Lucy's story

"My goal at the moment is to do lecturing, so I’d kind of go full circle."

I’d love to teach here, I love the teachers. My goal at the moment is to do lecturing, so I’d kind of go full circle. They’re a close-knit department in Sociology and I love the support network. I found it easier initially to make friends with my teachers and lecturers than other students, I feel like I’m an old soul. So yeah, lecturing is the main thing I want to do. It’s seeing the excitement and the passion that they have for the work that they’ve done. When they start talking about a PhD or an MA that they’ve done, you can see it come out and I love that passion. I’ve got a few things that I’d like to take further with regards to research and it’s just the thought of being able to talk about things that I’ve researched and see other people get excited about certain topics as well. I love learning, I’ve always loved learning. I failed my A-Levels the first time round and I was like “I don’t want this to be it, I want to do something more” and so I retook them and then I came to Essex. I don’t want to get to a point where I’m sat behind a desk and not able to do anything. I want to get to know people and teach people and just have fun with it really.

I’d also like to have five cats when I’m older, that’s the dream. If I can earn enough money to look after them then that’s also the goal. I love cats; so it’s always going to come back to that.

I am very very close, very close with my family. I call them every single day. I think the one time I didn’t was a stretch last year during spring term where we had six essays due in and I didn’t speak to them and my Mum called me and said “I just want to check you’re ok because I haven’t heard from you”. But, I video chat them every day and it’s always good to talk to my cats as well because I have five, it’s kind of a zoo. My mum puts me on to them and they meow back at me. Some people say it’s sad but I just love them so much. It just makes you feel close to home, because I’m three hours away so it’s quite a stretch, so it’s nice to chat to them every day. My dad’s not very well, so that’s one thing that I think about quite a lot. It’s a weird one because it makes me sad that he’s not very well but we get to talk every day and he’s really proud of me and I love chatting to him, so I suppose its swings and roundabouts really.

My proudest moment was probably first year when I got a first overall, that was the best moment. I think I cried, my dad cried, my mum cried. It just felt really good to know all of those late nights and all-nighters had actually paid off. It was a lot of stress beforehand but it was probably my proudest moment.

I do let little things get in my head a bit and I have to just think about it and think “you know what, is this actually as big as you think it is” because I do get worked up. I’m quite an emotional person but I think something I live by is you are who you are, and everything that has happened until now has happened for a reason. So I think that’s something to think about is everything happens for a reason. Obviously you have a choice in how you do things and that can affect it but you are who you are and don’t let anyone tell you differently. And I tell myself just “don’t sweat the small stuff” because things that feel like a massive deal at the time, a year later they’re not really that big of a deal anymore.

I am inspired by many people. My boyfriend, James, inspires me for one thing because he has done so well. He hasn’t dropped below a first all year and I look at him and I’m like how? You’re like a super human. And I’m quite emotional and he’s level so he balances me out and he’s an inspiration. Obviously my dad because he’s quite strong as well and my mum because she’s had to deal with a lot, I’d say they’re the main three.