Third year in a nutshell.

Ever since day 1 of Uni, you hear about the dreaded 'third year' from both lecturers and past students. We are drilled with how much we are to prepare for the workload, lack of social life, sleep deprivation, misery... yadda, yadda.

I cruised on through the first two years, being much more on the hard-working side than that of the slackers, but always being able to cope just fine. I managed my time well and handed work in on time without having to pull all-nighters or drinking 10 cans of Red Bull / cups of strong coffee.

September of third year starts.. I'm in the lab almost 5 days a week collecting data for my dissertation. Yes, budgeting time for that whilst attending lectures, going to work, doing extra-curricular stuff, seeing the boyfriend and friends, as well as regular reassurance phonecalls to the mother to let her know I am not in fact rotting in a pit of vomit or maggots is a little tough, but definitely do-able.

Christmas and New Year comes and goes, and then the wall hits you. Let me explain; the wall is 4 lengthy essay/report style pieces of coursework all due in within the space of a few weeks, a 3500 word literature review counting towards a substantial portion of your degree, hours, and I mean HOURS of sitting in front of your laptop floating in and out of consciousness trying to decipher how the hell all these statistical tests work and what they tell you, writing your dissertation, knowing massive exams are coming your way, having to think about a real life adult JOB for when you finish Uni and where you are going to live, hating the grey weather, having little time to relax and cook proper food and instead going on a 'what is fastest?!' diet. The wall is the inner conflict of having to sit and do academic work for 80%+ of your day, when your heart sings for creativity, colour and stimulated senses. The wall is wondering what happened to all those friends you had and hardly see anymore, also craving sunshine and knowing there isn't any in England. The wall is wondering if this is even what you want to be doing or what you should be doing, and dying inside at the prospect of having got yourself into a disgusting amount of debt over something you're unsure you're fully committed to!

So I know every third year student  feels it at some point, but honestly its the little things like a nice long walk and really opening your eyes to your surroundings that let you breathe easy once again...

Mega Love xx