Unfortunately, I didn’t post updates as each month of University was going on, but I thought I’d do a quick summary post of my first year at University, and also the first term of second year!
I began University on the 22nd September 2017. Just typing that date out makes me realise that I have actually been at University for quite a long time now. When I began, I wasn’t sure if I was going to make friends easily, be able to take part in societies, or have enough money to live without financial support or a job. Luckily I was still in brief contact with my parents who said they would support me financially until I got myself a job, as well as my student money which came through three times within my first year.
Overall, I learnt A LOT about myself in the year. I started building friendships instantly, began hooking up with people at nightclubs (which was just the student thing to do, and was going our 3-4 times A WEEK…which was mad, and drained my bank account. Over the months, I started cutting out my nights out and focused more on my friends and the people around me on my course. I began filming and uploading videos for my YouTube channel and trying to get some of my mates involved with videos (including Olivia, Rheanne, Libby and Callum), who appear quite often on my social media platforms now!
During the middle of first year, I thought about joining the ‘NTU Pride’ and ‘NTU Blogging’ societies as it was only £3 membership fee for the year, and I wanted to expand my friendship groups from just those people living in the same accomodation as me, and my course mates. I met a lot of people from both societies and attended various events.
With the Blogging society, we went on a trip to London to see the valenciaga exhibition (which was interesting to say the least), as well as a ‘social gathering’ at the Orange Tree back up in Nottingham. The events were nice, because at the time I only focused on my YouTube channel and didn’t really mention my interest in blogging, as it was quite empty back then…but it was a nice crowd of people to hang around, although I feel like I’ve lost contact with 99% of the members…
Along with the blogging friends that I made, I also joined NTU Pride and pretty much fit in straightaway, as everyone was either a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, straight or simply ‘other’. It was a little bit scary at first, because back in London I didn’t really have an ‘LGBT crowd’ to say the least…I was pretty much the only one of my friends that way gay, and the only way I would meet other people like me was through dating apps such as Tinder, Grindr or Yellow (which has recently been renamed to Yubo). Whilst being part of the pride community, I have been able to make a lot of interesting friends and build connections with a massive variety of people. I helped some of my friends even come out a well…which like I have said many times, people shouldn’t have to ‘come out’ in order to feel validated, but I guess it relieves a bit of weight off of your shoulders, and that’s the main reason I had to come out TWICE…to be real with myself who I am and not keep lying to myself.
Since first year of University I have definitely grown as a person, but I travelled back from London to Nottingham during the middle of September. I was working at JLGB during the summer holidays once again and helped out on summer camp and the NCS programme (run every year by JLGB- the Jewish Lads and Girls Brigade). When I arrived back in Nottingham, I was obviously moving into a new student accomodation with Rheanne, Callum, Moksha, Deepinder and Marcus; who we didn’t know at the time and rarely see now…but from some of the chats I have had with him via Instagram, he seems like a nice guy, but obviously prefers to keep himself to himself. I wanted to document the transition from halls to a student flat so I filmed lots of University related videos and vlogged my moving in (which you can see on my second YouTube channel – IsThatMoreBrandon).
Other than celebrating a few birthdays and starting University lectures as usual, nothing much has changed this term. I am still single, looking for jobs or even work experience…and I want to get these stupid essays done so I can focus on something else! Two things I cannot stand are essays and exams. Anyways, I’ve been back in London over the Christmas period and it has been nice seeing some of North London mates; including Sophia H, Hannah & Emma Hughes, Lee (who I actually bumped into accidentally on the bus) and Daisy Maskell; my primary school friend who has been hosting KissFM on the radio since the 2nd January 2019!
I am honestly so proud of her and I’m sure that there will be interviews, photo-shoots and updates about that over the next few weeks…
Anyways, that’s it for this post, but I hope you enjoy the little collage of some of my favourite pictures from first year at University and from first term of second year!
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