Addil Ali completed his A – Levels at Grange Technology College in Bradford. He has now managed to get on to his chosen course of Nursing at Coventry University.
Going from school to university is a giant step for anyone. Here, Addil shares his first day at University with us.
My first day at University
I just couldn’t sleep. I was just thinking about the future. I was surprised how after hoping for so long that I’m going to university, it felt like a dream so I kept pinching myself and telling myself to wake up now, the fun’s over.
I woke up at 6am to get ready, early I know right. But the last time I took a train anywhere I got lost and had to call family to pick me up from Oxford. I don’t know how I managed to get there. Anyway, by setting my alarm for 6am I wanted to make sure I didn’t want to repeat the same scenario. I just wanted to make sure that I arrived there on time. Nothing quite says incompetent than arriving to your lecture on your first day late.
On my way to university my stomach was crying out for breakfast. It was a big mistake not eating anything even though my mum told me to, but I was too nervous to eat.
As the distance of the destination was near, I could feel myself getting extremely stressed, my nerves were high. My twelve weeks of summer had led to this moment.
As I walked through the doors of Coventry University all I could think of is ‘this is the first day of the rest of my life’. Still lost in my own world thinking this cannot be real with thoughts going over and over in my head like- what I’m going to say, how I’m going to greet the tutors etc. With all that going through my head and not noticing the glass doors in front of me. Bang. I went straight into it. My face went bright red with embarrassment. Luckily no-one saw, well I don’t think they did because no one mentioned it. And if they did, I would already be labeled and remembered as the ‘clumsy guy.’ Nobody wants that rep on their first day.
After opening the doors the right way, I saw an average looking chap who took his hand out for a 
handshake. However, I was too busy looking around at all the women I was surrounded by on my course. There were about 60 women and about 4 guys. Well, what do you expect on a nursing course. Oh god. I was getting really nervous now. I get really shy around more than 2 women. How am I meant to last 3 years around 60 women? Us 4 guys had to stick together. We were the minority.
Thanks to the staff, they introduced us to everyone on the course. They told us a about the course, upcoming dates and plans and a bit feedback from the students in the second year or final. It was pretty interesting and I could see my self standing up there in a few years time giving feedback to the others. But I have a long way to go before that happens. Even my female course mates were really nice. I was no longer thinking about us guys forming a male-only pact.
All in all, I thought my first day at university went better than I thought. No thanks to those American movies that I have grown up watching which portray your first day of university to be the worst day of your life. It was nothing like that. I thought I would be there geekily studying a map of the campus in case I got lost, but it was all so easy to get around. I had been psyching myself up for no reason.
From being a shy and scared individual that wanted to walk out of the enrollment day. I would now want to turn back time and change that and go in and show my first impressions perfectly with confidence.
I get to do it all over again tomorrow with my newly made friends. Now that I have started, I cannot wait to graduate and make my parents proud! Coventry Uni come at me.
