10 Things My Friends Regret Not Doing At University
Regrets are the worst. We don’t need them and we shouldn’t have them, but that doesn’t stop us. I think there will always be something we wish we might have done differently. University is a whole big and crazy experience, there are so many new and exciting opportunities, but it’s also so easy to miss out on things and/or make mistakes. Here are a few of the regrets my (about to graduate) friends have:
1. Thinking about flatmates
My undergrad degree experience has generally been amazing. There aren’t many things that I regret doing/not doing. I think maybe if I had to pick something, it would be that I wish I’d picked flatmates more carefully. Good friends don’t always make good flatmates, and being more objective about it all, being less afraid to make a call and tell it like it is, is so important. Important for the long-term good of the friendship and just for my own sanity. I think it would have been very beneficial.
2. Hooking up with anyone and everyone
In my first year, I got very drunk a little too often, and would then find myself hooking up with people that I wouldn’t have if I had been sober. They weren’t great experiences and I wouldn’t have minded so much if it hadn’t been for people finding out all about it. I didn’t like everyone knowing my business. People seemed to make it a big deal and take things from it that I didn’t like.
3. My living situation
I wish I had been more picky with my living situation. Living with friends is hard but I did it anyway not wanting to disappoint anyone. I’ve lost friends because I chose to live with them.
4. Taking risks
I don’t think I took enough risks in my four years at university. I never blew my budget to go and do something crazy or experience something new and I wish I had. I definitely worried too much about my grades at times and my own reputation too – what people thought of me. For those reasons I feel like I didn’t live as fully as I could have.
5. Spending too much time on boys
I definitely put too much time into relationships and it detracted from my overall experience at uni. I sacrificed things for my relationships and didn’t go as wild as I could have at times. They gave me a lot too, it wasn’t all awful, but I wish I’d spent more time on me rather than the majority of my time on them.
6. Not being involved enough
I’ve done so much while I’ve been at uni, but I do regret not being quite involved enough in some specific things. I’ve been able to experience a lot, but I never stuck around in a society long enough to work my way up in it. Lot’s of my friend’s got to be presidents of societies, and I’d have been great at that, but I never got the chance which is sad.
7. Being in too many sports teams
There are SO many sports teams at our uni and I wasn’t sure which one would be the right one for me. I tried far too many sports, involving myself in way too many sports clubs and It was just exhausting. None of them were the ones for me either, so I did waste a lot of time and money. The sports nights out were amazing though!
8. Drinking far too much in the first year
I dived in so hard. And it ruined my body for the next couple of years. My workload increased too so nights out, in general, got a bit tamer and far less frequent, but I definitely destroyed a part of my soul through first year drinking. Probably created a couple Horcruxes. Who really knows what happened. I certainly don’t remember much.
9. Not hooking up enough
I regret not being as sexually free as I could have been. I didn’t really go on a lot of dates and often ended up being single and sexually barren, or in a relationship. I had some really great times being both of those things, but I wish I’d played the field a little more. Broken some rules.
10. Working part-time during term time
This is something I regret, and also don’t regret. Working part-time during term time allowed me to have the whole of my holidays free, and lot’s of money to spend. I made great friends and got promoted twice, so I worked hard and was rewarded. But I had such a small amount of time in which to see my friends, go out, or just finish all of the work I had. It was extremely hard, and I wish I’d had enough money to live and study without having to work.
