Well, uni's back soon. I've had three months off, during which I've had loads of fun as well as the odd crushing isolation. I can't wait to come back to uni, it's been way too long!
Alright, I'm not that assured by second year itself. I am well aware it won't be simple, the content will be more difficult, and any free time I have will become quickly suffocated by an enormous mountain of post-lab work. That said, I want to approach it much like I did first year - focus on socialising, then studying.
The reason for that is because I enjoy being happy. I approached first year too much like a demo to what uni will be really like - loads of exam revision, stressing about fairly mundane topics, and that never got me anywhere. I also doubt that's how uni's meant to be spent. Sure, I'm here to study, pass exams, get a degree and eventually a job or internship. However, if that's all uni was supposed to be, they'd have banned socialising in the first place.
What I'm trying to say is I don't want to treat uni like a job. I want to have friends, not coworkers. I want to be happy, not merely content whilst ablaze in burnout. Therefore, I want to approach second year like I should have approached first: a more carefree attitude, whilst remaining focused on my studies, but not being swept away by them. Basically, I want a work-life balance.
I doubt this means I'll go clubbing for the sake of it. I'm still tempted by the prospect, but I won't go that far just because. However, I won't stop looking around at various societies, trying to write articles in the uni newspaper, and occasionally making random conversations with bystanders for the sake of it. Okay, I've never done the last one, but maybe I will this time.
Either way, my uni recently sent me my timetable for the year, and it looks alright. Not too happy lectures start immediately in second week, and I'm really scared about what the bonding module has to offer. Also pleased by there being relatively few lab sessions, just three weeks worth. Still waiting on them to include my extracurricular and ancillary modules, but I'm sure that will come with time.
From this, I can plan ahead and think about how my week will look. Wednesday's are often off, so I can spend that time studying like a hermit. When I don't have anything on, I might give myself a day off, maybe treat myself to a distant day out. Any spare time can be spent in the library, grinding my way through organic chemistry whilst listening to some classic ambient albums. Societies are always in the evenings, obviously, so I can study some more when waiting for them.
Odds are, I won't work like this; the plan's almost perfect, and I wilt at the sight of routine. That said, I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. It's really easy to have an idealised view of uni, then get concerned when reality doesn't match that. I probably need to work on that myself, just to make sure I don't end up writing a blogpost like Thionyl chloride, thiols, and why I hate tutorials which came out of academic stress.
Speaking about the blog, whilst I'm on the topic, I'd like to end by mentioning two things:
- Yes, the chemistry posts will be returning. I'll try and write way more to make up for that, I'm aware loads of you don't do uni-level chemistry. The last thing I want to do is make you guys think I'm insane when I mention entropy for the fiftieth time in a post.
- I will also try and write more uniblog posts if possible. I know I barely wrote any last year, but hopefully I'll have way more experiences that are worth bringing up.
You can expect a post on bonding anytime soon. Hope you're not put off by that - I've got to study that for a lengthy exam in the new year. Consider yourself lucky!
And here's to second year, which will hopefully be more tolerable than the first.
Good luck in your second year!!!
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