Queer in First Year — My First Weeks at Uni
I was very nervous to start university, and by nervous, I absolutely mean frantically scouring Twitter and Facebook to find people going to the same one I would be arriving at in September.
I was terrified that I’d be in an unfamiliar environment with strangers who were nothing like me, a queer, gender non-conforming person who was not very good with new people.
However, stunningly after a few days, I’d adjusted perfectly.
I know a lot of people my age that are closeted and use going to uni as an experience to finally live their true selves, whether that be going by a new name and new pronouns or just expressing themselves in a way they didn't feel they could do throughout home life and secondary school.
Like these people, I used moving out of home and into uni accommodation to change how I present myself to new people, choosing to show the person I was with my good friends to everyone. This person is loud and obnoxious but as negative as this sounds it really helped me with making friends and forcing everyone out of an unbearable sense of awkwardness.
Think about it, these people have no idea who they are so you can be whoever you want to be, they don't know how socially awkward you were at secondary school, they don’t know you had this massive gap in your teeth that you were so insecure about before you got braces, university gives you an opportunity to free yourself from this negativity shrouded in being surrounded by people you knew in the early years of finding your true self.
You don’t have to change but you definitely have the opportunity. Metamorphasis isn’t just for butterflies.
Happy Exploring!
Freya (they/them/any)
