A letter to first year me: Olivia

Posted on: 21 June 2021 by Richard Finch in Student experiences

Olivia Olujohungbe is a Class of 2021 Medicine graduate. Here, Olivia looks back at her time at the University and thinks about what she would tell her first-year self.

Dear First Year Me,

Prepare yourself. Six years is a long time to spend in one place, and in that time you are going to laugh, cry and break your glasses more than you can ever imagine.

There’ll be times where you will feel that you’ve made a huge mistake. That’s okay - all change comes with growing pains. You’re going to cry when you say goodbye to your mum that first day, and not just because you’ve left all your bedding in the car by accident. You’re going to feel like you don’t belong sometimes. You will even wonder when you are supposed to start to feeling like an adult, and as soon as I work that out, I will let you know!

Liverpool is a boss city, and you will get to do so much here. You are going to perform in locations you would never have dreamed of, visit places you’ve never heard of, and finally learn how to play hockey.

You will be there for the best and worst days of people’s lives. You will be a good friend to others and support them, but you will also experience things that mean you need support too: from your friends (which you will make, I promise), your family and some pretty cool other people along the way.

These people will be landmarks in your life, and they will help you develop into who you are today, which is someone that we quite like. If any of these people are reading this - you know who you are - thank you so much. My gratitude is hard to put into words, but I will always keep trying to make you proud.

Anyway, brevity will never be our strength, young Olivia, but we’ve run out of words and I don’t want to spoil too much of the adventure for you. So, my biggest advice to first year me? Stop dying your hair blonde. And stick with it. You’re tougher than you think.

With love,

Olivia