Christmas time last year, I decided to drop out of university and it was hands down the best decision I've made.
For those of you who've read my blog from the beginning, you'll know I was studying English at a university in London - and hated every second of it.
I knew pretty much within the first few weeks that the course was just not for me. Which, for me was strange. I'd always enjoyed Literature, and it was always the subject I excelled in. However, English at university was just not for me.
I dreaded my lectures, and slowly but surely my attendance dropped along with my mental health. I wrote a post about why I was dropping out for those of you interested - and to date, it's still my most read post. This is something I'm proud of.
When I was thinking about leaving university, there were no posts online about people dropping out, well none that I could find. I struggled to find any support - other than speaking to my person tutor, who tried to convince me to switch course. It got me thinking that more people need to speak up about it. University, simply, isn't for everybody and that's OK.
It doesn't make you less of a person, or a failure or anything. It's just not for you.
I had so many message of support from friends and family, after the post and I'm glad I had such a strong support network.
Leaving university, my cheer buddies and my great flatmates was hard, really hard. I spent Christmas pretty much miserable, and absolutely clueless about what I was going to do.
I knew I wanted a degree.
I've always known I wanted to have a degree - but had no idea what I could have a degree in.
Deciding I wanted to stay close to home, I plucked up the courage to go to Open Days around local universities.
I'm now studying Journalism and Media Communication, and I'm absolutely loving my course.
I'm only a short drive away from home, and love having the luxury of popping for lunch with my mum when she's free.
This time around my university experience feels so different. I'm motivated, I want to go to lectures and then spend 3 hours on the readings afterwards and that's how it should be. I'm not paying 9K a year to mope around, doing something I don't want to do.
I'm finally 21 (grandma Fresher), and I've actually found something I'm genuinely interested in.
We place so much pressure on our 17-year-old selves to have our lives mapped out in front of us, and to know exactly where we want to go in life. But to be honest, no one really knows where they're going. It's OK to change your mind too, and 'dropping out' shouldn't be seen as failure.
Dropping out of university just meant something wasn't right for me, and I was determined to change it and not sit and do nothing about it.
For now,
