To follow on from the previous poster, here is another one discussing the types and traits of housemates that some others may find a little less desirable.
These are housemate characteristics I have heard echoed up and down the country, experienced both as a house warden and from fellow course members and friends’ experiences with some of their houses and I am sure many people have related to. This poster of course comes with the disclaimer that I don’t expect anyone to start wars and accuse each other of the titles I have put each under, but more to recognise these traits and for those that can be used, use them for good, and for others to avoid or quash to create more harmonious households.
Given this poster goes over two pages, there are two images shown. To download a copy of each, simply click on them to be taken to the file.
So, Fresher’s Weeks, Christmas, Easter or Summer are coming to and end and you now have to actually do what you came to Uni for. Whilst not every student will find this hard after a break away from the books, nor can I guarantee all of this will appear for each and every one of you on them quite strongly, here are 5 things that typically dawn on people once the dust settles and from experience the advice I can give to get past or deal with them.
You Actually Have To Do Work Now
Sadly for some, the studying and assignment creating part of your degree has to begin sometime. Usually for first year students this won’t be too taxing, but it pays to take note for the following years and as a brace-for-impact as your projects start to come in the next few weeks. The simplest way to handle this is to prepare and organise early, so you can hit the ground running as soon as you need to. How you’ll need to do this depends on the nature of your subject(s). For instance more traditional subjects such as Humanities, Language, Arts, Mathematics and Sciences may require notebooks, stationary, instruments and clothing /PPE. Whilst buying this at the fair might not be so wise it’s often wise to take advantage of the sales before they expire and buy what your lecturers recommend off the list whilst it’s cheap. For more practical subjects, you may wish to examine any kit list given to your in your welcome packs or initial lectures to find out what you will need over your semester/year. If you’re not sure, don’t be afraid to email your faculty staff so you don’t get caught short!
The Loan Isn’t Infinite
This can occur no matter how frugal you were with your Fresher’s events, you’ll start to feel the pinch over time. The biggest things I’ve found is to give yourself a weekly budget to work with, don’t be afraid to try some of the cheaper food and stores on offer (you may be surprised that it’s not all bad!) prioritise when you have to pay bills and buy stuff to live and remember if you think you may need more, it is possible to work a part time job or freelance if you do need more cash until your next relevant installment drops.Also, if you have a meal plan at your institution, don’t forget to take advantage of every penny of it! At my campus, we were given a fixed amount each day, which didn’t roll over. Some people accepted they couldn’t not overspend on it and were often found spending more later on in the week. Others realised there weren’t limits on buying extras in our canteen (such as milk, shakes, snacks, etc) or upgrading to gormet sandwiches in the bar. So if you have similar facilities and some spare credit left over – treat yourself! If you overspend a little you’ll thank yourself later when you didn’t pay more to buy that more expensive treat later on at the store! In terms of shopping, there are many groups on social media such as local Facebook groups that are dedicated to everyday bargain hunters and sites equivalent to Hotukdeals are a haven for price glitches, local sales that aren’t mass advertised and common tricks and discounts (speaking of which, if you haven’t seen my student checklist yet, take a look here to find even more discounts that will help you not spend all your loan up immediately!)
You May Need To Pick Your Nights
Nights out and parties are awesome and if we could do them like Sean Kingston likes to, life would be pretty exciting. But sadly commitments like jobs and assignments and funding mean you may have to cut these down during term-time. But it’s not all bad! Many popular bars and clubs including your student union or guild will have PR teams that reach out to students and will typically plan theme nights out in advance to be advertised. If you feel like you should be part of these and you’re on more limited funds, then it’s worth saving your cash for these nights instead, as in my experience the normal nights come and go every week and other than possible social banter, they don’t change much week to week – but you only get a few goes at the beach/toga/Halloween/foam/UV/traffic light parties, so choose your favorites and maximise them to their full potential!
You Suddenly Understand The Light Switch/Waste Water Struggle
We all need water to live and practically exist on electricity, gas and broadband these days and unless you’re living in halls, it costs money to maintain. Sadly our parents weren’t joking and to reduce the bill costs, it doest mean to keep vigilant to what is plugged in and live, turn off that water when you clean your teeth and when it comes to contract renewal, shop for prices from providers like you would an item of clothing or fresh food at the store. If you have house/flatmates, ensure the bills are split fairly as well, both financially and in terms of responsibility. Using a tool such as PayPal Money pool is a great way of ensuring everyone successfully tips in their funds for a bill suitably. If you all study at the same sorts of time, you could also set up a cooking rota between you, saving both money on buying food and a potential reduction in how many times the oven or microwave is used – this doesn’t suit all households though to ensure to talk it over and get everyone’s views!
It isn’t easy being a student, but it’s not a bad place to be considering the opportunities you get and the unique position to practice being an adult and a professional in a safe environment amongst friends and colleagues alike before you brave/re-enter the “real world”. But prepare in advance and you will often stand a chance at getting through three months without too much fuss or worry in life (academics however, I’ll have to come back to you with 😉 )
Going out to parties and nights on the town are a part of many student’s experiences. Some planned their student life around these (un)forgettable adventures, whilst others would use them as an excuse to celebrate or let off steam after a time of stress. Whatever your reason and format of going crazy to music and fun, here are a few life rules I picked up during my years of evening antics!
