1. Earn a lot of money/get a job!
I really wished I spent
Let me tell you when you turn 18 and can actually buy alcohol for yourself, money flies out the door. Also, all the tickets to uni events, drinks, gigs/concerts, clubs and cabs home cost money (no one warned me of this either). A night out can easily drain you of $100.
Another thing is, potentially some of you may be getting your driving licence! Congratulations, enjoy the freedom! But you may not be lucky enough to have parents that are willing to pay for a car and petrol, so once you get your licence, you may need to buy a car or if you get to use one of your parents', you have to pay for petrol. That shit's expensive! Who knew liquified dinosaur could cost a kidney?
2. #YOLO with your looks!
Ok please don't click away because I just used YOLO in this post, I was using it ironically, I swear! Anyway, my point is use this time to get that piercing you wanted or dye your hair the shade of pink you've dreamt of for the past two years! My high school was very strict on dress code; no earrings besides lobes, no tattoos and no unnatural hair colour. I would suggest not yoloing on a tattoo but piercings (depending) and hair, why not?! During school I got quite a few ear piercings,
Piercings are something I've always wanted and because they're on my ears they don't change my appearance too much and aren't too dramatic (in saying that I can't imagine my image without them) so if you want a piercing I'd say go for it but make sure you do your research, ask your friends and family and be sure if it's something on your face or body where it will make a obvious mark, think it through. I definitely have regretted a piercing I got on my body and now have a horrible scar :( Also remember that work places have dress codes so keep that in mind when deciding what to get.
I have had more than my fair share of hair dying experience, and fun fact: every time I have dyed my hair, I have done it myself and at home. When I finished high school I definitely joined the band wagon of people who dyed their hair a funky colour (you can see the red dip dye in a few of the early videos on my youtube channel) and now scrolling down my Facebook, I see all the new graduates with different coloured hair and just chuckle to myself. If you're going to dye your hair at home start with semi-permanent dye just in case you change your mind or it turns out not as you though so that it washes out within a few washes. If you've decided it's definitely something you want to keep for an extended period of time, just go get it professionally done, it'll turn out better and be healthier for your hair.
Back to hair colour that you only want for a little while, can I just say please either dye your hair back to it's natural colour or retouch up the colour and maintain it when you start uni. I can't tell you the number of people I've walked past with just the most damaged, ratchet looking hair at uni that you can tell was part of a rebellious teenage phase where "you didn't under the man's law anymore and could do what you want" and since have just decided to throw out their mirrors. When you get to uni, unless it's part of a look or you look so fierce with it you could kill a man, it's just face palm.
3. Sort out your course!
I feel like I should have put this first seeing as it's probably
I made a mistake with my subject choices because I didn't read the handbook properly and now have to take two units during my supposed to be break time. Not only that, but Niki also had to hold my hand through picking subjects because I was too lazy to read the handbook and just asked her all my questions. Thank jesus she's so patient with me because if the roles were reversed I know I would have just thrown my laptop down the stairs to avoid anymore questions.
4. Make time for high school friends!
One of my biggest fears when leaving high school was that I was going to lose contact with high school friends and now I can't get rid of them even if I tried. During school you didn't have to put effort into making conversation over Facebook or organising hang outs because in less than 24 hours you were going to see their faces again. I'm lucky enough to have at least 80% of my friendship group (and something like 50% on my year level cohort) come to the same uni as me so even just walking from lecture to lecture I bump into someone I know. I am aware this in different in countries such as America where it's more common to go to different states for universities, so sorry but the principle still applies. Anyway, yes I don't see my friends every single day, I have even gone weeks without seeing anyone in person so as much as I hate to say it, things like Facebook messenger are important in order to to stay in contact. Text, call, WHATEVER, just do it! Otherwise you will lose people: plain and simple. Friendship is a two way street so you can't expect the other person to constantly be the first one to message you and asking you to come hang out. You have to be that person sometimes and that freaked me out too.
