Life After Uni: 6 Months On…

Before I graduated – I made me scared af to think about what life would be like after university. For example, I’d wake up for a 10am lecture and decide I was actually too tired to go, skip it and start my day and 2pm, then a sinking feeling would come over me knowing that as a bare minimum, in a few more months I’d have to start my day by 9am (I couldn’t even make it to 9am lectures…) Other than exams, there was absolutely nothing I wanted to give up about my uni life. I literally saw starting working as the beginning of the end – yep, it’s that deep. So, it’s been around 6 months now… and I wanted to give you guys a little update (especially those who are just as scared as I was about graduating).

For the most part, I actually don’t miss uni…
As much as I loved uni and know that it was one of the best times of my life, and as much as I miss lay ins and getting to (essentially), do what I want with not much responsibility, I can’t otherwise say that I miss uni. The thing about uni is that it always felt like a heavy weight was on my shoulders, because there was always some sort of really hard work that I had to do and I was always behind… no matter how hard I tried (it’s actually impossible to keep up). Now, when I’m out of work, my time is my time. I don’t have to worry about working on a piece of homework or studying for an exam, I can sleep from morning to night on a Saturday if I really want to and not have to feel like such a decision is going to ruin my life. I also feel like because I moved out after uni, and still live in London – it doesn’t really feel like much has changed. I still live a very similar girl-in-a-big-city lifestyle, but instead of going on campus I’m going to an office. There are definitely some days I reminisce and miss the care free lifestyle, miss being around my friends all the time, miss walking into Holborn versus working into Canary Wharf and even miss the sticky club nights. But for the most part, it doesn’t really cross my mind.

Work is not scary!
…And this is coming from a girl who gets into the office before 8 knowing full well it’s very unlikely I’m getting out until at least half seven.

I can’t even truly put into words how scared I was to start work whilst I was completing my final year of uni, it literally gave me nightmares and I’d often wake up with my heart feeling heavy just thinking about it. Like – what do you mean 25 days of holiday?! 8am start – have you lost your mind?! But work is not at all as scary as I thought it’d be. Don’t get me wrong – it’s hard and sometimes incredibly stressful – but you know what? Uni is harder. I’ve never really sat at my desk and just felt absolutely helpless, but I felt that way quite a bit at uni because of course, the work can be hard to understand, the teaching and lecturing can be not-so-great, and let’s not even get started on the jump from homeworks to exams. The lifestyle of getting up early and living your life in a cycle – it’s tough, but you get used to it. Time flies because you’re busy. It’s not that bad. If you see the bigger picture behind everything you’re doing – it makes everything a lot easier to navigate.

…But it’s also not easy!
I can’t lie to you and say that everything is all roses and that I’m just sitting on cloud 9 day in day out. Whereas university is harder just in terms of the work you’re doing – work is definitely not easy as it’s probably mentally a lot tougher, particularly as the most junior in the firm. There is just so much you learn about discipline, patience, working under pressure and working with others, you’re also picking up tons of new information in such a short amount of time, and you have learn all of this quickly. Let’s just say – you really do get some serious ‘character development‘, it’ll be battered into you by choice if you choose to enter the corporate world, and in particular a fast paced job such as investment banking.

Getting monthly pay…
I’d definitely say getting regular pay is one of the best things about working. Not having to sweat if I decide I want to have a weekend break, or treat myself to Givenchy sunglasses – that is simply amazing when you’ve lived university on a student finance budget. I try to save a third of my monthly income each month, keep a third for myself to spend, and spend just under a third on rent and bills. But occasionally I find myself stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to not wanted to restrict myself too much with spending – because after all, I’m young and will never get this time in my life back again – whilst always wanting to be strict with how much I’m saving to go towards a mortgage. All in all I’d say I’ve been able to save and still treat myself, but it hasn’t been easy finding the balance! At the end of the day there’s nothing wrong with upping your lifestyle a bit when you graduate. 😉

I’ve kept in touch with my good friends quite effortlessly
I’m even in the midst of planning a holiday break with my old flatmate. By the end of third year I could tell what friends I’d continue to talk to on a regular basis, what friends I’d catch up with every now and again, and what friends I’d probably see just a few times a year events (for example). And I’ve been completely right with my predictions. Texting and social media makes it very easy to keep in touch with people, the people I value pop into my head quite a bit so I generally don’t find it very hard to catch up with people when I can (be it by text or in person), and just generally stay in touch. I found this to be a similar case transitioning from Sixth Form/school into uni. I definitely believe if your bond with certain people is strong, then you will keep in touch, and it’s nothing to sweat about. And if you don’t, that’s just life, sometimes friends just come and go. You’ll find that you and all your friends are probably quite busy post graduation, so although you’re not able to make time for each other as much as you used to, life moves so quick that when you finally do see each other again, it won’t seem like it’s been that long.

What I mainly hope with this post is that it can calm any nerves, because that’s all I had before I started working. I’m a ditzy girl, who’s a soft Pisces at heart and cries all the time (even when I’m happy), and I’m coping just fine – which means you can too!