LOOKING BACK ON MY FIRST YEAR OF UNIVERSITY!

I can't believe that my first year of uni is already over! It's insane to think how much has happened and changed for me in such a short space of time. Starting university was probably the biggest thing I have done so far in my life, it meant moving cities away from everything and (nearly) everyone I knew which was pretty scary for me. I knew that I wanted to study something that focused on music in some capacity but I couldn't pin point what I wanted to do exactly, I had been playing music my whole life - I started learning piano when I was six and since then I've learnt an array of instruments, the flute, oboe, piccolo and guitar. I've been in bands, recorded music and organised gigs but none of these gave me that feeling of wanting to do this my whole life. I found BIMM and their music journalism course and - even though I'd never done music writing or journalism before - fell in love with the course and applied to that one course only and just prayed that I would get in. Thankfully I did and I'm so glad I stuck with my gut feeling and did what I thought was right for me because I can't imagine doing anything else now.

(Me at the Birmingham Music Awards - credit to Megan Hyslop from Guava Magazine)

One of my biggest accomplishments since starting uni has been starting my blog, it may seem small but I never had the confidence to share my opinions or writing this time last year. Not only did I create my blog but I have managed to keep updating it regularly and with content that I'm proud of, seeing other people enjoy what I've written is so gratifying. I learned how to write properly through my course and I already look back at things I wrote less than 6 months ago and cringe a little because even in that short time I gave improved my writing so much (I think so anyway). Having my blog has also led to really fun things like being invited to Lush's birthday event, photographing the Birmingham Music Awards and meeting bands and musicians who I am now really good friends with.

One of the things that I was most nervous about when starting University was making friends. I've never been particularly confident or good when speaking to new people but I pushed myself to try and talk to as many new people as I could during my first couple of weeks. Once you realise that everyone else at university is in the same boat of not knowing many people and wanting to make friends, it becomes a lot easier to work up the confidence to talk to everyone.

This year has been one of the best of my life, going to university is one of the best decisions I've made for myself. I've not only found the career I want to pursue but I've already started to pursue it and made steps that will help me in the future - both short and long term. This was just a little piece about my experience with Uni but if you want to read more about my University life I wrote a piece for the 'BIMM Blog' about a week in my life as a Music Journalism, I will link it below.

'A week in the life of a Music Journalism student at BIMM Birmingham' - https://blog.bimm.co.uk/a-week-in-the-life-of-a-music-journalism-student-at-bimm-birmingham