Thursday 28-03-2024 - 08:00

Louise Mariani-McIntyre, BA (Hons) Fine Art and Art History student 

 

Try out the societies and extra programmes that the university offers, but don’t put too much pressure on yourself to do everything. It’s good to experiment and experience new things, but there are so many things you could do at university, that you don’t want to overload yourself and lose sight of what’s important. Try lots of things, and then get your priorities in order. Only make time for the ones that bring you the most joy - and make time for rest, too.  

In a similar vein, you are going to start learning new things about yourself and the way you want to live your life very quicky.  This can get a little overwhelming and confusing, so do yourself a favour and develop a way to process all of this. Chatting to a friend, a parent, the voice memo app on your phone, or my personal favourite, journaling. 

Find people that bring out the best in you. And if you can’t, don’t settle for people who bring out the worst. Befriend yourself is the best advice I could ever give you. A good relationship with yourself is invaluable, and good things will inevitably follow. 

Also, trust your intuition! It’s a real thing! And you don’t owe a random person you just met anything. If you want to leave, leave.  

If you’re sensitive to sound, or a light sleeper like me, get some foam earplugs. They will help you sleep even if your flatmates is singing Olly Murs’ ‘Troublemaker’ in the living room at 2am (to be honest, it’s a great song and I don’t blame them at all). 

Use your experience at university like a soundboard. Don’t use it as a place to try and do everything perfectly. Make mistakes – in fact, make public mistakes. Have conversations about things you don’t fully understand yet, ask questions, be curious, make ‘rubbish’ art, say the wrong answer, write bad articles!  Do it all because this isn’t about impressing people. This is a very acceptable time in your life to be kind of naff, and by making public mistakes that people can give you feedback on, you will learn so much more than you would keeping the ideas in your head and pretending to everyone around you that you’re 100% clued up. You’re not – no one is. Don’t be afraid of looking a little silly because that’s what’s going to make you smarter and wiser in the long run.  

And finally, university is the place to try out what works and what doesn’t, what makes you happy, what fulfils you, what your standards are, and overall, discover who you really are - so don’t waste that opportunity trying to be somebody else.  

We appreciate every student who collaborated with us in the past weeks letting us know what they would like from Women History Month. If you would like to be involved in these types of projects in the futures please join the Women Society at UKS through this link.