My name is Aliki. I'm a fourth year design engineering student and I'm graduating this July
and I've compiled a list with all the things that I wish I'd known before coming to Bath
and things that I've learned over the years from my experience regarding Uni, student life but also
the beautiful town of Bath and I hope you guys find them useful so here we go. Your experience
in the first week or month of university does not dictate how the rest of the university experience
will go. I personally thought before coming to uni that whatever activity I took on in the first
week, whatever friend group I chose to be in in the first week would just - these choices would
just follow me for the rest of my university career and that is simply not true. There are
constantly new opportunities to meet new people make new friends try new new activities. I mean,
I waited until my third and fourth year to try things like dancing, golfing, climbing,
and there were things that I was kind of scared to try because I wouldn't have the
opportunity to try them in my hometown. And even if you don't actively seek out, you know,
activities that take you out of your comfort zone, I think that university brings smaller experiences
to you that will help you grow like managing stress, you know, having to deal with a lot of
stress, having to deal with difficult flatmates sometimes, having to deal with difficult people.
These are all parts of what university really is and it is crazy how much growth you're going
to observe in yourself after your university experience. Use university resources. You will
never be in such an environment that wants you to be well and to succeed. The most basic thing
is going to your lectures because they help you keep up with your work, they help you keep in
touch with people from your course and lecturers and tutors. Don't be scared to ask questions,
you know, ask your tutors. Go to your tutorials, send your lecturers emails; it's their job to help
you. Even if you've never talked to them before, it's their job to make sure that you succeed.
A very under-looked resource is the library website because you can access so many things
that are usually subscription based. You can ask them for free through your university email and
make accounts in Researchgate, in Statista, and all these other websites that will help you in
your academic papers. But also there are a lot of guides on there on how to reference and generally
like elevate your writing. Be informed about all the services that the SU offers. They have
really good financial counselling, mental health counselling, but also a big amount of workshops
and seminars that you can attend if you're looking to take a new hobby or just escape the stress.
I mean, I recently attended a mental health dog walk which was quite fun because it made me forget
all about my deadlines! Explore your city. Before coming to Bath I thought that the
main way Uni students had fun is by going out to bars and nightclubs. The truth is that I ended up
having the most fun when I wasn't out partying in bars and nightclubs and I was actually exploring
my city and what it has to offer. Bath has a big history and art scene through its museums,
it's changing exhibitions at The Holburne Museum, The Victoria Art Gallery but also so many other
architectural attractions like The Roman Baths, The Abbey that you can just explore and never
get bored of. There's so many nearby towns and cities that are equally as beautiful and have so
much to offer like Bristol and Cardiff which are really really close by train and you can see [in
Bristol] the Clifton Suspension Bridge, the Banksy tours if you're an art lover like me. But also if
you have a car it would be amazing to visit all those nearby villages that are around Bath and are
beautiful. This is a general reminder to put your experience first. Putting your experience first
means doing whatever you need to to make yourself happy you know cancel plans if you want to or get
out of your comfort zone and message people that you've never talked to before to make plans.
Choosing your flatmates wisely and just not being scared to stand up for yourself and do what you
have to do to just make yourself feel safe and feel good into every situation that you get into.
I would have felt a lot better in my first two years if I just realized the fact that university
is not like school. Nobody's there to judge you. You don't have to fit in. You don't have to know
everyone. You don't have to be liked by everyone. You just need to do what you need to do put your
mental health first and balance your work life and your social life because your work does not
define you you're so much more than that. This is the best time for you to learn a new language,
a new skill, a new hobby or start any style project that you want to work on
to make your experience better. Keep a balance between your friends from home, from your country,
your town and international friends so you always want to have this sense of comfort
going back to your friends from home or from your native country but you always want to make
new international friends and share your culture with other people whose cultures are different.