I hope my fellow classmates remember this time as fondly as I do.

We had just finished our first year at university. Hand ins were complete, exams were non existent due to our heavy coursework load and the weather was finally heating up from the cold winters of Edinburgh.

But, we had one last obstacle. The dreaded construction of the final year exhibition. It turned out to be not a bad experience, but one of true bonding.

We had to help build the exhibition with the technicians. It consisted of a lot of lifting and painting the boards white and then hammering them to the main wooden blocks that in the end would make up the exhibition.

We had a lot of time together, painting and talking. We had long lunches and the matching paint splattered dungarees.

Our first-year Textiles group was made up of five students. It was a very small group and we got on during our first year, but this experience really cemented us together. It is almost like a family unit was now created at university.

We also had the chance to help the fourth years with their final fabric samples. It was very interesting to see the way they finished off their fabric collections and the care and love they put into each sample.

We had to finish off any embellishing on their samples as well as french hemming. Chloe will remember if she reads this that she gave me the french hemming to do because she gave up with it! I’m sorry Chloe, I had to say.

But I think what that experience taught me was that these girls have my back and I have theirs. They are my home away from home, truly my university family!