Although this post is a little outside of my digital theme, I wanted to share with all you students out there, a few tips on getting the most out of university. I recently just wrote a guest blog post over on the University of Derby’s blog. It was all about my trip to Iceland in January with the university.
I just wanted to take a different slant on that blog post today and leave you with a message:
Seize Every Opportunity You Can.
As I talk about in this blog post and my guest post, I recently went on a trip to Iceland with the university. It was a fully funded trip whereby students across the university, from different years and courses got to Iceland. There wasn’t any research to be done and it didn’t involve any work. It was all about improving student experience, making friends with people you otherwise would never meet and providing students with an opportunity of the lifetime. And, it was exactly that.
1 in 18,000
Across the trip I got to participate in a number of activities, from hiking on a glacier to seeing the northern lights. It was truly the trip of a lifetime. But, what I want to mention is that it would not have been possible if I hadn’t had seized the opportunity. I was one of 40 students to go on the trip and one of 700 people that applied. I am extremely lucky to have managed to go on the trip. But, when you look at it from a different perspective, you realise that out of the 18,000 students at the university, only 700 applied. That is complete madness! Out of 18,000, only 700 wanted to take the time to write an application for a free trip to Iceland?! I think that speaks volumes about people’s motivation to seize opportunities.
What I want you take away from this blog post is that you should be seizing every opportunity you can, especially at university. If the opportunity comes up for you to go on a trip, take it. You never know what you will get the chance to do. If you get the opportunity to go to a networking event, go. You never know who you might meet. If you get invited to a watch a guest lecture, go! You never know what you might learn.
I know, not every opportunity will be as blindingly obvious as a free trip to Iceland. However, you should be taking the time to see what is around you. Sign up for your university newsletter. Keep an eye on the job-postings board. Read all your emails. Search for volunteering opportunities, events and courses. The list could go on. Just say yes.
I hope you found this post somewhat inspiring. Please be sure to share it around, it helps me out a lot and let me know your thoughts in the comments. In the mean time, enjoy this picture of me loving life in Iceland and I hope you’re having a great day!
