Countdown to Summer

It's strange to think that it's been a whole year since we all left school. Seeing the photos of the current Year 13s' "last day" brings back many memories of my school times- both the good and the bad. This time last year we were feeling the pressure of IB exams, of university offers and the general pressures of just growing up... but thankfully we managed to survive it all (except maybe the growing up part). One year on and I'm finding myself yet again mid-exam season, however this time it's a little more chilled out with only 3 exams spaced out over 3 weeks, nothing like those 8 hours of Chemistry and Spanish I endured in one day during IB. I'm still perplexed by the fact that I didn't pass out by the time we got to Chem Paper 3. But I suppose it was worth it, in the end.

Exams in general tend to represent things coming to an end, and this year that is most definitely the case, maybe even more so that last year, in some ways. I have so many happy memories from my first year at university that the thought of it all coming to an end so quickly is incredibly bittersweet. Very soon we'll be moving out of our beloved Ramsay Hall, which has been a highly entertaining, eventful and generally homely home for the past 9 months, and although I'm really excited to move into a flat with my friends and potentially own a tortoise (the dream), I'm going to miss Ramsay and the people here so much. 

First year has been a whirlwind of new experiences and challenges, and I've grown and changed as a result of it all- I've learnt so much, from coding to plumbing (oh, the delights of engineering); but perhaps more than anything from the friends I've made and the people around me. I'm also now fully capable of navigating around Central London without a map (or an iPhone, as may be the case)- and also around UCL (which is probably just as difficult); I can survive tube strikes and I can cross roads without getting run over... which is definitely a useful life lesson.

We're not quite done yet, luckily, since we still have these exams to get through and then we have the BASc End-of-year Conference, but it now really is starting to feel like we're counting down the days until summer. I know everyone said Year 1 would fly past, but I never thought I'd be quite so sad to be leaving it behind. This time last year I had no idea what to expect from the future, and although that is still very much the case (some things never change!), I've realised that I'm very happy not knowing, since another thing I've learnt this year is that uncertainty brings with it the most wonderful surprises...