Staying at Home for Uni

When I picked my university a lot of my friends had very strong opinions about me deciding to stay at home. They said I would miss out and that it wouldn't be as fun. That is was almost like cheating to stay living at home whilst studying. They were all wrong. You can do whatever you want! 

All of a sudden you are free from that routine of going to school and you are in the big wide world and guess what? YOU CHOOSE YOUR PATH!

Most of the people who had a really strong opinion on me I don't talk to anymore. Not just because of that but because we drifted apart. You really do learn who your really friends are when you leave school. 

I'm not gonna lie, living at home is nothing like living in halls. Partying every night sounds fun to begin with but after a couple of weeks, a couple of months?? Anyway, from what my friends who did live in halls said it wasn't really like that anyway. You all live separate lives but together, if that makes sense? 

My fresher’s week was a bit of a let down. This wasn't caused only by the fact I was living at home but that didn't help. Norwich University of the Arts is very small, only 2000 students, so the events in fresher’s week were very small. Norwich also has a very big uni, UEA, which has something ridiculous like 25,000 students, which kinda overshadows NUA. I only really knew one girl on my course that had messaged me the week before because she wanted a friend too. We went to a couple of events but I felt like I was just going out in the day and then coming home to what I was used to. 

But fresher’s week isn't everything. Over time I made lots of friends in my tiny little class. I also made friends with people who Jenny was living with in halls. (Jenny is the girl who messaged me) A year on I have made some friends for life! It just takes a little longer if you live at home.  

I wouldn't change my decision to stay at home for uni. I got to keep my job, which I like and still have all the home comforts like food in the fridge and my washing done for me! If I ever do change my mind in the future I can always move in with my friends in there shared house. There are always options. 

Also something to think about is what would happen when you had to come home for summer? What going to happen when you finish university? 

Everyone is different so do what is right for you, not what anyone tells you! 

Picking a Uni

The website looks good.

The photos look good.

The course sounds good.

Everyone says its good.

And then you go on the open day and its just not for you...

I went on three open days last year and I would strongly encourage you to. You can never really get a feel from the university and the city unless you go and spend time there!

I was dead set on going to Nottingham Trent University until I went on the open day where I felt the course leaded was very un-inspiring. The course was supposed to be one of the best in the country and they defiantly knew it. He knew he didn't really have to try and excite people because they knew the course would be over subscribed whatever they said. I'd pick the halls I was gonna live in and worked out all the money... I'd even chosen the bath mat I was going to have! But it wasn't what I imagined. I'm so glad I went on that open day!

I also went to an open day at the University of the Creative Arts Epsom. This is also a really good graphics course. I liked the little town and that it was only a 30 minute train ride into central London. The course sounded really good and the tutor was really enthusiastic. This ended up being my second choice on UCAS mainly because it would have been such a massive lifestyle change. Moving from Norwich which is about a 4 hour car journey away, leaving my job ect. And the sheer amount of money it would cost me to live in London. I think if I did have to take my second choice I would have gone for it but I would have been terrified! 

Finally we have Norwich University of the Arts! I actually ended up going on two open days here! Just because on the first one they ran out of time and we didn't really get to go on the tour of the campus. (It's only 10 minutes from my home so it was no big deal) They are also one of the top graphic design courses in the country. Design agencies come from all over for the degree show to find new people and new talent. It just seamed right for me to go there. The course leader then sounded really good, and I liked that you could pick a pathway in year two! I would get to keep my job, still live at home and see my family and study all at the same time. Perfect!

All of the uni’s I looked at were city campuses, which was something I wanted. My poor dad drove me all over the country and then I ended up going down the road, oh well! Haha!  

Starting a Blog and my Background

Today is the day I decided I should probably start a blog to document my time at uni. 

A bit of background about me: 

I have always wanted to do something within the arts. I turned around to my mum aged just two and said I wanted to be an artist when I grew up. 

I discovered graphic design at high school in year 9. We used to do a different type of design technology every term and in year 9 it was my turn to try graphic deign. I loved it! I remember we did this project where we had to follow a brief to make an alien themed memory stick out of the smart material polymorph. I think I got the highest grade in the class for that. Just to put it in to context I did well at school but I was never top. I was so happy and my work was put on the classroom wall. 

I carried on to take graphic design for my GCSE's and then product design for my A-levels. I had the same teacher through out and he was so passionate about his job. You know you get some teachers who just go through the motions one day after the next. It's just an income to them? Well my graphics teacher was nothing like that! He would come in early and stay in late to help us get our course work done in time. If we ever wanted to try something out he would always give it a go no matter if it caused him extra work. I truly believe that without having Bugdale as my teacher I would not be doing graphic design now. 

I really didn't enjoy my A-levels in general though. I didn't get on with my art teacher. Art is one of those subjects where in my mind there is no right or wrong. Obviously if you cant draw you cant draw but as long as you experiment then it shouldn't be ‘wrong’. 

My style was very big and bold, I liked to use pallet knives and thick acrylic paint. My teacher was the total opposite; art to her was small delicate drawings in pencil. We had stupid rules like we had to take all our own photos. Can you imagine how limiting that is! You can take photos of trees full of leaves in winter! We weren’t allowed to use black paint, we had to mix our own. We weren’t allowed to smudge or blend anything with our fingers, it all had to be done with the pencil or pastel. It was stupid! I never known so many rules in art. I lost my way with that course and had a terrible time but that’s for another post... 

The only reason I stuck at sixth from was because I knew I wanted to go to university and do Graphics. Graphic design was my passion!