REFLECTION ON MY FIRST YEAR AT TRENT

After my experience last year I really didn't have too high expectations for university as the year I spent at UCA in 2018/19 was probably the worst year of my life, but I had high hopes and really wanted it to be worth trying again and that great experience everyone else says it is, and honestly it was everything I'd hoped for and more, ended up bring probably the best year of my life. I wrote a blog earlier this year reflecting on my change in university and also one on my reasoning for moving if you wanted some more detail on that, https://jessicaeve16.wixsite.com/mysite/post/reflection-on-moving-universities, https://jessicaeve16.wixsite.com/mysite/post/i-dropped-out-of-university.

Honestly it's been quite positive the whole way through the year, I got really lucky with my flat mates being so great so I was able to straight away be social and go out with them and we also became close friends with the flat next door which allowed me to be even more social and I really got along with them all. I actually wrote my first blog on the reality of starting university as well for more detail on how that went, https://jessicaeve16.wixsite.com/mysite/post/reality-of-starting-uni. I was also very lucky as my boyfriend already goes the NTU and lives near by to my accommodation so having him in Nottingham really helped to settle me, I also have one of my best friends in her second year at Trent and I had visited them both nearly every weekend last year so I really got to know the city and the university which really helped to make me feel at home. I also knew someone from my secondary school who was starting FCP this year as well so it was great to have someone to go to lectures with at the beginning as it can be so overwhelming with all of the students in the lecture hall. I also spoke to a few girls in my accommodation and walked over to uni with them and met their friends so I was quickly able to expand my social circle which really helped to settle my nerves. Honestly I learnt so much from last year and my friends who all started university last year and the biggest tip I can give is to just throw yourself out there, speak to anyone and everyone and just be confident, I'm really not confident so I just fake it, fake it till you make it and honestly I feel like I have made it.

Another thing I knew I really wanted to do was join a society, I tried out fashion society and met a few girls I still speak to but it was honestly too big and I didn't really enjoy it too much, so me and my friend Laura from the flat next door went to the gymnastics trials and social event and I loved it. Its the perfect amount of people so you quickly get to know most people personally and they really made us feel welcome. This is also where I met my best friend Rachel who actually ended up being on my course and we didn't even know it and then we started meeting up for lectures and seminars.

The course started out really positive, I loved all the experimental work and research we were doing I was really interested in it all which really filled me with some confidence in the course. The first bit of work we did was 'Finding Cool Places' was a great way to get us talking to one another and to see all the hidden gems and find our way around Nottingham. I also really liked that they were putting us in groups as I was getting to meet so many new people that I wouldn't have thought to speak to and I have met some amazing people through this who I speak to on the regular.

I of course kept up my social life outside of the course, going to Ocean most Wednesdays, which I regretted most Thursdays in the 9am lectures but it was worth it. And I actually only went home once between starting and Christmas which is a huge change to when I was coming home every weekend last year, as I was so happy and comfortable in Nottingham.

Definitely a highlight of first year was the Amazon 'Welcome5' scandal in October, which if you didn't hear about it, I'm sorry you missed out big time, it was basically a code glitch which you could use to get £5 off your amazon order as many times as you wanted and with no minimum spend, so if you were buying something for £5 or less it was free, and lets just say we made a few hundred orders.. but what do you expect when you give students a free code. I brought some essential items such as toilet roll, tooth paste, deodorant and high lighters but also some non essentials such a vodka and fake tan, but lets just say Amazon lost a lot of pointless products to students during this time.

I did sort of learn to cook, the occasional taco night or curry, but I also lived of smiley faces and chicken nuggets, so that probably something I should work on next year.

I did definitely learn a lot of responsibility and looking after myself that I missed out on last year with coming home every weekend so I am really proud of myself for being a lot more independent. I also learnt how to DIY a lot of my Wednesday night outfits, which I have also wrote two blogs on if your interested in how I did this.

Talk about being an adult, in November we went to one house viewing and 10 minutes later signed a contract to rent a house, ye nothing I've experienced before. But we didn't make the best decision to book a four person house with only three people wanting to live there.. luckily we were able to find a friend to join us and now I can't wait to move in there for our second year.

Something I have really gotten into whilst at Trent is my nail designs, I have been really experimental and had some gorgeous designs and colours as I am learning to express myself.

I found some really cool bars, clubs and restaurants and explored Nottingham to find it's such an amazing and creative city and I love living there.

The course has taught me so much that I've never looked into before, with such a variety of topics and tasks, allowing us to experiment and find what we love. I love that we go through the entire process of launching or promoting or advertising things, from creating our own perfume brand to creating a photo shoot using shoes inspired my a Vouge shoot. As last year on my advertising course we were only taught, well hardly even taught, to create adverts, but now I feel that I am much more creative and knowledgeable about the whole process and will allow me to do so much more in the future.

As well as learning to work well as a group and with so many different people, some amazing some very difficult, also in another blog (sorry got to plug), I also learnt a lot of independence through our summative projects and other little side projects which we do on our own. Also writing this blog, it is definitely not something I would have chosen to do as I'm not much of a writer at all but it has honestly been something I have really enjoyed, I love the freedom we have to write about what we want and also share our perspective on situations and things and I've ended up really liking it, which you can probably tell from how long all my blogs are, I do get very into the writing and then they end up being about 6 minute long, sorryy.

At home, through school and uni last year I never really found people I got along with really well and anyone that was quite like me, but at this uni I have found so many amazing people who I love and such a variety of groups which has really allowed me to be myself and I have been so much more confident and I have loved it and I am so grateful for the people I have met.

New York was of course one of my highlights from first year, I have always wanted to go and being able experience it with all of my friends was even better. I learnt and saw so many things there which I will never forget and am so grateful for that insane opportunity. It really opened up my eyes to the opportunities and creatives in fashion that I've not really seen or experienced before. I also wrote some blogs about that if your interested.

I had the most amazing birthday at the Lacehouse with close friends and some family came which was probably one of my favourite birthdays. We also did Pub Golf as our Ocean theme for my birthday which was one of my favourite nights and I was able to celebrate with all of my gymnastics girls.

End of February was the Gymnastics boat ball, which was honestly the best but messiest night of my life and I will never forget it, well what I can remember of it..

Then end of February came my last ocean night of first year and I had no idea, but our theme was Call on Me which was one of my favourites and we had a great night so I'm happy with that being the last.

Start of March I was actually really really ill and couldn't speak or get out of bed and I felt awful so I'm really upset I did get to miss out on some of the final nights out and presenting my work with my group.

Then all of a sudden it was over, when we received an email a random Monday morning telling us that teaching will be online and that we should go home, which was not the ending I was hoping for.

Over all I have had the best year ever, met the most amazing people, had some of the messiest night and learnt some great things from my course, of course and I'm so gutted that it had to be cut short due to Coronavirus, but honestly I feel I have been really lucky with the quality of our online teaching, I feel they have managed it really well and I'm so glad I am at NTU now and I can't wait, fingers crossed, to come back in September.