“University originally made me feel worse about myself. That’s not a very nice thing, is it? Everyone else was just so much more self-assured. I’ve always been very introverted. I never had many friends. I was bullied in primary school. And when I got to secondary school, I had two friends. When I got to college, I didn’t really have friends, just a couple of people I would hang out with. And when I got to Uni, everyone was just like so confident in everything they wanted to do. The person opposite of me was someone I never talked to; the person on my right was very extroverted and confident. As shy person I wouldn’t have gone out of my way to make friends, but I was happy when one of my flatmates did the same course as me. But she was very outgoing and the opposite of me. Because of this, I always felt like I had to make the extra effort otherwise people wouldn’t want to be friends with me. I forced myself to go out more; I forced myself to be more sociable. I have been told the friends you make in Uni are the friends you have for life. Everyone was so nice, and I thought, ‘I want to have these types of friends’. So, I tried to make an effort. Eventually, it felt more natural, ‘being this certain type of person’. But it feels weird. When I’m at Uni, I’m one person and, when I’m at home, I’m another. I’m two different people. Despite this, I have grown to enjoy Uni very much. Home has always been my comfort zone and living outside of my comfort zone has made me grow as a person. I like who I am – both at Uni and at home – and I hope my two selves can eventually become one me.”
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