Hi. I’m Tasneem. I actually did not start out wanting to study Anthropology. I’ll admit, up until I was applying for university, I didn’t know it even existed. Initially, I was a pure Sociology student, interested in learning about the inner working of society. Growing up on the internet, I found myself becoming very interested in social justice issues, earning me the title of a “social justice warrior” before I had even sat my first GCSE. That didn’t faze me, though. When I found out that I could study ALL of these social injustices and understand where they arose from, I jumped at the chance to develop my arguments, this time backed up by academic knowledge. I had become completely besotted with Sociology the moment I had started my first class of in A Levels. However, it wasn’t until 2 weeks in o my first year at Brunel that I felt like just studying Sociology was not enough for me. I wanted a better understanding of how society works, and I realised that understanding the different cultures of the world and throughout time would help satiate this curiosity I had regarding the world we live in. And so after 2 weeks of starting my university course, I reached out to the university and inquired about the possibility of switching my course to Anthropology and Sociology. I was met with such enthusiasm from the Anthropology department. One Lecturer offered me the opportunity to sit in during a lecture and seminar, and I was obsessed immediately. See, I felt like I had found my ‘thing’ and my ‘people’, within that one seminar. Things just clicked for me. Sitting in on that one seminar irrevocably changed the course of my life, because now I can’t imagine not studying Anthropology. I’d come to university with the expectation that I may not develop close connections with those that taught me. I’d hear of how lecturers wouldn’t even know who we are or remember our names. But that’s certainly not the case at Brunel. There is an air of closeness and familiarity that runs through the Anthropology department, that makes it feel a lot more personal. Perhaps that comes from the support of lecturers and personal tutors that will go above and beyond to help with anything from assignments and dissertations, to further study applications, to helping develop skills needed for future employment. Or maybe it’s the type of student this course attracts, because I found myself among such likeminded people, hungry for knowledge and never satisfied with any conclusions without debating it almost to death first. Either way, it’s that comfortability that allowed me to fully immerse myself with my course. One of the highlights of my experience at Brunel was the sandwich placement programme, which allowed me to spend a year working with BOSCH as a social media intern. It felt validating to realise that I could apply the analytical skills I’d gained from my university studies within a real-world setting. It was even more empowering to realise that studying Anthropology and Sociology even gave me an edge over others, because my understanding of cultural relativity allowed me to produce content for cultures I was never a part of, such as that of the construction and technology industry. I was given the chance to work within such a big and world-renowned company, forging relationships with people that still play a mentoring role in my life today. I won’t pretend that I knew what I wanted to do with my life when I had applied to university to study Sociology, nor when I decided to study Anthropology as well. I won’t even pretend that I know exactly which way my life is going to go after I graduate. But Brunel never made me feel lesser for this uncertainty and indecision. I was never boxed in to one course choice, or one career choice. I was given the freedom to develop as a young adult, without ever feeling like I had been reduced to a student number and neglected. Coming up to the end of my undergraduate degree, I find myself already nostalgically walking through campus, reflecting on how much I have come into my own in just the last 4 years. No matter what, I know that I will look back at my time at Brunel as a student of Anthropology and Sociology with fondness.