A letter to first year me: Louis

Posted on: 26 June 2023 by Richard Finch in Student experiences

Louis is a Class of 2023 International Business graduate. Here, he looks back at his time at the University of Liverpool and thinks about what he would tell his first-year self.

Dear First Year me,

What a journey you’re about to have.

You’re going to be in the midst a global pandemic that locks down the world soon. Your summer at home will feel like being in school again, but at 20! Things will change, and you’ll return in final year struggling with the lack of routine, but your friends that bring much laughter and memories will make up for this. You’re going to get through just fine. Any worries you had about making the right decision about choosing university over a degree apprenticeship, they all go. Straight after freshers.

There are challenging times ahead. It starts by getting sent home in the first year of March and not being able to go out to Skint Tuesday’s anymore, and is soon followed by the cancelling of your study abroad in Canada. That’s going to be a real downer, but it provides you with other opportunities, and a desire to travel once you finish. Second year is going to be weird; you’re going to spend too many hours in online lectures and breakout rooms where nobody else will talk. Then you’ll find yourself working every weekend of April on a placement you’re not loving. But it’s okay when you realise where you’re working; a 33rd floor apartment looking over Manchester with one of your best friends.

Academically, you’re going to be just fine. In fact, you’re going to smash it. You’ll achieve a first in every module you complete, until you get to one in third year. But we’ll blame the marker for that. A 99% in international economic relations will make up for the frustration, and you’ll need 51% in semester two to make sure you graduate with a first. But, you’ll still find yourself endlessly grafting in an attempt to get the highest grade, because that’s what you always do.

You see, you will come to realise that you have a really great work ethic. When you want something, you will get it. The world works in a way as simple as that; carry this on through with you when you start your career.

You have always been told about bad injuries in football. Tearing your ACL is meant to mean that you don’t play football again, so summer in second year is going to particularly nerve-wracking. But you will. It will be a while. You’ll scream and shout when trying to move, and you’ll spend a couple of months on crutches watching everybody else do what you want to do. But you will. All the long and painful nights in the gym will be worth it. Even the physio shuttle runs that make you sick, will feel that little bit more enjoyable. Then you realise what you took for granted for so long, and this will make you a more grateful person. Somehow, you’ll end up appreciating this injury.

You’re going to meet so many new people that will change your life in all different ways. At university and on placement. Be grateful for the role they all play in how you evolve. Not every lesson will be a lesson you want to endure, but it will make you better for it.

Finally, appreciate it. You’ll close the 100,000 tabs you have open from scholar and click submit on your final essay knowing that your time is over. Then you’ll walk around campus thinking I would love to start this again. Liverpool will become a home, and Manchester will feel the same. So take it all in. Say yes. Take in the city. Be yourself, and keep a glass of water by your bed. You’re going to need it when you stumble back in 4am, and that will be more often than you think.

Thanks Liverpool.

Louis