By Simon Wright – Follow
me on Twitter @Siwri88
As the second
anniversary approaches which signalled the end of my education life and the
finale to my journalism degree at the University of Northampton, I have decided
to share my own personal experiences from my three years at UoN. This includes
a look at some of the nightlife memories, a critical assessment of the video
products I produced and my insight into each of the three years I had in what
was my second home.
First up and it is
rewind to 2009-10, a time where political powers changed in this country,
another World Cup failure approached for England’s footballers and for me, the
start of a new journey at University for myself, one which blossomed to begin
with.
The time had
come. It was Saturday, 19 September 2009 and to many, it was the beginning of a
normal weekend. Not for me though, as I was about to start my journalism degree
at the University of Northampton. All bags packed, documents ready to be shown
and the car journey from my hometown of Milton Keynes to my new home was about
to take place.
Before I
left, I took one final look around my room at home. The part-time retail job I
had at the time meant I would be back every weekend so I wasn’t leaving for
good. However I wouldn’t be at home as regularly as I used to be. I got a
photograph out taken of the family at a happy time for us just eight months
earlier. We were beaming with smiles at such a fantastic day. I admit it was
tough to not feel emotional at this moment.
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| I made the most of my new surroundings in first year accommodation |
Enrolment day
itself was long but that was to be expected. Once all that was done at Park
Campus, it was off to Avenue Campus and the Bassett Lowke Halls of Residence.
This was where I would be staying at University in my first year. I still
remember my room very well – Room 1 in Flat 35 (pictured above). It had a self-contained kitchen
and small bathroom. It was very cosy and useful for me in my first year. That
did mean sharing with a roommate and he was good company to start with. By the
end of January 2010, he was gone though as he moved back to his parents’ home
in Northampton. He was staying over there a lot and decided the money he was
paying to stay on campus wasn’t worth it. It was probably the right decision
and it gave me a big room to myself for the next five months!
The other
flatmates I was with were all very cool and we socialised well from an early
stage. At the end of the day, we were all in the same position of moving away
from home and it was more important to do this than be locked away and look
like a loner. I enjoyed their company and made some good friends, some who I am
still in touch with today.
Hello to the course colleagues
Two days
after moving was the introduction to the course colleagues I would be getting
accustomed to for the next three years. There were some interesting characters
but no heavy troublemakers which was good. I remember the introduction to one
of my fellow colleagues, Farida in a striking Coventry City home kit. Farida
would provide plenty of entertainment and kind friendship over the course of
the next three years.
However the
individual I spent the most amount of time in first year would turn out to be
another close friend throughout the University journey. My friendship with
Ellie was formed from day one, when I introduced myself to her during some
tedious afternoon PowerPoint presentation in the main hall. At first, Ellie’s
look was like ‘yes, do I know you?’ At that point, I reminded her of a brief
conversation we’d had a week earlier on Facebook when she had taken the time to
find someone studying on the course. And from that moment on, a special bond
was created. We were almost inseparable in first year, helping each other
through the various challenges. Ellie would often need guidance in lectures
from me and she returned the favour by helping me out with some tricky real
life situations. The best moment of our friendship I think came when a short
conversation about something to do with living arrangements in second year on
social media turned into a long two-hour chat with compliments aplenty on both
sides. It is one of those chats with someone you don’t forget.
I generally
found the workload in first year fairly comfortable to deal with and never hit
drastic issues in terms of assignments piling up and deadlines mounting. Of
course, there were moments where tasks were tough to do – one of them involved
a Media Relations project within the first two months which was the first time
where I really struggled to get the required tasks done. This was largely
because I couldn’t get the contact required to get an interview done about
their PR department. It was a weak spot in my college days and although I would
say it still isn’t one of the better skills in my media background, it is
something I have managed to adapt pretty well through Uni and now into my
full-time role in the publishing industry.
Favourite tasks
Favourite
tasks in the first year included a radio vox-pop piece on Petrol Prices going
up in the build-up to the 2010 General Election. I’m not a fan of politics but
can easily criticise policies. I came up with various answers like ‘Anything
is possible’ and ‘We’re in a mess, simple as that really’
in regards to the worldwide global recession. One of the best people to interview
was a guy called Miles who when he was asked about paying at the pumps, his
first response was ‘As a hippy at heart!’ It was a random response but a
light-hearted approach to a tough debated issue. I also undertook a marketing
module called The Entertainment Business. I really enjoyed that module, despite
being the only single honours journalism student to choose it! It involved a
detailed report into the 2010 BRIT Awards – and I spent loads of time on this
to get the best grade possible. It was a shame I wasn’t able to carry on with a
marketing module in second year. That was because all journalism students were
made to take Creative Writing. I never enjoyed it, never saw the benefits to it
and was annoyed that this had to be done too in second year (unless you were
good at photography which was the only other option).
I found the
right balance to studying and the nightlife scene and as the year wore on, you
would find me more often in the nearby SU enjoying a drink and a few games of
pool with my flatmates rather than hitting the town on a boozy night out. My
nightlife outlook changed before coming to Uni but it was something I was happy
with.
First year
ended in the final week of May with an exam. These were never my strong points,
as GCSE results would testify but I achieved a respectable grade. I did spend
many hours revising but with a better, more serious technique to it – I could
have achieved a stronger result. First year also introduced me to the world of
Twitter as I signed up after ignoring the site at Milton Keynes College and I
began my first full blogging website on BlogSpot that eventually lasted a full
18 months.
First year at
the University of Northampton wasn’t a piece of cake but I passed with the
minimum of fuss and felt happy with the fairly secure introduction to the
degree. However, if I thought second year would be the same, I would have
another thing coming.
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