A Level Results Day - 20 Years On

I was busily wishing friends luck this morning, as they head off with their children to collect A level results and it suddenly dawned on me that it is twenty years since I nervously headed to school to collect mine.  Twenty years?! How did that happen? I remember opening my results and realising that I could actually go to university.  This was what I had dreamed of, had worked towards and finally it was going to happen.  I headed home to confirm my place, by good old landline, no online confirmations back then.  The excitement was immense, little ol' me heading to a new city, on a new adventure.

My time at Birmingham wasn't always easy but I loved the subjects I was studying, which made the homesickness and money worries more bearable.  Being a student isn't always plain sailing and doing it again twenty years on provides new worries, dilemmas and happy experiences.  I guess it also proves that what we choose to study at eighteen may not be our choice for life.  We don't have to stay on the same path forever.  Also for anybody not opening an envelope full of the 'required grades' please do not panic.  Everything happens for a reason, just sometimes we don't always know what the reason is straight away.  Take a little pause, create plan B. Perhaps the lower grades will give you the chance to change your plans, make real a little idea that's been niggling at the back of your head since filling out your UCAS application.  Whatever your results today, take a deep breath and leap, your next adventure is about to begin.

Until next time, take care.

Zoe

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