A Student's Life 18
When Gaz asked me to write a sort of ‘retrospective’ piece for the Freshers’ issue of LeNurb, naturally I jumped at the chance. ‘Great,’ I thought to myself, ‘a chance at last to tell the world what university is really like’.
‘But wait,’ said Gaz, ‘you mustn’t scare the kiddies.’
‘Oh,’ I replied. ‘Damn.’
This was going to be far harder than I had anticipated. This was going to take some serious thought…
So, having drained a few bottles of cider to try and bring myself back to that familiar student-state, I sat down at my computer and began to think. I wrote a few words down on a pad that I felt summed up my first year at Brunel.
Parties… Check.
Fire-alarms… Check.
Late-night Guitar Hero sessions…. Check.
Copious amounts of cider… Check. Double check… Actually, better make that a triple check!
At this point, my memory started to turn hazy. Wasn’t there more to my first year than cider and early-morning fire alarms? I wasn’t sure.
I decided to look at my first year photo collection to try and jog my memory.
Parties… Check.
More parties… Check.
Academy… Check.
Locos… Check.
That was it. Locos: the hub of my life at Brunel and the place where I enjoyed some of some of the best nights of my life. I thought of the people I’d met; the friends I’d made. I remembered the countless nights of jukebox mayhem, filling the entire downstairs of the students’ union with the likes of Lionel Richie, Spandau Ballet and Bonnie Tyler. Now I was getting somewhere.
I looked closer at the photos. I looked at the faces. They all looked so young.
Had three years really passed by already?
It was at this point I decided to grab another bottle of cider. It’s hard work being a writer sometimes.
I sat back down to continue brainstorming. Everything I wrote now came back to one central word: friends. I’d found my answer.
It’s strange to think, looking back at it now, how fast those three years of my degree passed. I don’t think for one moment I expected it to go by as quickly as it did. Three years. Three whole years, and for what?
So I got a good degree, I made some awesome friends, and I wrote for this magazine more times than perhaps a sane man should. Even still, after all the things I did – all the things I accomplished – while at Brunel, I sometimes wish I’d done more.
Take these words of advice from me then my friends, and may they guide your next three years. Remember that though it may not seem like it now, three years is actually only a short length of time in the grand scheme of things. Be sure to make the most of every opportunity that comes your way. Have fun, but have fun responsibly. Remember that you’re here to learn as well as to have fun. Don’t leave work till the last minute, and especially don’t make your first trip to the library in your third year! Work hard and you will certainly reap the rewards of your endeavour. With a little bit of thought and planning, you can easily work hard and still have time to party and hang out with your friends.
So there you have it: a comprehensive guide to being a student in the space of a few hundred words. Simple really! So next time you find yourself in Locos, sitting watching the world go by, please think of us former students, and the countless souls that have gone before you and those that will doubtless follow. While you’re at it, why not even put on a little Lionel Richie for old time’s sake, just for me.
Think of us, and make us proud.
Have fun, work hard, stay safe.
Until next time.
M.J.Ryder