Anyone that's in uni now will probably have heard of this idea of a Safe Space. The idea is usually applied within a common area and it's the idea that harassment of any kind should not exist within such a space, and that in said space, everyone is free to be themselves.
In a way, I think that university is pretty much a Safe Space in itself, even if it doesn't mean to be. Let's face it, in university there are a lot of things which are generally more acceptable than in other parts of life. Being a student has previously been compared to submitting to a form of voluntary vagrancy. With rent prices in dedicated student accommodation buildings being more than the average student can take in loans from the SLC, many students choose to extend their debt by getting overdrafts that are offered at an interest free rate (until you graduate...it's in the fine print). Being a student makes it pretty much socially acceptable to be in debt and be living off smart price beans and bread that you cut the mould off. Yes, I have seen it done.
It's also acceptable to move home for several months of the year and
The thing that convinces me the most though is that for at least the first two years, it's completely okay to have absolutely no idea with this thing you've paid out an obscene amount of money for. It's pretty much socially acceptable for the only goal to be finish this bloody degree and then figure it out from there, and I think that's because of a universally accepted truth. The world outside of the lecture halls is a scary place.
I've been thinking recently about the things I want to do with my life and the things I will have to do to achieve what I want to achieve. A lot of it is filling in forms and jumping through hoops to impress the right people so that they hopefully give me a job where I can feel useful and contribute in my own way, but the problem is, I'm still not sure what exactly I want to do.
I've been doing all the normal things like looking into graduate programmes and conversion courses and further study and all of that sort of thing, but it's still not narrowing it down. All the while I'm looking for different ways to keep doing the things I love, but maybe find a way of making that into a job.
Anyway, I'm going to retreat back into my Safe Space for a little bit, and try not to think about it. At least I can comfort myself knowing that no matter how desperate to work in some kind of writing career I am, I will never work for the Daily Mail.
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