Meet new BU student Katrina, who’s here to share her journey with you. First things first – moving to a new home!

So, I am currently sat at my new desk in my new room. It is my third day here in Bournemouth and I am having a lot of fun. It all started with the packing and the saying goodbye. This is probably the hardest part of the whole experience – that, and applying. I applied through Clearing as I didn’t get the grades I hoped for. Because I applied through Clearing I also didn’t have a chance to get into halls. But that was okay, because thanks to my Mum I was able to get into a Unilet. With this I had to apply quickly as spaces were running out.

Once I had faced saying all my goodbyes I then arrived at the university to collect my keys. Knowing that I was going to have my own room, independence and space is something which helped with my nerves. When I am nervous I tend to focus as hard as I can on the positive aspects of my life. Of course I was nervous to meet my housemates but once we were more open with one another there wasn’t anything scary or awkward about it. I invited my housemates out, two of them came. We ended up at the Old Fire Station the first night which helped ease the anxiety as it was a student club/bar. In fact I wasn’t anxious at all. I had a great time and am now really close with my house mates.

As for my room – I was really impressed! It is spacious and has everything I need and more. I soon personalised it with my pictures, jewellery and lighting. I think doing this the day you move in is a really good idea. I felt more at home and comfortable in my new room than I initially thought I would. The only thing about my room was that I was told I have a single bed, so I bought a single sheet and duvet. I can’t complain though, because a double bed means my sister can come and visit me. I then used Google maps (my saviour of the past two days) and found the nearest Argos. I went on an adventure and bought new bedding. At this point I was glad of the extra cash I had saved. This is another good tip, just in case you’ve forgotten something or need to replace something.

For the first two days one of my housemates and I spent a lot of time together, exploring. Of course we had difficulties but it was good because we were figuring university life out together. We got rather confused with the bus system, but after riding around for a day we are now beginning to get the hang of it. By the way, there are three bus companies, we can use the blue buses (more buses) and U- buses (University Buses). But not the Yellow buses, despite them being more frequent (unless you want to pay). It is well worth checking out the route maps before travelling. However the mistakes that we made are now good memories. It was such a laugh trying to find the right bus at 2am. It was lovely that we could dance together. It was hilarious when we burnt our Pizza the first night because of an oven we aren’t used to. On which note, I still haven’t figured that out so please let me know if you can use a gas cooker.

Wish me luck!

By Katrina Eastwood

Katrina is studying BA (Hons) Economics