Making the adjustment to life at university was tough at first. I have never been the most outgoing of people to begin with, although I have improved with time. So, moving 250 miles across the country to an unfamiliar city filled with unfamiliar people was always going to be a challenge.
In short, I was homesick for the first half of my first term.
Gradually, as I began to make friends and settle in to the social scene in Exeter, I soon forgot about the whole homesickness thing. I came to view Exeter as my second home.
This presented its own problem: going home for Christmas. By that stage, I had become so used to uni life that part of me did not want to leave at all. On the one hand I was looking forward to returning to the familiarity of my family and homeland; on the other I was leaving behind my social circle, the only friends I had outside of my family.
I was torn.
At that time I had spent the best part of three years searching for a copy of the song Every Generation, which I had heard several times on Jazz FM (as was). The original album (also entitled Every Generation) had been out of print for some time. However, in November of 2000 - during my first term at Exeter - I found it. It was on one of HMV's budget compilations, which I purchased for the princely sum of £5.99.
It is a very reflective song, centred around the changes one experiences as one progresses through life. The lyrics immdediately struck a chord with me, given that I was embarking upon another stage of the great journey of life at the time.
I took the CD back to Flintshire with me over the Christmas break. As I reflected on the momentous changes I was going through, and all the fun and excitement that the next four years had in store, I'm not ashamed to say that I shed a tear or two that December when I listened to the song.
To this day I regard Every Generation as the signature tune of my life. It is also the direct inspiration for the title of my other blog.
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