Just under two years ago I moved to bonny Scotland, completely on a whim. I thought for a long time that I never wanted to go to uni and that instead I work work and do internships to get where I wanted to be. What I didn't realise is that going to uni is as much about the degree as it is about the people you meet.
I was still packing at 2am the night before I left when I started freaking out and began telling myself that I would move back to Belfast after a few weeks if it wasn't for me or if I didn't make any friends.
My mum and I arrived in Galashiels (a very small town in the Scottish Boarders where my uni is) and I automatically decided that I wasn't staying. You can walk from one side of Galashiels to another, and coming from living close to the city of Belfast it was a complete change, and not the kind I was after. My mum was pretending everything was going to be okay but saying things like "Theres an Iceland and a tesco over there! Theres a New Look eefs it can't be that bad if they have some shops!". She later revealed that she was freaking out and didn't want to leave me in such a quiet town but was just pretending for my sake.
I remember sitting in my room at halls after moving in and being well aware that there were girls at either side of the wall but being frozen with fear when thinking about having to speak to them. The first few nights everyone in halls went out and got steaming, and I did have a good time but I'd end up steaming in my room on the phone to my brother saying I was going to move home.
It was at the end of the first week of freshers when everything started to seem a bit more okay.
I meet the best gals anyone could ask for. All on the same floor a team of 9 of us all became inseparable. What amazed me was how different we all were, and still are. There is a mix of Irish, Scottish and English and we all have different backgrounds and views which we loved to discuss over a Mc Donalds in a car park. My first year of university is now a blur of sitting in each others rooms in halls for hours on end, getting drunk and heading to the one and only club in Galashiels and squad trips to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool and the highlands.
After a long summer apart we all moved into flats in Edinburgh, with myself, Chloe, Firdous and Adele in one and Sophie, Ilka, Jen and Rhona in another, Katy stayed in Gala but never misses a sesh.
Making the last minute and not very thought out decision to move to Scotland and start university has meant that I met friends for life, I spent the summer in America with Adele and Sophie (which I never would have done). I've met loads of new and lovely people through working at office Edinburgh and it's also allowed me to meet Lewis, my very handsome and very Scottish boyfriend. He's made me realise that Scotland is well and truly my second home and I only go back to Belfast when he's next to me on the plane.