Another year has been and gone. Lessons have been learned, new friendships have been formed and achievements have been made. The precinct is now a ghost town, in stark contrast with the steady stream of students resolutely pounding the pavements just two weeks before, shuttling to and from the library like ants, faces stern with fierce determination in the face of exams-induced stress. It was tough indeed. We’ve been doing it every summer since the age of 16 and it never gets any easier. Yet every year we emerge stronger and smarter, and we’re still smiling. The harder we work, the better it feels to claim the reward.
This summer holds a great deal of promise for me. I have already had the great privilege to attend Glastonbury Festival. It was the muddiest on record, and the rain was relentless, but it was absolutely fantastic. During term time I tried hard to keep to a strict timetable, working 9-5 where possible in order to maintain some kind of structure despite not having many contact hours this term. So it is very strange now not having anything in particular to get out of bed for. Watch out for this when you get to this stage; it is very easy to go from one extreme to the other and stay in bed all day, but in my experience, you will never benefit from doing it and you can actually end up feeling worse. My advice? Make plans with your friends and set specific times to stick to. Make a to do list. Set yourself some projects for the summer. Write a bucket list.
Now I feel fully rested after a bust term and I’m excited to be starting a 10 week internship with Interserve. I’ll be doing a project as part of their corporate social responsibility programme. I organised this through the Bristol University branch of Student Hub, which aims to provide students with work experience and opportunities to have a social impact, usually with charitable organisations. I’d really recommend you check them out. The summer of second year is a good time to organise work experience as you’re likely to have a better idea of what sort of direction you want to head in by then. Many companies only offer placements to second years, too, so watch out for those! Most importantly, though, take a break and relax. You deserve it.
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