Last night I started my
university degree. It was a very strange
feeling to be honest.
I had all the nerves and jitters
of someone walking into a university classroom for the first time, except the
classroom was my sofa and a coffee table and I was the only student.
I spent the first hour browsing
through all the material I had received and familiarising myself with what
would be expected. A study plan was
drawn up and I was as organised as I could be.
But then, you open the learning companion……
I don’t care who you are, if you
have been out of education for a long time, opening up any text book is a
daunting experience. My heart was
pounding for at least the first half an hour and I was convincing myself that
this was all a horrible mistake, that there was no way I could do this.
The good thing about an Open
University course though is that everything is planned out for you. What to study, how many recommended hours,
what you should be doing each week, advice, it’s all there.
I re-read through all the
introductory information to calm myself down and then when going back to the
text, I realised that it wasn’t as complicated as first thought, the questions
weren’t unanswerable and it was simply me working myself up into a lather.
After going through the notes I
had taken and then typing them up (my handwriting isn’t the best) I realised
that once I had calmed down and looked at the text again, my thoughts and ideas
were following much more freely.
I have started my course two
weeks early as I wanted to give myself some breathing space and also allow for
a contingency in case of illness etc.
I wanted to do this post for
anyone who hasn’t yet had the “first day nerves” and tell you that yes, you
will be nervous, yes you may panic a little a first (if you are like me) but keep
calm, BREATH, re-read and take your time.
We are starting on an exciting
journey, let’s not forget that. It is a
day to be marked and remembered, the day your life began to change.
Good luck! You know you can do it fi you take it one day at a time, your off to a great start. Keep us updated!
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