It's strange because I knew my friends and I were close, but it seems we're one of the only groups of friends that still all hang out together on a regular basis and actually talk to each other and I think that's because we squashed drama, didn't bitch (too badly) about people and do genuinely love each other instead of having to put up with each other. Additionally, some of us weren't afraid to be that friend that's constantly messaging to hangout, which we're all grateful for. Basically, stop having the high school drama. Don't treat every little rumour into world war three because especially since you don't have to see that person everyday, you don't have to talk to that person so you won't and that's how friendships are lost. You feel me?
Because of my fear of losing friends, I made effort into talking to my high school friends and feel I've actually become closer to some in the past twelve months than I had in past seven years.
If you lose your high school friends, you're entering the whole big wide world of university alone and that's really scary!
5. Be the first to say hello!
I don't think this is necessarily a before you start uni tip but I thought I may as well throw it in. If you're like me and terrified of a new environment with complete strangers, you're going to have to harden up. I'm quite introverted and hate drawing attention to myself and just like to get in and get out (not in all aspects of my life ;) ok that was weird) so when I walked into my first chemistry lecture I was stunned. I actually think this may be a before uni starts tip because you may need a few days to prepare yourself for this. Generally on the first day first semester, everyone shows up to the their lectures because we're n00bz so the theatre is going to be packed! In chemistry, people were sitting in the rows of stairs and spilling out into the corridor so get there a bit early (another tip!) but also don't be afraid to go sit next to someone. Lecturers will generally tell you to not leave seats so don't feel weird about invading people's personally space, it's necessity.
Go into the lecture with this mentality: everyone is exactly like you. It's a completely new semester with new people and no one knows each other. Everyone is just if not more nervous than you. Everyone would appreciate a friend or at least a person to talk to to relieve tension or to break the ice. No one wants to be the awkward loner so they'll welcome anyone who talks to them.
It's a bit desparate, but it's also true! Look, just walk in and introduce yourself and smile. People WILL reciprocate. I decided to get over myself and introduce myself to the girl next to me and even though I never saw her again it was nice to at least have broken the ice and have a laugh for that lecture. Uni is going to be much more pleasant if you're willing to step out of your comfort zone and I know that sounds weird but uni is not like high school so you have to be open to new things.
6. Say yes!
This goes along with stepping out of your comfort zone but you're going to be offered a lot of different things at uni. Ok that just sounded like I was talking about drugs, which you are going to be offered but it wasn't what I was talking about, ok off topic (say no kids!). What I mean is you should be saying yes to more things when you get to uni and put yourself in a position where you're more vulnerable. For example if a person asks to have lunch with you (or you ask someone to have lunch with you) say yes and BOOM instant friend or another example is going to events with new uni friends, just because you don't have the comfort of high school friends doesn't mean you should go! If it'll make you feel better, invite one or two of your high school friends to come with you and your new friends so that way you'll feel more at ease but you're also mixing old and new friends so it's a giant ball of friendship and happiness!
But yeah, be free to say yes and that has landed me in awkward situations with the opposite gender or at gatherings where I'm a bit of a loner, but I regret none of it because from each event I can pick out some that's been good.
7. Not every experience is the same!
Just because you aren't making friends everyday and hanging out with new people everyday doesn't mean you're not adapting to uni life. I didn't feel comfortable enough to hang out with new people until second semester and during my first semester I only only made two or three really good friends that have stuck. However I'd look around and see so many people befriend each other and hang out and I just thought I must not be doing this whole uni thing right. That obviously wasn't true! Second semester I felt so much more comfortable around campus and hang out with new people during breaks and etc and now some of those people I speak to on a daily basis.
Don't compare yourself to other people and think you're weird because other people are doing things differently.
That's all I can think of for now guys, hope you found it helpful and interesting. I may add more on later but I'll definitely be doing a video about this so when that's up, I'll link it here :)
Excuse any typos or grammar issues, I wrote this at 8am after pulling an all nighter so I'm so drowsy right now.
Talk soon,
Katie xo
