Harry DungateFor many new undergraduates, Freshers’ Week is just around the corner. For the more laid-back among us, it’s a time to let lose, take advantage of those cheap Jägerbombs and make new friends in your new-found city. For those with a more neurotic disposition, it can be a daunting time. Here are a few tips on making it through Freshers’ Week.
1) Moving In
The first hurdle for everyone is moving in. You’ve unpacked, refrained from shining a UV light on that suspect stain on the carpet and your parents have (finally) upped and left. You’re on your own. Now, it’s time to meet the people you’ll be living with for the rest of the year.
The key thing to remember here is to simply, just relax. Everyone’s in the same boat and undoubtedly, everyone’s just as nervous as you are. Leave unpacking till later, you’ve got all week to do it. Instead, go and sit in the common area with a cup of tea and offer one to your new flat mates. Alternatively, go and knock on their door and introduce yourself, someone’s got to make the first move, it might as well be you.
Throwing seven random eighteen year olds in the same flat together is often an explosive hormonal cocktail. A lot of the time, your flatmates won’t be your best mates, but there are plenty of ways of meeting other people who have the potential to be-university’s a big place.
2) Budgeting
You’re a student now, money’s tight, and the temptation to go out and spend all your student loan on lunchtime cocktails or a carpet cleaner to get rid of that increasingly questionable stain will be overwhelming.
What’s vital to remember is that, in three weeks, when the freshers’ events are a hazy, distant memory and that stain still won’t come out, you still have to feed yourself. You’ll soon come to realise that meat is a precious, expensive commodity and that even though you insisted your parents bought Heinz beans, the generic brands taste just the same.
Learn to cook too. Your parent’s will try and palm a copy of Nigella on you but a quick Google search will tell you everything you need to know about Spag Bol. Eating seven Chinese takeaways in a row may seem like a good idea, but both your heart and the contents of your wallet might not last as long as you’d like.
3) Freshers’ Events
Freshers’ Week is packed full of social events. Foam parties, silent discos, UV paint parties and hangovers are available in abundance. For a week, Britain’s transformed into a temporary Zante, without the heat and clear blue sea.
If getting lashed on cheap booze and popping dangerous amounts of Ibuprofen the morning after isn’t your thing (maybe you’re not from the north of England) there’re plenty of other ways to make friends and have a good time.
Attending the Freshers’ Fair’s a good idea. You can sign up for societies, sports clubs and take embarrassing selfies with your flatmates so that, in a year, you can reminisce about “how young you all looked.”
4) Fresher’s Flu
Whilst it seems like a myth, it’s very real…and a right bitch. With thousands of new people coming from hundreds of different places, freshers’ events are a breeding ground for colds. After day three, you’ll think your immune system’s something special but it’ll hit you like a tonne of bricks sooner or later.
There’s really nothing you can do about it. Lemsip’s expensive and so are multivitamins. Just take a night off from the sauce, grab some tissues and push through it.
5) TV Licenses
As soon as you move in, you’ll be bombarded with notices about purchasing a TV license. Remember, we’re in the twenty first century and with Sky Go, Netflix and BBC iPlayer on offer, we students can single-handedly ruin the BBC together.
6) Enjoy it
Whilst it might seem like a week of forced fun, Freshers’ Week is a great way of making new friends and experiencing new and exciting things. Meet new people, have that extra drink and don’t worry about that carpet stain. In a few months, you’ll be panicking about exams, enjoy it while you can.
