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Worries About Progressing to University Life
Plasmatic
Registered User new member
Registered User new member
Tomorrow I start going to university for the first time. I've decided to live at home while doing this and it'll generally be a 1 hour 30 minute journey by train and bus to the university. This creates a lot of free time for me to do very little, at least in the first week. I have fears of getting lost, bored and just generally having nothing to do during these times. Being in the middle of the unknown city to me, with having no aim of anything to do scares me, mainly for getting lost.
This will also be my first time traveling away from home on my own, at all, really. So being so far away from home creates a scary atmosphere for me.
Another fear is not making friends. This is mainly because I do not find events entertaining that most find are entertaining. Such as drinking, going to parties, nightclubs, eating out etc. Which I feel severely limits sociability and makes it hard to make friends.
The final fear is actually working a job environment. I have no work experience what-so-ever, and I plan to get my first job this year too, at university. The thing that makes me anxious about this experience is doing something wrong or being put in a situation I never expected and not knowing how to solve it, making a mistake basically.
I realize that most of these things can probably be solved by me just being in these situations and they probably won't seem so bad, since many people go on in life to do these things with great ease.
I'd appreciate any advice on how to cope with these issues/worries or just any rationalizations.
Thanks.
This will also be my first time traveling away from home on my own, at all, really. So being so far away from home creates a scary atmosphere for me.
Another fear is not making friends. This is mainly because I do not find events entertaining that most find are entertaining. Such as drinking, going to parties, nightclubs, eating out etc. Which I feel severely limits sociability and makes it hard to make friends.
The final fear is actually working a job environment. I have no work experience what-so-ever, and I plan to get my first job this year too, at university. The thing that makes me anxious about this experience is doing something wrong or being put in a situation I never expected and not knowing how to solve it, making a mistake basically.
I realize that most of these things can probably be solved by me just being in these situations and they probably won't seem so bad, since many people go on in life to do these things with great ease.
I'd appreciate any advice on how to cope with these issues/worries or just any rationalizations.
Thanks.
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As for work and making mistakes. It's going to happen. You will make a mistake eventually. It is part of life and the important thing is learning from it. Keep a positive attitude, if there's a lull ask what else you can do.
When I did study abroad, I had a 45 minute commute to and from class every day. While that's still only half yours, it's still a lot of time just sitting around, and since it was abroad it was in a city where I didn't speak the language. Since it was 2006, I mostly just listened to music, but you can also use that time to get some additional studying in, tweak reports, etc.
I mean, you might be bored or have nothing to do. That's okay! College, in many ways, is about preparing you for the real world. I tend to extend this to things like having to wait in lines and deal with a faceless bureaucracy that doesn't really care about you. At least we have cell phones now. Eventually you'll be busy enough, so busy that you'll wonder why it seems like your professors all assigned projects that are due within two days of each other.
As for a job, well, at least you'll be earning some money. You're not going to be doing anything that's life or death, and you will not get fired for making a single mistake. You'll mistakes. A good way avoid them is to be eager and ask questions, and if you do mess up, make sure you ask how to avoid it in the future.
Some advice-
Always go to class, everyday. The greatest part of success in life is showing up prepared.
Get a map of the city. You don't need to worry about being lost if you have a map! If you don't have a smartphone with gps, having a city map in your backpack at all times is just as good. You can get these pretty easily from most gas stations, and your city's tourist center will probably have some nice laminated ones.
With the 1.5 hour commute, you're going to probably use that for study time. I wouldn't even consider it wasted time at all, because you're going to need to study quite a bit anyway.
Find out where the coffee shops are in town. Colleges tend to have nice coffee houses with good atmospheres spring up around them. That way you can get off campus without going all the way home, and it's a good meet up spot. You can start study groups just by asking class mates to meet you at the local coffee house and go over some things.
Check out the clubs. You just need to go to your housing/residence life office and inquire about it. There will likely be lists and such to get you started. If your college has a gym, they'll probably also have lists of sports/classes. Find something you're interested in.
Above all- don't be afraid to make mistakes. That's how we learn and grow as people. As a student, that's your #1 job.
Yeah I'm hoping to find clubs and groups. My university has a week dedicated to it, and it's the first week. So I'm going to try and attend some of those events and see if I can meet some people.
Most likely with work that will be the case. I suppose it's just key to constantly communicate confusions and mistakes that may have been made. I'd just hope the person I tell and inform, would be just as calm as positive as my attitude towards them. Since that commonly sours things, but it is a thing that must be dealt with.
Oh wow, I can't even imagine being in a situation where a cities main language is not my native one. It would seem very alienating if the people had no knowledge of your native language. I do need to prepare some things to do in my down time. Currently I only really have music.
I'm usually very inquisitive about tasks/jobs I need to do, only problem is, that's usually when the person I could ask has long gone to do their own job/thing. These were informal things at my secondary school, helping around with some events generally.
I was a mature student in university, transferred universities and majors at one point and am quite introverted so most of my social life in university wasn't would you would describe as stellar.
The best thing I did to improve my situation was to get involved with helping run my major's student social committee. It forced me to go to events and meet new people. Coming from a working class family it helped me start building my network and gave me a useful volunteer experience to put on my resume. My last year of university was probably the most enjoyable and rewarding because of this. At the very least I would recommend seeing if your school has these types of clubs for your major even if you have no interest in helping to run one.
Aside from that there's the usual plug for other social/event/hobby groups at your university. I didn't personally get involved in other ones but I have friends who met some of their best friends that they still are close with today from various clubs.