social positive. Andrew first visited me at Halloween, and coincidentally there was a Halloween party at my halls, so he was thrusted into it, and met all of the friends I had made in the first few weeks of university.
University is a time for personal growth, and couples may grow apart, but every relationship has a chance to flourish if you’re willing to work at it and be an honest and committed partner. Obviously, the choice is a personal one, and students should not make a decision based on the advice of one person, but instead judge for themselves.
We found that the ‘full university experience’ was both overrated and over exaggerated. Not everyone goes out and gets drunk every single night, taking a different person to bed each night. Most of the time, students have pre drinks, go out, have a takeaway, and share a taxi home with their flatmates to make it cheaper. Being in a relationship does not mean you can’t do just that as there is no law against having fun with your friends, and by all means, you should have it and encourage your partner to do the same.
My partner and I, despite initially agreeing otherwise, chose to stick it out. After missing out on his firm choice, which was coincidentally mine too, he enrolled at a university in Leeds, whilst I moved to Salford to complete our dream journalism course. It was a challenge, and it did have its ups and downs, but I believe it made our relationship stronger. However, we were extremely lucky, and after doing well in his first year my partner transferred to Salford where we moved in together. As we were spending our first year apart, Andrew and I decided we would visit one another every other weekend. At first thought this seemed a tall order, as we were essentially having to make sure half of our weekends were free, and missing out on parties and nights out. However, what initially seemed like a negative and a sacrifice, actually turned out to be a huge www.KettleMag.co.uk
We essential had two university experiences rather than just one. I even got a free Domino’s pizza and t-shirt in two different university freebie fairs. We got to explore two different cities, doing different activities in each. Another plus is that these weekends - which sometimes stretched to three or four days – felt like mini breaks, and time where we weren’t together was spent looking forward to seeing each other. Naturally, we missed each other a lot, but we had separate places to be for the sake of our individual futures, meaning our relationship was no longer the priority and got pushed to the backseat. The cliché, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder,” was certainly proved. KettleMag
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Last Summer, UCAS controversially endorsed and distributed leaflets encouraging aspiring university students to break up with their school sweethearts before they become freshers, but is doing so really necessary?