First day at university beckons for our popular columnist

But she ended up with three As and is now going to study journalism at the University of Brighton (Eastbourne campus). We have asked Jenny to share her thoughts on the difficult times we are living through... Here is her latest contribution.

"In exactly three weeks’ time I will be sitting in a cramped car full of my possessions driving to Eastbourne with my parents. Although this may not sound like the most satisfying way to fill a Saturday, this will be my first day as an official student at the University of Brighton, and the realisation that I will be beginning this journey so soon fills me with a countless range of emotions. This is certainly an eventuality that I have anticipated for nearly a year now, but only recently has it become so real that I am moving onto the next chapter. Whereas many seem to have already purchased every item that one could ever need for a year in halls, only now am I beginning to gather the essentials – an arduous, but admittedly, rather fun process.

"I imagine that leaving a shop with a wooden spoon and a 35p plastic measuring jug is not normally an action that evokes much fear in anybody, but yesterday when purchasing the first few items I will need when living in halls it really did prove to me that I am pretty incapable. My cooking is limited to homemade pizza, pasta, and anything that can be easily transferred from its packet to the oven with no fussing in between. Healthy, I know. I am certainly no Jamie Oliver, and I am sure my mum will have many a heart attack when discovering a mess I will have made at an attempt at a nutritious meal. I was horrified to notice that when flicking through a student cookbook I should find such ease in serving up ‘salmon and rice bhajis’ and ‘massaman lentils with cauliflower’ – perhaps if I take out a second student loan this may become achievable for a couple of evening meals. Yes, I clearly have very little faith in myself, but I am relying on stressed future Jenny to figure things out as she goes along, and I am confident that my entire university experience will take a similar shape.

"Of course no matter how many YouTube videos, websites or online guides are consumed, nobody entering their first year of university will know exactly what to expect. I am still three weeks away yet feel grossly unprepared, with a barrage of questions always lingering in my mind. It seems that I will only find out those who will be in my flat on the moving in day, and the government nor the universities have been particularly specific about how the coronavirus pandemic will affect freshers’ week, lectures and social bubbles. As with beginning any new job or step in education, there is always the voice in your head telling you that everybody on your course will know more than you or you’re not intelligent enough to do well. Journalism is a subject I’m incredibly passionate about, but what if when I am sat in the classroom (or in my pyjamas over Zoom) my skills won’t be up to scratch? It appears that self-belief is something I am lacking in all areas of beginning university life. It is easy enough to worry and consider what could go wrong, and it is relatively simple also to acknowledge that I need more self-confidence – the tricky bit is actually reaching the point where you act on that and alter your frame of mind. I know that the next three years of my life will not be a walk in the park, and I don’t expect them to be. Gaining self-confidence is not a skill that I assume can be learnt immediately, but comes with time, and if being thrown into the deep end at university won’t teach me that then I don’t know what will!"