Hey guys,
So today I thought I would give you an insight into my student life so far. I wouldn't say it's the most exciting thing in the world, but it's definitely a huge change from school.
After the whirlwind that was Fresher's Week, classes began and I had to develop a new routine for myself. Which I have to say, was harder than expected.
With university, the timetabling for classes can be very awkward. Especially for me. My timetable goes something like this:

Doesn't sound like the nicest timetable in the world does it? One thing I will say though is that even though I am in all day on Monday and Tuesday, I am not constantly in class. I get breaks!
Even though my timetable sounds horrible it's not as bad as it seems. I mean over the past month I have been adjusting quite well and have established some sort of routine for myself.
Mainly for me, if I'm not in class I am in the Student's Union. If you don't know what that is, it is a place with shops and areas for students and extracurricular clubs to meet. It is also a source of information for student's and holds events from time to time. I spend a lot of time there because I don't live on campus and can't go home between classes. But the Student's Union has quickly become a second home. I know some people prefer to go to the library between classes to work but for me, I can't work in that silence. And the Student's Union has just the right level of noise that is enough you can still work there.
Other than that, I do spend a lot of time in classes. Which was to be expected for my course. I knew going into it that I was going to have to work hard and so far I have. Overall the course hasn't been so bad. I find the pace easy enough to keep up with and I haven't been having too many difficulties.
I have had a few problems with programming (which if you follow me on Twitter, you know all about) but I have been working on it a lot and I understand things better now. Considering I have never coded before in my life, I think I'm doing well. Which is a great because I wouldn't want to be failing out of uni in the first year.
We are also learning about databases right now and since I studied that at a level it's nothing to worry about. We are also doing another module which is also new to me but is easy to understand.
As for homework...I don't get any.
I know, it sounds great, but we always have work to do even if it's not set homework. If, like me, you have never programmed before it is best to practice programming at home and do the recommended reading. Otherwise, it can be hard to keep up with class. So I always have something to do even when it seems like I have nothing to do.
 Even though we don't have set homework, we do have assessments. These are things that count towards are final grades so we have to work for those. But like I said, so far everything is fine. No major problems so far.
Moving away from school and talking about the other half of student life....socializing!
If you guys read my Fresher's Week blog post then you know I met a lot of new people on the first week of university and luckily for me, I have made friends with them. I am so glad that we had to do team building on the first day because otherwise I would find it so hard to talk to people. Especially because I am staying at home for university, I don't have the advantage of meeting new people in university accommodation.
So I now have a small group of people in my lectures that I know and we all sit in our little area in the lecture hall which is fab. It also means that I have friends that understand the ups and downs of my course and that I can talk to about it. Which I appreciate because my other friends don't understand anything I say about computing haha.
It is so great to be around new people. Especially when you have been going to school with the same people for seven years. It is also amazing to find new friends who have similar interests to you. One of the first people that I became friends with also loves RuPaul's Drag Race and that's when I knew we were going to be great friends.
It's things like that that make me really happy.
As for going out and partying...I haven't been out much since Fresher's Week. I mean I am not one for going out a lot anyway but as a student it's a rite of passage to go out and party. Which isn't for everyone. But for the vast majority of student's it is.
For me, I feel I am somewhere in the middle. I can appreciate a good night out, but I can also appreciate a night in a whole lot more. So I have enjoyed the occasional night out since Fresher's and it's been a well-needed break from class and coming home every night.
When I am not at university I do prefer to stay home rather than go out most of the time anyway. Mainly because after spending so much time at university I just want to sleep! Haha. One of the downsides to being a student is that sleep can sometimes be lacking. And I know it's no one else's fault but my own. Especially when I don't live with noisy roommates and I'm in my quiet house haha. But oh well...you can't be a student without sacrificing something.
On a whole, university so far has been amazing. At first I was a little bit unsure about the choice of studying Software Engineering in case I didn't like it but honestly, I don't regret it at all. We have been getting so many talks and emails about the opportunities that are available to us and it makes me super excited for the future. Which is something I thought I would never say.
So if I've learnt anything from being at university so far, it's that you need to follow your passion. Because if you don't you won't enjoy it. You study what you want and it will motivate you to do the rest. It sounds really cheesy, but it's true. If you make choices for you and not for others you will be happier. Because I don't think I would be fine with studying anything else and I don't think I've made a huge mistake either.
I'm content with how things are going and I'm just excited to see where they go next. :) Thanks so much for reading, and I will keep you updated as the school year progresses.
~ Courtney x