I arrived at the University of Chester in September 2019 with a clear future goal which was becoming increasingly more a reality. The goal was to prove to everybody around me that I would be able to settle in well in uni, have a fresh start, make friends for life and most importantly, to prove to myself and many people that I would finally achieve grades that I would be proud of.
During my first year of studying International Business Management with Spanish, I achieved grades that I never had before nor imagined I could ever get, having come from sixth form and not getting the business grade that I consistently wished for. In December, I achieved 93% in Spanish and even 75% in the Global Business Environment module which I never thought possible for me. Although I worked incredibly hard, possibly the hardest I had ever worked on academic projects, I never thought I was capable of obtaining such good grades working on my own. I carried out my own research and introduced ideas that, for once, were not suggested by teachers at school in previous years or by people who I considered ‘more intellectual’ than me. These grades have proved to me that I can do anything if I am self-motivated enough and I spend the time focused on what I know I can do, and improve on, rather than, distracted by what others may be more able to do.
I have also taken part in many of the DPP (Developing Professional Practice) sessions, such as the November group presentation session. This helped me hugely with my communication skills, through getting my points across to the audience, ensuring everyone in my group had a chance to say something informative and also helped my confidence. I found that this was easily executed due to the presentations set to us for our marketing seminars most weeks. Another session I found useful was the assessment centre session, I had not heard of this before. This was important to me to develop skills, such as teamwork, communication, leadership and critical thinking, and most importantly helped me appreciate the practical application and why it will all be incredibly helpful in the future when having to take part in a real-life assessment centre.
In the first year of university, I have met a huge amount of people from different backgrounds and cultures, who I have immediately clicked with and hope to remain friends with for the rest of my life. This year has been an incredible change for the best and I am incredibly excited to continue my journey here, to thrive in my academia and develop my skills further during my third-year placement, working in a corporate environment in Spain.
