This term has been a bit of a roller coaster for me and many of my friends also in their final year at Bristol University. Mixed with the panic of exams and looming coursework deadlines was the overarching fear and sadness of leaving the university life bubble. Time at university really does go fast, it seems only yesterday I was nervously introducing myself to my new flatmates and scouring the campus map looking for where my first lecture was being held…but now, three years later, I’m getting back my final results and saying my goodbyes to those same flatmates.
This summer term has probably been one of the most intense times at university; I am still awaiting my final degree classification, but getting my last few results of my degree back has been very nerve wracking. As I studied archaeology, I spent my last two weeks of the term on the yearly training excavation at Berkeley castle. The excavation covers everything from Roman archaeology to the Civil War, so it’s a really interesting time and a lot of fun to go out and dig with my course friends and it’s also a really good way to meet people from different years that also do archaeology at Bristol. Archaeology encompasses a lot of things apart from digging; I spent part of the first week on the social media team where I designed some worksheets for schoolchildren visiting the site, and took photographs and conducted interviews for our blog, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. Many people are really interested in what we do at Berkeley Castle so this was a really good way to show them, and it was also great to get some new skills to add to my CV! For my second week I went back to the department to do some post excavation work, which involves washing and identifying artefacts that have been dug up by students at Berkeley Castle and then adding the details to a database. I love doing post excavation work as it’s a chance to really get a good look at the artefacts before they go away for storage and this year we found some really good stuff; from human bone to iron nails.
After my busy two weeks on the excavation, I did a weeks work experience at a local Bristol primary school to gain some extra experience before I start my teacher training next year, I had a lovely time at the school and I think they also enjoyed having me there so I could explain what life at university was like to the children as well as talking about archaeology! It was really good to spend three weeks doing different tasks and it was a real contrast to spending all my time in the library doing my dissertation and coursework.
So this term has been a very busy one, and now it is drawing to a close as many of my friends are now packing up and leaving Bristol, it’s sad to see them go but we have shared a brilliant three years filled with hard work but also lots of great memories of exploring the fabulous city with all its culture and fun things to do. I hope that those starting university as I leave will have as much fun as I have had and will also experience all that Bristol has to offer both as a university and a city.
Orla 
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