I Love College

I stumbled across this 'prompt me' on For The Love of Blogs today and how fitting! I've actually just returned home from an Open Day at my current university, the University of Birmingham, UK. I was helping out for the study abroad office after having returned from my year abroad at the University of Mississippi. It was a lovely day. We got to speak to some of the other students who studied in Europe and Asia and hear all their stories of travelling and the experiences they had. It was a rather self indulgent day as we got to talk a lot about the year abroad but it was so nice to hear that other people had wonderful opportunities all around the world.

I chose the college I did because I loved the campus and I loved the course. UoB was my first choice university. Here in the UK we get only five university choices. I applied to Reading, Canterbury, UEA, Southampton and Birmingham. I was fortunate enough to receive offers from all five but finally settled on Birmingham as the top choice and Soton as my backup. While I loved the campus at Southampton, my heart was never really set on the course I applied for there: English and History. I set my sights on Birmingham and American and Canadian Studies with a year abroad. I remember that Thursday in August 2008, walking into my sixth form college and receiving my grades and the confirmation that I was going to my first choice university. I was very lucky. So many friends had just missed out on grades and weren't accepted that year. At the time lots people were really upset but I strongly believe that things happen for a reason. Many of them have gone on to university's they would have never thought to go to and they have ended up having the best time at them.

I arrived at Birmingham in September 2008, and while it wasn't completely smooth sailing during my first year, I ended up cementing a fantastic group of friends who I have so many memories with during the first two years.

As third year, my year abroad, rolled around, I was excited for the experience but also worried about leaving behind Birmingham. At that time I had a great group of friends and a boyfriend here at UoB. I felt that leaving would change everything and that I'd miss out on so much at home. I definitely struggled with that in my first semester but realised that the only way to settle in the end was to just put Birmingham at the back of my mind for the year. My second semester abroad was fantastic. I remember feeling so eager to get back in January.

While things are very different now that I'm home, I still keep in touch with those friends from UoB and I've made some great friendships through the year abroad experience. I was homesick in America, I can't lie about that but overall the experience far surpassed those low moments.

The head of our department talked about culture shock and everyone thought he was going mad. He said that when we first got to America all we would talk about would be home and then when we returned home, we'd just want to talk about our year abroad. At the time I thought the man was losing it, but he actually has it down to a tee.

Now I'm back in the UK, it's been difficult to feel inspired about returning to university in Birmingham. Doing the Open Day today made me realise how fortunate I am to have come to a university like Birmingham. I was looking out at all the prospective students, all 17 and 18 years old and thinking, that was me three years a go. Now I'm home after a year in America and talking to students about all the experiences I've had.

I don't want to leave Birmingham in a year's time wishing that I'd made the most of my fourth year. While I know the city pretty well and feel like I've taken most out of it, the university definitely still has more to give. My final year will be a lot of hard work but it can still be a great year.