Month: September 2018

My feelings on finishing university

By Vyugar Nadzhafov, BA International Business Management

Entering university in first year, people warned me that the three years would fly past. I can now attest to this, as I have now experienced my graduation and am waiting to enter the real world of work at the end of the summer. Despite the time going fast, looking back I am grateful that I got to achieve a lot of things, and I did this through prioritising. In your years at university, you’ll get many opportunities – perhaps to undertake a summer abroad, a placement, a part-time job or just a holiday with your flatmates. With all of these, it’s important to review your priorities, and how this opportunity fits in with your goals.

Leaving university and entering the world of work has provided me with a sense of perspective, and searching for a graduate job really makes you think about what you enjoy and what you would like to spend your time doing. From a young age, we all are trying to pursue the “game of society”, and the more time you spend with yourself, the more you start focusing on things you love. I love filming videos, talking to people and making people laugh. So I guess this is what I am going to try and spent the most of my time on.  I also love risk-taking. I feel that this is the best time for me to try to take a risk and pursue entrepreneurship. In the world of evolving social media, it is much easier to establish your product or service, and this is what I am hoping to take advantage of.

For all students entering university this year, I advise you to figure out what you do not like. It is much easier to figure out what you do not like than what you like. For example, I am not really into maths, chemistry or physics, so I made sure I avoided these things at all costs. It will take time for you to figure out what you enjoy and have passion for, and do not panic if it doesn’t come quickly or naturally to you. It’s good to remember that your interests might evolve, change and completely turn around, but as long as you keep looking for what makes you get up in the morning, you will be fine.

Life post-exams and pre-rush hour

By Nathan Allaby, BA Business Management

As a final year student, so much focus is on exams during the spring and early summer months, and rightly so; the end result sums up whether or not you have used the last three or four years of your life well. However, post-exams, myself and many of my friends finishing university felt an odd sense of emptiness and lack of purpose. What do you do with your time when you haven’t got an Excel spreadsheet planning out ‘revision blocks’ and ‘lunch breaks’? For many, the summer holiday can be enjoyable for the first week or two where you go back to your family home and receive free food and laundry services. After this, the novelty soon wears off and your old friend boredom kicks in with vigour. In this blog I will give you a brief outline of what I’m getting up to during my 2018 summer break so far and to hopefully provide you with some ideas of what you could get up to in the future!

ESADE Business Summer School (June 16th – June 30th)

Sheffield University Management School offers scholarships to attend a 2-week long summer school programme at a number of universities such as University of Twente in the Netherlands and University of Mannheim in Germany. The scholarship funds the cost of course fees plus accomodation so all you need to pay for is your flight and everyday expenses. The application process is very simple – just a 250 word form explaining why you want to go! I went to ESADE Business School in Barcelona and had the most amazing time meeting people from the US, Kuwait, Belgium, Colombia, India, Italy and Germany, whilst taking classes in social entrepreneurship and e-commerce. Would highly recommend this to anyone!

Leiths School of Food and Wine (July 1st – July 5th)

During my final year at university I became particularly interested incooking and hosted a couple of dinner parties for friends in my student house. I knew that this summer would be the last opportunity to have a significant block of time free, so decided to take a 5-day cooking course in London. Obviously cooking isn’t for everyone but potentially you could spend some time improving a specific skill that you want to learn such as a musical instrument or language.

Amalfi Coast (July 6th – July 15th)

This was a week of complete relaxation just sitting by the pool and strolling around the Amalfi Coast with my family taking regular breaks for lemon granitas. I also loved having the opportunity to practice a couple of recipes I had learnt the week before. Make sure that you spend a good amount of time just resting after exams as I guarantee you will need it!

Berlin (5th August – 9th August)

I went to Berlin for 4 days with a friend and stayed in the eastern district of Friedrichshain. We went to a number of museums and art galleries but the stand-outs for me were the DDR Museum (exploring life in the Soviet Union occupied East Berlin during the Cold War) and the Stasi Museum (looking at the methods of the Stasi to monitor its civilians and suppress opposition). We also went on an amazing walking tour of street art [posh word for graffiti] with a local photographer.

George Street Social Cafe (23rd July – mid September)

I was having brunch with a friend in this cafe and quite liked the atmosphere and staff so I asked if I could work there. Three days later I had my first shift and have really enjoyed learning how to make ‘proper’ coffees and cocktails, although less-so cleaning tables. This job was also vital as I realised that I was severely broke. Just so you know, money is very important if you want to do cool things…who knew?!

When thinking about your own future summer break between the end of university and starting a job, I would advise you to try and plan a mix of things that: allow to you relax and have some fun, develop a certain skill or interest that you have and gives you the opportunity to meet new people that you wouldn’t normally interact with.

Throw yourself in the deep end and have fun!