As the final term gets into full swing, I took time to catch up with Mia Banham, a first-year BA (Hons) Film Production student, about her experience of moving to university, settling into new friendships and finding her feet in Bournemouth. It has been an exciting few months for her and it was great to hear her reflective take on life as a fresher.
If you could summarise your first week moving into halls in three words, which three would you choose and why?
Adventure, independence and anticipation.
As my first time living away from home, it was an exciting opportunity to make new friends and discover new routines and life as a student. There is a lot to discover in Bournemouth, and it was nice to use the first few weeks of moving into halls to explore the beach, town and spend time with friends. It gave me some time to find a rhythm before starting my new course at the end of September.
What has been your favourite project of the year so far?
The Bolex project has to be my favourite. This is where we shot a short piece using celluloid film and edited it manually by cutting and sticking pieces of the film together. I had been looking forward to this project since before uni and it definitely exceeded my expectations. It was so much fun learning about and practising film techniques before the digital age of cinema and has made me appreciate film quality even more now.
What skills do you feel you have developed most since being at uni?
There are so many things I could say. Uni is so much more than just going to classes. If I had to choose, I would say confidence and adaptability are definitely areas I have grown most.
Moving to uni forced me to explore life outside my comfort zone, which at first was a little scary and intimidating. But I am so thankful I embraced it and pursued some new interests. Although I am extremely introverted, I pushed myself to go to as many uni events and common room socials as possible at the beginning, through which I met my current friends and course mates. It was really nice to cross paths with so many people and spend time in the community. These newfound friendships helped make the transition into student life a lot easier too.
I also found myself needing to be a lot more adaptable to routines at the start of the year – things like finding a study pattern, being confident to get involved with uni projects alongside getting to grips with the local public transport, but being able to do this with my new friends made it a lot more manageable.
