Ok, I know it’s been absolutely forever since I’ve written a post. It hasn’t been that I forgotten (at all!) – just that I’ve been super busy with work, home education, our moving plans, uni, and tbh the more time that passed the more I stared at a blank page, scared of my keyboard and felt like I had nothing to say. So I am biting the bullet and just brain dumping and word vomiting the last few months, because there will be something to say and there will be at least one other person wondering if studying as a mature student is for them! Be prepared because even I don’t know what I’m going to say and I am not a fan of editing, as university has proven to me.

Lets start with a recap. Last year, October 2024, I decided at the grand age of 35 to start the journey to get my degree. It had never been something I had ever thought of doing but stuff and things changed, and it would be beneficial in the long run.

Enter The Open University.

It enabled me to continue running my small business, Floral Derangement – Paper Flowers from home, as well as home educate W at the same time. Deciding on the degree pathway was somewhat easy, I knew that I was somewhat good at arty stuff and sometimes words… basically, but studying English in any capacity would help with our moving plans. Plus I love to read.

A111: Discovering the Arts and Humanities

This led me to A111 ‘Discovering the arts and humanities’, which is a level 1/stage 1 module that essentially introduces you to the concepts of the humanities across a variety of subjects (Classical Studies, Art History, Philosophy, English Literature and a few others) to really just dip your toe in and see what it’s like to study them at a university level. After not studying for at least a decade. More I think! It was just the thing to dust my brain off and learn the ropes for uni level study. I won’t lie, there were some of the subjects that I was not fond of, even some that I skipped completely after looking ahead at what the assignment (TMAs – tutor marked assignment) were requiring. Philosophy and music were not my thing.

The module went well, I enjoyed most of what was taught. I even challenged myself with one of the architectural pieces on Pugin which was a lot to wrap my head around and now I can’t look at Gothic buildings without thinking to myself, “oh, look pointed arches … flying buttresses” and so on. Perhaps that is what study makes you do subconsciously.. The last assignment was an emTMA (end of module assignment) and again, I won’t lie, I skipped it. I had already got the required overall pass mark (it was 40% or over), this was not a required assignment… and I had A112 ‘Cultures’ that started in February this year (2025) to study and submit an assignment. I won’t promote skipping an assignment, try it at least or speak to your tutor for an extension (couldn’t get an extension on the final one) buuut I did as it didn’t count towards the degree overall. However I will skip not further ones in my journey for my degree!

A112: Cultures

As mentioned above I started my second stage 1 module in February which enabled me to stagger my 1st year and seen as 1st year at the OU doesn’t count towards your overall degree classification, and I am impatient and can’t sit still.. well, I wanted them both out of the way as soon as possible. Again, I just needed to pass, as well as learning the skills that I can obviously take forward to when it does count. ‘Cultures’ takes the wide variety of A111 and halves it to focus on the four topics of Classical Studies, Art History, English Literature and Creative Writing. Yay! Good stuff! Well.. Classical Studies isn’t my thing but it was first out of the gate so good to get out of the way early. I never want to study the Romans ever again though.

This module was much more my thing and I was honestly torn between continuing with the pathway of English Literature and Creative Writing as I had been skipping down the lane on, or deviate on the forked path towards Art History. It was the TMA that I got the better mark on. Only one point separated it from English Literature. I had to laugh when I compared the two. So much for helping me decide. I decided to stick with my original plan and keep trucking with the English Literature (that me right now studying Level 2.. might regret.. it is early days though).

Anyway, A112 was a nice and creative module that didn’t feel like work. Even as the EMA (end of module assessment) rolled around it gave a choice of the subjects studied to choose from, to which I opted for Creative Writing and wrote a lovely piece that got great marks on. It has helped with the motivation towards my Level 2 modules that I’ve decided to tag-team at the same time. Not stagger like the lovely introductory Level 1 modules. No, no, a punch to the face of overconfidence screaming “LET’S DO THIS!’

A215: Creative Writing & A233: Telling Stories: the novel and beyond

‘In the left corner A215! and in the right corner A233!’

I might regret this decision to tag team two modules at the same time..

…but here we are.

Honestly? It’s been a rollercoaster already, and I’ve only just started. Everyone in the OU Facebook groups said Level 2 was a different beast entirely, and I smiled politely and thought, “How bad can it be?”

Oh, Nicola. Sweet summer child.

Studying two Level 2 modules at the same time while running a business, home educating, planning a cross-continent move and trying to remember to drink water is… an experience. Creative Writing is wonderful, inspiring, and exactly the kind of learning I always hoped studying would be, at times it doesn’t even feel like studying! And A233 is fascinating, but it’s also the kind of module that takes your brain, spins it around, shakes it like a snow globe and goes, “Right. Make sense of that.”

There have been days where I’ve read a chapter, stared at a paragraph, re-read the paragraph, questioned my life choices, questioned the author’s life choices, then gone off to make a cup of coffee and get a biscuit as a form of self-care-slash-procrastination.

But there have also been moments – tiny ones, but they count – where everything just clicks into place. Where a concept makes sense, or something I write actually feels like writing, and not the scribblings of someone who accidentally wandered into a university course thinking it was a creative retreat and starts offering around a tin of Quality Street.

Those moments are magic. They’re what keep me going.

I won’t lie: juggling two Level 2 modules is not for the faint-hearted. It really is a beast and I’m only TMA01 deep in both modules. It’s a balancing act of deadlines, readings, forums (that I mostly lurk in while panicking quietly as everyone else sounds SO smart), and squeezing study into any pocket of time that isn’t already taken by home ed or making flowers or sorting through belongings for our eventual move.

But, and this is the important part:

I’m doing it.
Not perfectly. Not gracefully. Definitely not quietly.
But I am doing it.

And if you’re sitting here wondering whether you — as a mature student, a parent, a full-time worker, a full-time everything — could study too, then please take this as your sign: you absolutely can. It won’t look pretty all the time. You might question your sanity. You’ll probably drink more tea or coffee and eat more biscuits than is medically recommended. But it is doable.

The OU really does make space for lives like ours — messy, loud, complicated, wonderful lives that don’t fit the traditional student mould and fits with our wider travel plans. And honestly? Studying has given me a sense of direction that I had lost for a while, and something that’s just mine in a season of life that can feel very centred on everyone else.

So, that’s the round-up.
Level 1 done. Level 2 currently body-slamming me, but I’m still standing.
And while I may have bitten off a bit more than I can comfortably chew, I’ve also learned that I am capable of far more than I thought.

Here’s to the next few months — the words I’ll write, the books I’ll read, the concepts that will make me want to cry, and the ones that will make me whisper “ohhh, I get it.”

And if I disappear again for a while… just assume I’m buried under a pile of TMAs, clutching a cup of coffee, and doing my best. Because that is all that any of us can do, our best.

Thanks for being here — really. It means a lot.

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