In todays post I thought I would share some of the tips I learnt from my freshers week. I wasn't really looking forward to my freshers week last year as I was more nervous about actually starting university and felt quite homesick but whilst I may not have enjoyed it as much as it was still full of good memories.
1. Fancy Dress
Freshers weeks tend to involve a lot of fancy dress, well mine did. I guess they think that students like to dress up, maybe they're right. Nearly every night out of my freshers week was fancy dress apart from the finale. My nights out involved fancy dress such as back to school, services, toga party, bay watch and a UV party. Like I said above I didn't really think about freshers week very much and as a result didn't have much fancy dress, I even ended up forgetting to take an old school shirt (school boy error if you pardon the pun!). I wouldn't say you have to spend loads on fancy dress but if you check your freshers week schedule to see if there are any fancy dress events then you can prepared for them and see if you have anything suitable to wear in you wardrobe already. Places like Primark are also good places to get cheap things to wear.
2. Course Induction
Depending on your university there may be things on in the day to do with your course. In my freshers week I had to attend a welcome talk for my course, register for the doctors and my course, meet my tutor and go to a library induction. You may be tempted to skip some of these things and in all honesty I wouldn't have missed out on much by not going to the library induction but some of the things are important, especially registering for things such as healthcare. So although freshers week is great for partying you may need to be up early for some of the days which is something to bear in mind.
3. Trying new things
Don't feel like you have to do everything, I know a lot of people say you should try to do everything but you are allowed a break. I ended up not going out on the tuesday and thursday nights, this was partly because I wasn't enjoying going out, I wasn't really used to going clubbing and also felt quite homesick. Having said that I did find that going out kept me busy and I felt less homesick. There will also be events on that don't involve clubbing, I think we had a comedy night and a pub quiz and there was also a trip to Alton Towers in the day time. Although I said don't feel like you have to do everything I would encourage you to make the most of the non clubbing events and opportunities. My course organised a trip within the first week and whilst I was tempted not to go I ended up going and making a friend on my course who I probably wouldn't have spoken to otherwise, so these things are a good way to get chatting to people. Also most societies will have taster sessions, my flatmates and I went to a dance session and whilst I came out of it and decided I never wanted to do it again (I suck at hip hop dancing) it was good to try something new.
4. Freebies
Freshers fairs are a great place to see what societies are at your university and also to get some freebies. Whilst you'll most likely just end up with a load of free pens a lot of freshers fairs now hand out free pizza which is a good enough reason if any to go.
5. Making friends
Freshers week is a great time for getting to know your flatmates and other students, I didn't realise just how friendly people would be. The people you talk to in freshers week aren't necessarily going to be your friends the whole way through university but it is a great time to chat to everyone. I probably should have made more of this opportunity but being shy I found it hard to start conversations. It's also a good thing if you take a door stop and leave your door open, I would recommend a strong door stop! That way if any of your flat mates walk past they can see your in your room and come and say hello, or you could even knock on their doors and start a conversation. This is easier said than done but at the end of the day everyone is in the same boat.
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Hopefully this post has been helpful for any of you that are starting university this year.
Sophie
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