I recently went to watch “Room”, a film that I honestly believe will stay with me forever. It is just phenomenal. And, it got me thinking about university life and how incredibly lonely it can be at times.
Room, a review and my thoughts on it:
“Room” centers itself around the characters Jack, who is 5, Ma, his mother and Old Nick, a man who visits at night occasionally. As you might of guessed, they live inside a single room and have done since Jack was born. Now, I don’t want to give away any spoilers, because it really is a film worth seeing but what resonated with me most is that: Jack only sees the things within the room as being real, everything else is TV: animals, trees, other humans, houses, cars, everything except for Lamp, Bath, Bed, Chair, Wardrobe, which exist within the four walls surrounding him. And, isn’t university a bit like this at times? Especially lonely wintery nights in halls? Lonely, detached and overwhelming all at once.
I spent my first six-months of university, absolutely hating every minute of every single part of it; from making new friends to incredibly noisy flatmates to struggling to cope with the ridiculous work load. I just hated it. I wanted to go home every week, which living half-a-day away by coach, makes it a pretty unrealistic wish. However, as much as I despised it, I didn’t want to drop out; I had achieved so much by getting-in in the first place! So guess what, I just put up with it and hoped daily that it would get easier as I got used to living in London alone and studying virtually all hours of the day. I was quite literally “all by myself” *queue Bridget Jones singing*.
Loneliness at University:
University is a lonely experience at times. I would by lying if I denied feeling disappointed with my university experience when I first arrived all excited in the big-old city that is London. I was able to go whole weekends without seeing another person; other than those on a screen and although I was mixing with people on my course, I felt as though because they didn’t really yet know me, it was hard to just be myself and connect straightaway. However, everything changed in my second term as I gradually made some incredible friends, I started to get out and about more and actually enjoy living 286 miles away from home (okay, I still miss it sometimes).
Now a second year, and still living in the lonely place that is halls, I really like university and okay, I get stressed and down at times but honestly, it is so worth the initial worry and fear. Home is now here, in London. I like my own company and at the same time I like the company of others. I have learnt to cope with feelings of loneliness; this is by either talking to someone (notably my Mum, hehe), even meeting up for a coffee with a friend or just getting out more, and therefore seeing more to keep me occupied. It is tough living in a city with little money to do fun things; but after-all, I came to university to get a degree, right?
Please tell me I am not the only slightly-lonely person out there? Let me know here (it will make me feel better… as will you subscribing to my mailing list so that you never miss a post ever again)! Missed my last post? Have no fear, check it out here! Did that rhyme? I don’t think it did!
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