University - excitement, apprehension and washing powder

I have been advised to begin a blog before I head off to pursue Magazine Journalism and Feature Writing at Southampton Solent University. I have had blogs before but they have always been filled with pointless natter over friends, boyfriends, fashion, music and gossip and I cannot promise that this one will be overly different. Perhaps it will have the odd insightful paragraph or two nestled between the drivel? I will try my best.

This particular post is about something everyone I'm around seems to be talking about at the moment - whether they are going or not - University.

Neither of my parents went to university, actually only two relatives of mine come to mind that did attend, and therefore it was never a notion that really played on my mind. However - as dreams of leaving school at 16 and becoming a hair dresser died when I realised most days you end up with other people's hair inside your bra - I decided that maybe A levels and university could be an option for me. The rest is history.

The thing that nobody ever explains to you about university is the sheer amount of stuff you have to buy just to survive. I find myself debating over which shower cleaner would be best and what washing powder to buy. That is when the realisation suddenly sets in that, horror of all horrors, I am going to have to do my own laundry. I have genuinely never appreciated my mother more, apart from perhaps when she bought me the Inbetweeners box set for no apparent reason. However, amongst all this freaking out, I have managed to get myself so over enthusiastic about freshers, that even the thought of having to cook for myself EVERY DAY cannot get me down.

Now that University is well and truly part of my future it does generally scare the shit out of me, however it also makes me so excited that I can barely sit still. This mix of emotions has made up my life for the past month or so, along with attempting to see my family, friends and boyfriend as much as humanly possible before I leave them, not forever, but at least for a while.

My over all view of University has changed drastically through out my life and I feel I have come to a comfortable decision that it can be defined as, not an end, but a beginning. The beginning of new friendships, new challenges and generally - independence. I feel like I will start this journey as Charlotte Daisy Lewis and end it as someone new, still me, but with new experiences that will make me grow as a person and help to define who I am. Oh and hopefully I will end up with a degree at the end of it... that would be good.