in a career and more restricted to what I can do and when I can do it.

I'm back home from Bulgaria soon with my family and very excited to say that it's only just over 3 weeks until I fly out to Denmark to then leave for America! 

From now on I will be posting on my blog every Friday at 17:00 PM, and have lots of content planned for the upcoming weeks which I'm very excited about. 😊

Until next time!

Cheers. X