Your story

We talk to a few first year students about their thoughts about of university. Read their stories here…

Phoebe

‘So far in my student ‘journey’, moving to Reading has been one of the most difficult parts. I’m very close to my parents and brother, and it’s been hard being far away from them. Moving from a small village to a city has definitely been a culture shock, but I’m slowly getting used to the campus as well as the city centre.

Starting a Biochemistry degree, I was quite worried about the practical classes as I knew I was going to have to learn a lot of new techniques in a short space of time; but I shouldn’t have worried. The teaching staff and the lab assistants who are present in the sessions are very helpful and supportive.

I’m surprised at the number of new friends I’ve been able to make in such a short period of time. I didn’t think I’d have the confidence to speak to new people, but now I have a great group of friends that I’m sure I’ll be close to for many years.’

Kira

‘Hi, I’m Kira. I am a first-year law student and have really enjoyed my first month at Reading University. I was surprised at how much I have enjoyed my course; law is renowned for being very full on but I have genuinely found all the introductory topics really interesting. In the beginning, the friends I made were predominantly from my halls of residence and I worried that I would not make friends outside of this.

I would recommend to anyone else that goes through this to give university time. There are so many opportunities to meet people in your course and through joining societies. Remember those good friendships take time to build!

University was pretty much exactly how I expected it would be. I have lived away from home before so this was not as much of an issue for me but there is support available for people that do feel homesick if needed. Finally, I have enjoyed independence, both in my studies and living, so university has been an all-round success!’

Ronald

‘As a fair linguist; speaking English, French, German, Afrikaans, Swedish, Chinese Mandarin, Korean and Hebrew, making the choice of studying languages was relatively easy. However, I was apprehensive to start uni not knowing who my flatmates would be, and nervous about making new friends as I am a quieter person by nature, and settling into a whole new world of being independent.

The university has been really supportive from results day to enrolment day. They created Facebook groups to help us engage with potential flatmates, classmates and make new contacts before arriving, which for me made the whole process of settling much easier. Within my first week, I’d found a great friendship circle from all over the world, some of whom have become my closest friends.’