Picture this: its 6:30am on a Monday morning, the birds are chirping away and your shitty IPhone alarm starts going off. You roll out of bed after 1 hour of sleep, makeup still on from the night before, and a headache the size of Russia. Reluctantly you gather your things and stumble into your 2005 Toyota Corolla, eyes still half shut. You then spend the next hour and a half navigating Sydney’s morning traffic to eventually arrive at an 8am marketing lecture. Your try your hardest to focus, but after 20 minutes you’re fast asleep in your red upholstered lecture theatre chair dreaming about what it’d be like if you were in the Harry Potter movies.

This was week two of uni for me. And it really only went down-hill from there.

I mean, I was thriving socially! From Wednesday to Sunday I’d be in and out of night clubs, meeting new people and building friendships with anyone and everyone. I saw countless sunrises during this time, not because I woke up early, but because I was walking in the front door at 5am on a regular basis. I also downed countess drinks during this time, and most nights became a blur. But for the most part I had fun! I loved meeting new people, I loved jumping up and down in packed mosh pits, and I loved the absolutely wack situations we got ourselves into.

For an extraverted 18 year old this lifestyle seemed perfect, but it began to take a huge toll on my health and my grades. Uni became the least important aspect of my life and something I resented. I stopped trying all together, and remember not studying for any of my finals. This was a big change from the goodie two shoes I was in high school, who put 110% effort into everything she did.

Unbeknownst to me, I began to unravel. I lost my drive, I lost my judgement of character, and I lost some of the values I held so closely to me.

On top this, I met a boy who was perfect for me in every way. But, because of my clouded vision at the time I let him go for some popular DJ who I thought was the bee’s knees. Gee was that a mistake.

The pretty lights, cool music and excitement of meeting new people began to fade by the end of year 1. And the reality of subpar grades, and idiotic relationship decisions began to sink in.