Michael - Reflections on my final year
Michael shares his thoughts on finishing his first term as a final year student and his thoughts about being a student at Solent.
The daunting final year has arrived for me after three years at Solent. Throughout my time here I had comfort in the thought that the third year was miles away, but in the blink of an eye I am looking at my last Christmas at Solent. It is bittersweet knowing I’ll (most likely) have my degree by the end of next year, as I will be saying goodbye to friends and colleagues to begin a new chapter.
If you’re a student, regardless of which year, I am sure your lecturers have already informed you of the work waiting for you in your final few terms. This pile of library books, (in the picture above), represents the beginning of my dissertation, and I don’t think it will take you many guesses to work out what it’s about. It may not be the same for other subjects, but on my BA (Hons) English course the first term has been establishing the ramped-up workload. Among units that include essays and presentations we are used to from previous years, we have a 10,000-word dissertation piece to work on throughout the year. Yes, it seems like a lot of work, but as soon as you start getting stuck in, the last two years of study takes over and you go into autopilot mode.
As my final first term of the year comes to a close, I can’t help but reminisce on when I first came to Solent. The first Christmas market, the first nights out with my flat mates, and the freedom of independence. To the first year students or those interested in going to university, enjoy the first year as much as you can without going too crazy. I know everyone says these years will be some of the best of your life, but they say it for a reason.
