Things I learned in my first term

This first term was most definitely a busy one, with a huge amount of things to get used to, from university-style learning to settling in with flatmates. Nevertheless, that isn’t to say that it wasn’t enjoyable; in fact, I would say these past few months have been everything I could have hoped for with regards to starting university.

From the moment I had secured my place at Bristol, I was more than excited to get started with university life, especially in a city like Bristol which seemed so vibrant and interesting. However, I started to feel a bit nervous about it all the few weeks before actually starting university. I realised this was completely normal but it was still a bit unnerving. I can now happily say that my first term completely lived up to my expectations, of both Bristol and university life in general.

Coping with workload has been much more manageable than I expected, although one lesson which I feel I learnt from the first term is the importance of doing your own extra work. This is especially the case with humanities, where our contact hours are fewer because of the expectations that we will use our own time to do not only assigned reading for lectures and seminars, but also our own reading around the subject.

Personally this is something which I feel I may not have done enough of in the first term; I still spent a lot of time reading and preparing for particular assignments, such as my History essay, but I did not dedicate as much time to additional reading, which I now realise would have been very useful when it comes to exam revision. I do not necessarily regret this as I think the first time is your opportunity to adjust to university, but I am now resolved to do more of my own reading and research during the upcoming teaching block.

– Emily