For most of us, freshers’ week at university takes at least another week on top of that – or two – to recover from.
But Tammy Beaumont had little time to dwell on a hazy blur of tiredness or the overwhelming excitement at new-found freedom, as she went straight from Loughborough to her England debut in the Caribbean.
Beaumont, now 35 and having just announced her retirement from international cricket after this week’s Test against India, refers to her debut as a whirlwind.
It is also a fitting word to describe a career that has seen her bat in every position from one to 11, become a World Cup winner, an Ashes double-centurion and now bowing out in the historic occasion of a first women’s Test at Lord’s from Friday.
“It’s been an emotional week since I made the final decision,” Beaumont told BBC Sport.
“At the end of the 50-over World Cup last year, there were a few doubts. I didn’t necessarily have the lightbulb moment when I knew.
“But I had a few conversations with Lottie [head coach Charlotte Edwards] over the past few months about where the team was going and I didn’t really see myself in that, so I made the decision about a week ago, to definitely go for it.”
It has also been a career of resilience, though Beaumont jokingly refers to her dad’s speech at her wedding in which he used that word in inverted commas to mean “stubborn” instead.
After a fluctuating start in the international game, it was in 2016 when then-coach Mark Robinson promoted her to open and she never looked back.
A year later, she was player of the tournament and leading run-scorer during England’s 50-over World Cup win at home soil.
From there, she was one of the first names on the teamsheet with her consistency at the top of the order but another turning point came in 2022 when she was left out of the T20 side and missed a home Commonwealth Games as a result.
Earlier this summer, though, when Edwards left Beaumont out of the one-day international squad against New Zealand, there was a difference.
The stubbornness was not kicking in.
And last week, when men’s Test captain Ben Stokes announced his retirement, Beaumont found herself drawing comparisons.
“I think that was the first time that I had been left out of a squad and not had that fire to go again, to prove people wrong one more time, and force my way back in,” Beaumont said.
“When I heard Ben Stokes talking about ‘going back to the well’, I don’t think I’ve ever connected with someone else more.
“I’ve said many times that you get knocked down seven times and get up eight. But that moment was a bit of a wake-up call – the moment where I thought I couldn’t keep doing it and didn’t want to.”
