It’s 5.24am and I can’t sleep. No, I’m not still drunk (although I did go out last night, but it was a “quiet night”). Actually, I’m unable to switch off and just let my mind stop working. The last few days have made me realise exactly how much of my university experience this year has been down to the people I shared it with. Of the five other girls with whom I’m living next year, four have been away for three days, and one for two. Thank god they’re all back later on today as it has been rather lonely without them. It’s not that these five fabulous people are my only friends at York which makes me miss them so much, but the fact that they all live on my corridor, within shouting distance of my room, and I’ve never been without them all at the same time since arriving here. Which leads me to wonder what this year would have been like had they not appeared, destined to live alongside me all those months ago in October 2005. University has the strange effect of creating a brand new family. The roles people play aren’t forced upon them, they just naturally develop. In my “family” we have: - the “mum” (whose job it is to comfortingly stroke the backs of any friends unfortunate enough to be discovered throwing up in the luxurious toilets of Ziggy’s)
- the “indie chick” (free spirit, burner of incense and fountain of knowledge regarding all things musical)
- the “drama queen” (naturally theatrical and born to entertain); the “social worker” (the ear to bend, coincidentally also studying a degree in Social Work…)
- the “quick-witted one” (dubbed by me for her keen and unrelenting sense of humour, known for her ability to make light of any situation)
- and finally the “child” (the slightly less responsible, but equally as valuable family member).
I’ll leave it up to you to ascertain where I fit into the above list… In four weeks time, I will leave York having completed my first year and return to Cardiff for the summer, taking with me a new sense of self which I could not have achieved had I stayed at home to study, or ventured to university with old friends in tow. Having found a way to “fit” into my world here, I have realised that I have the ability to form friendships in the wider world, outside my campus bubble. Not only have I acquired a new set of friends, but I have learnt which of those from back home I value most. Going away has an odd impact on existing friendships, and in my experience, often unexpected. I find I am either closer (in a “til death do us part” kind of way) or have grown entirely distant from people at home. Strangely, some of those bonds which I expected to break the most easily have turned out to be the strongest. And so at the end of term I will venture back to my Welsh roots having acquired independence, a keen taste for coffee, a (supposedly) thorough knowledge of American literature, an obsession with “Neighbours” and “Deal or No Deal”, and the ability to steal five luminous shot glasses from directly under the watchful eye of the suspicious bar staff. University is not simply a place to develop intellectual knowledge; these, my friends, are new interests and skills which are valuable life experience and will, undoubtedly, be of great assistance to me when I eventually embark on my search for a Real Job. Rachel Thompson |
