Until you discover that those 40 hours refer only to your studies. The most important 40 hours of the week, certainly, but by no means the only ones. Because alongside them, an entirely new range of subjects suddenly appears, one nobody officially enrols you in: adult life. And the difficult part is that nobody tells you what to prioritise. You have to decide that for yourself. And that means: choosing yourself.
You are 18, you have never touched a hob in your life, suddenly "dinner" is not something that simply materialises, and that kitchen cupboard does not seem to fill itself by magic either. Then your housemates come round with the real classics: apparently the house needs cleaning (at least, they say so), the shopping needs doing, and your laundry really does need sorting. And in between, within those 168 hours of your week, once you subtract work, your studies, cleaning and sleep, you are left with just 46 hours in which to also make a start on your "student life."
Fortunately, it does not stop there: this is also the moment to build your social life and perhaps even join a sports club. And because, after sport and seeing friends, you still have around 30 hours left, you naturally also pop along to the study association social. Before you know it, those 26 hours remaining after the social have flown by. Not because they have disappeared, but because you are meeting people and genuinely beginning to feel part of the Faculty of Science. Because all those students who dedicate themselves to our study associations, representative bodies and committees have also done that calculation at some point and decided that it is worth those remaining hours. For which I am personally enormously grateful.
I therefore believe that university is the place to develop yourself: you learn to organise, collaborate, plan and take responsibility in an entirely new way. You meet so many people who leave a lasting impression, and you finally become "grown up." Through associations, board years and everything that surrounds them, I have gained experience that I still draw on today. But I have also learned that developing yourself is not only about doing more. Sometimes it's about consciously choosing what to leave aside.
There is, then, one thing even more important than gaining all these experiences: choosing. It is wonderful that student life offers so much freedom: associations, committees, sport and socials. But that very freedom can become overwhelming. Truly growing up is the art of not filling your 168 hours to capacity, but deliberately leaving space for yourself. Of sometimes saying no, precisely so that you have more room, physically and mentally, to do the things you actually enjoy. Student life means being given 168 hours, and despite all the options on offer: do not forget that choosing yourself is also a choice.
