5 biggest lessons I have learned during my time at uni

Coming to Kingston University has been a great experience. And well, considering that I have just finished my degree and I am about to start my master's in September, I think you can get an idea of how much I enjoyed my time here. It has been such a rollercoaster and I feel I have changed and grown so much! I think I will be forever grateful for the opportunity to come to Kingston Uni. So here are the top 5 things I have learned over the last 3 years.

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Ask questions 🙋🏽❓: When I first joined Kingston Uni I have to admit that I used to think that I was too cool to ask questions… Well, spoiler alert! I WAS WRONG! To give you a bit of context, I grew up in Venezuela (In South America, close to Colombia and Brazil) so I didn’t do A levels and I was not familiarised with the teaching style. My first week was a little bit overwhelming, I am not gonna lie. But instead of letting that put me off I used that feeling to ask questions. It turned out that everyone at Kingston University is SUPER friendly and always willing to help and if they can’t help you they’ll always be happy to signpost you. And if I can use this space to give you a piece of advice, use your tutors, go to the meetings, they can help you if there is something you don’t understand, let you know if there is a cool project where you could participate or even listen to you if you are just having a hard time.

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Do not be afraid of making mistakes 🙉🙈🙊: In the beginning I was terrified of looking silly. But there was a moment of realisation when I figured out that the best thing of the uni years is that even though everyone looks like they know what they are doing, the truth is that everyone is just as lost as you are. It was at that point when I stopped being scared of making mistakes and started enjoying my time here. I started thinking “What’s the worst that can happen? And “If that happens, how bad would that be?” and I realised that there is nothing wrong about being wrong sometimes.

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Be open to try new things :bl: : Kingston University offers so many sport clubs, societies and events that it would have been silly not to take advantage of that, especially during the first week, where you can try the societies and sport clubs without a commitment. Trying new things allowed me to realise what I love and what's not my cup of tea and now, at least, I can say that I tried.

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Find a balance ⚖️: During my first year I had 3 jobs. On top of that I went to uni, did boxing, Italian, and tried my best to have a social life, to sleep and to look like a decent human. So, it was essential for me to learn to find a balance, by learning to say no when I was exhausted and actively choosing to take a day off to rest.

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Independence 💪: Although after 3 years I am still unable to cook a decent meal I think I have got much better at finding things out by myself and managing my finances.