The sun is shining, the birds are singing and school is out for summer/forever, oh the joys! After copious amounts of coursework, exams & late night library sessions it's finally time for you to put your feet up, throw your lecture notes through the paper shredder and do the celebratory freedom dance (don't act like you don't have one!) University is and will be some of the best days of your life, no buts about it, regardless of the lows there's been plenty of highs and today I wish to highlight some of the top things you'll miss about being a student...

Student Discounts

First and foremost, going to university always results in freebies, you name it, we've probably had it. Free t-shirts, pizza, shot glasses & bags were among many of the things that graced our cupboards and you could never have too many, it was definitely a race for life in September at those wonderful once a year freshers fairs. This combined with student discounts will always be one of the best things about education, there's nothing quite as triumphant as getting to the till and whipping your card out, who wants to pay full price for another pair of shoes that you don't need?

Extra, Extra Long Summers

No matter how stressful life gets, the university holidays would always sort them out. 12 trips or a full summer abroad? Oh go on then. Although we've all spent plenty of time banging our heads against our study tables, the many weeks of freedom are always going to be one of the major perks of student life, 25 days a year just doesn't quite feel the same.

Naps/Snooze Buttons

Funnily enough, napping is frowned on during a Monday morning business meeting. Gone are the days where you could pop yourself at the very back of a lecture hall and have a tactical 15 minutes, in the real world you're always running out of time and your life revolves around the schedule you must follow. Remember those duvet days? yeah we all had plenty of them. The joys of a flexible timetable right? If you turned up to a 9am lecture you automatically expected a congratulations, I mean it was definitely deserved after that 15 minute walk in the rain with a bad hair day & a hangover.

The Student Loan/Overdraft

We all know the drill. Once every four months Christmas would come early and you'd live like royalty for two weeks. Food, clothes & alcohol were the top of everyone's agenda, we'd just put off thinking about the consequences until later.

Living In Your Comfies

Woken up late? No problem, you've already get your onesie on. Comfort over fashion is definitely the way forward when you're lecturer has decided to punish you with a morning seminar. Did we really need another hoody, or a pair of leggings/sweatpants? Yes, yes we did. Plus if you were out of milk or bread and you were still in your jammies, no problem, everyone else would have been rocking the same type of outfit whatever the weather.

Funky Junk

Open the fridge, close it, then open it, then close it. When your cupboards were bare and the fridge contained last weeks takeaway pizza it was always difficult to decide what actually ticked your fancy. Fish fingers sandwiches, pasta, beans & cheese & super-noodles were the staple part of everyone's diet and we weren't afraid to show it. There was almost a sense of achievement every time something new was created that was actually edible, does tuna go with peanut butter? who knows until you've tried it... move over Delia.

The SU

All hail cheap drinks, glow sticks & fancy dress. Although it was deemed fairly uncool to be there at times, the SU held some of the best and cheesiest nights that most of us students have ever seen. Plus there was the added bonus that this too was a meeting ground for all that liked to dress particularly 'comfy', fancied a coffee between lectures in your jammies? Bingo.

Freshers Week

Whether starting university or finishing, Freshers was the best excuse to go out every.single.night. No lectures for a good few weeks, student loan in & plenty of offers always resulted in one of the best weeks of your life, so what if you were poor at the end of it, it was SO worth it right?

The Friends

Although the degree, array of pub crawls & student discounts played a huge part in an unforgettable few years, it goes without saying that the best bit of university has got to be the people you meet. I'm sure we can all relate to that first drive down to your campus, the sweaty palms and the sick bag firmly by your side, nervous was an understatement... until you met your fellow freshers. These individuals were responsible for you acting an idiot, eating takeaways five nights in a row & for dragging you out of bed to the lectures you'd decided you were 'too ill' for. These are the individuals that you'll be friends with for life. Regardless of the separate ways that we've all gone, or you're about to go, the array of pictures (unfortunately on Facebook) and three years of constantly bunking together will never let you forget each other, which I'd say is an achievement in itself...

So if you're about to swap your slippers for suits, your cocktails for coffee & head into the real world, I say three cheers to some of the greatest days of our life, university was & still is the best decision I've ever made.