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Malala Yousafzai says going to university "finally" gave her some time for herself.

The 23-year-old has been speaking to British Vogue and features on the front cover of the magazine's July issue.

Malala was shot by the Taliban - an extremist group - in Pakistan when she was 14 after campaigning for better education for girls in the country.

After that, she said she had "never really been in the company of people my own age because I was recovering from the incident, and travelling around the world, publishing a book and doing a documentary, and so many things were happening".

"At university I finally got some time for myself," Malala said.

"I was excited about literally anything - going to McDonald's.

"I was enjoying each and every moment because I had not seen that much before. I had never really been in the company of people my own age."

Malala graduated from Oxford University last year with a degree in philosophy, politics and economics.

'Headscarf not a sign I'm oppressed'

Malala, who was pictured for British Vogue wearing a headscarf, says the garment is not a sign she is "oppressed" or something she is forced to wear.

She says the headscarf represents her cultural and religious background as a Sunni Muslim of Pashtun ethnicity.

"Muslim girls or Pashtun girls or Pakistani girls, when we follow our traditional dress, we're considered to be oppressed, or voiceless," she added.

"I want to tell everyone that you can have your own voice within your culture, and you can have equality in your culture."

Read more: What's the difference between a hijab, niqab and burka?

'Stayed up all night writing essays'

In 2014, Malala became the youngest-ever winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, for her work campaigning for girls to have a universal right to education.

She admitted that she "didn't write anything about the Nobel Prize" on her personal statement when applying to study at Oxford. "I felt a bit embarrassed."

While studying, Malala says she used to stay up all night to write her essays "every week".

"I would be so annoyed with myself, like, 'Why am I sitting here at 2am, writing this essay? Why haven't I done any reading?'"

'I just wanted to be a student and a friend'

Ms Yousafzai said fame affected her school life in Birmingham, England, where she moved to after leaving Pakistan.

"People would ask me things like, 'What was it like when you met Emma Watson, or Angelina Jolie or Obama?"' she said.

"And I wouldn't know what to say. It's awkward, because you want to leave that Malala outside the school building, you want to just be a student and a friend."

Malala has now moved back in with her parents in Birmingham after leaving university.

She says she is not sure what to do next, and asks herself: "Where do I live next? Should I continue to live in the UK, or should I move to Pakistan, or another country?"

The activist even revealed how her father occasionally receives emails from potential boyfriends in Pakistan.

"The boy says that he has many acres of land and many houses and would love to marry me," she said.

British Vogue's July issue, which includes Malala's full interview, will be in shops and available to download from Friday 4 June.