“It’s humbling to start fresh. It takes a lot of courage. But it can be reinvigorating. You just have to put your ego on a shelf and tell it to be quiet.” — Jennifer Ritchie Payette

Seeing many nervous freshers and their teary-eyed parents hugging them goodbye while walking through town over the last weekend has reminded me vividly of when I myself came to Durham for the first time. We students rarely travel light, and so I had with me a car full of luggage, including a suitcase full of hopes and a handbag of uncertainty. After the roller-coaster that was A levels, I experienced a fleeting conviction that university was just an extension of sixth form, and all that I had worked hard to establish in my name would carry on and build itself a new home in the hills and cobbled-roads of Durham. But as I unpacked my clothes, waved my family goodbye, and sat on my single bed in college, I realised that it was a newer beginning than I gave it credit for, and I was a tabula rasa awaiting a mark of uniqueness. I had to figure out who I was again in this novel environment with so many other freshers. That was a year ago, and I have been lucky enough to acquire some new stories to fill my blank slate with.

If you are a fresher, you are probably either scared, excited, ambivalent, homesick, or just sick (since fresher’s flu is not a myth). You might be a voracious clubber, or prefer boardgame nights with your flatmates, or like being cozy in bed alone with a cup of tea and a good book, while you are on your third call of the day with mum. You might be thinking that this week is the best of your life, or praying that it ends and lectures begin so you can feel productive and stop losing your mind. Whichever type of fresher you are, I’m here to tell you that you are in for quite a journey. 

Like Jennifer Payette said, it is humbling to be new to something. You will make mistakes, and have hard days, and wish for nothing more than to curl up in a blanket and pretend you are a burrito with no responsibilities (this is so specific because it is from first-hand experience). But you will also make friends, and do well on essays you worked hard on, and pick up new hobbies, and maybe even become Editor-in-chief of a wonderful magazine (are you noticing a pattern here?). The point is, you gain some, you lose some. And you always gain something if the goal is to experience, and university offers a plethora of that.

Your responsibility is to wake up each day and do your best. It doesn’t have to be ‘the best’; it just has to be as good as you can make it happen on the day. Your responsibility is to look after yourself and those around you, and try to find happiness, whatever that may look like for you. The title of the article might come across as implying that once you experience its resultant beauty, change stops being scary. But really, the point to be made is that there will be a time, or a moment in time, when change stops being something to fear and becomes something you learn to take in stride, even when it seems difficult. My parents always say this, and I have come to realise how true it is: change is the only constant. I am no longer a fresher, but I feel just as excited and nervous about the year ahead because I have just as much to look forward to. I will always have new hurdles to find daunting. But if the last year is any indication, I will also have beauty and good times around every bend and corner, and so will you.

So there’s my first note to you as The Bubble‘s Editor-in-chief. If you are a fresher, welcome. If you are a returning reader/student, welcome back. I am so glad to have you here, and I look forward to all the new stories we will get to be a part of. Until next time!

Bubble love,

Kashish 🫧

Featured image: Canva