Two years have passed since my parents dropped me off in Bournemouth as an excited but nervous fresher, moving away from home for the first time. It was an incredibly emotional but exciting time for me, moving to a new place with people I didn’t know to start university.

The first two weeks were a total blur, Freshers fortnight, enrolling into university and going through the initial welcome lectures and seminars, I don’t really remember much of it all now. It wasn’t until after this that I began to settle in, get into a routine with uni life, and feel comfortable with where I was.

I was lucky in the fact that my flatmates were all really great people, I got on so well with them and managed to do so many different things with them all. First term included many flat meals, movie nights, trips to the beach, nights out and towards Christmas time, trips to town to the Christmas market. We also did lots of one off things, such as carving pumpkins for Halloween, going to the fireworks in October on the beach, and having a flat ‘Christmas Day’ including presents and Christmas dinner!

The further through first term I got, I began to feel happier and more settled in Bournemouth. My initial nerves and fears about being away from home and not being sure I had done the right thing all went away as I realised that my decision was making my life so much better.

First term of first year taught me so much, I learned so much at university and really settled into the course and understood what was expected of me, and I knew I had made the right decision. I made so many memories that I still look back on now, as well as some traditions that have carried on throughout the rest of my time at university, including the pumpkin carving and ‘Christmas Day’!

By Bethany Corden