DO: Budget Beforehand
So this one sounds a little killjoy out of the bat, but it’s also the easiest and one of the costliest (see what I did there?) mistake to make. Now you don’t need to make a spreadsheet about it, but work out your basics for the night and use this to decide:
If you can afford to go out in the first place
How much you’ll need for overheads (transport there/back, entrance fees etc).
How much you’ll have leftover to spend.
To touch on a couple of these – when researching any nights out (depending on if you were given a ‘tour of the town’ by your student union, sports team, fresher parent, warden or friends with knowledge of the area), check for entry fees on flyers, social media or on the windows/boards of the venue. For most student places this shouldn’t be that expensive, but in bigger cities, it’s easy to get caught out if you didn’t bring a lot of money. Secondly, there may be extras you may later decide to drop money on too, such as gambling machines, toilet assistants and the all important post clubbing food. Figure out a ballpark at the beginning and any panic of this goes away on the night and any worry you might be in for a shock the next day will probably not happen. Also, super important one unless you’re rolling in the dough – don’t take your credit card and turn off your mobile payments! Sure you’ll pay it back on time, but given the only thing stopping you is your spending limit, this card becomes even more dangerous if you’re under the influence, especially if it’s NFC based like contactless cards and Apple/Google/Samsung Pay – the limits may be low in your currency, but they don’t stop you making multiple payments!!
DON’T: Feel Pressured
Night events are all about having fun, that includes you. If you don’t think you’ll enjoy something like drinking or certain activities then simply don’t do it. After all an event is what you make of it – so if you can have fun without doing anything you don’t want, then it will be fun. And if you prefer having a few drinks to liven things up, then within reason go nuts.
DO: Go With Friends
Now this one does have a bit of a blurred line in your fresher’s introductory weeks when you might not no anybody – but few like to party alone, so throw caution to the wind and arrange some time to have fun with new found friends or housemates. If neither of those fit your bill, try and meet some new people during your classes and strike up conversations when you’re on the town in the early bars.
DON’T: Try To Be ‘Hard’
Sure, you might like to be the alpha male or leading lady in your newly formed circle, but that doesn’t mean you need to fight each other or be cocky with the bar staff, bouncers and hosts. Sure they are here to serve you and you’re paying money for them to, but it doesn’t mean you’re above them by any means. If anything on an evening it can be quite the opposite given they have allowed you into their home or establishment and taken the time to come over to you to serve you beverages or food. When feeling threatened or abused, staff normally have the right to refuse service, have you asked to or removed from the premises and even ban you from entering. From experience of working in bars, I know the UK has a scheme known as “Pub Watch” that venues can opt into where each one gets access to a walkie-talkie and a central base whom monitor the local community CCTV. Get barred or arrested from one of one of these participating venues and you’ll be put on the communities blacklist where you’re name and likeness will be passed onto other members and your presence watched that night on camera to ensure you won’t be let into other member venues, nor cause trouble on the streets surrounding without sufficient prosecution following.
DO: Take Care of Yourself
Once you’ve got the basics out of the way above it’s time to let loose, have fun and enjoy life in the moment! But when it’s all done you want to be able to get home safely, rest and be up and ready the next day without too much of a scratch on yourself. In order for that to happen though you should take a few precautions and put a few things in place. For a drinker that parties hard for example, I would suggest:
A 2L/70Oz Bottle or a large sports cup of water by your bedside or couch/sofa and optionally a painkiller for the next day.
At least one pint of water during the night to take off the edge a little
Not mixing medication or any form of drugs simultaneously with alcohol. At least a few hours between.
Some food if it’s been a while since your last meal.
Enough charge on your phone to last the night in case you need a way to get home.
Nights out and parties can be fun times and for those new to it can become an easy way to let of steam with some friends once you have a sense of your favourite venues and people’s characters. Keep prepared and respect everyone else and I’m sure you’ll come out with a great chance of a WIN.
To follow up on an earlier post I made, for today’s post here is a fun collection of badges of honour and shame you can award you new and old housemates, this time focusing on the period of Fresher’s Week/Month (depending on your institution) for their endeavours in kicking off the start of the new academic year. Your winners (or losers) needn’t be freshers themselves and these are formed from my own fond memories of undergraduate life as well as those from when I was a student warden and Masters student.
Big Spender
This is for the one who played the welcoming weeks, hard. The one who drank the bar dry, who managed to buy an entire new wardrobe, the ones who felt they could show Vegas how gambling is done, or cashed in on their independence and bought the finest food for their first meals as independents. Whether they’ll be on Noodles for the rest of the semester remains to be seen, but for those few weeks for them and their potential new found friends, it was totally worth it.
The Calender
In a tribute to a dear friend from uni, there are often people looking for fun and seeking beyond the boundaries of friendship. Given you may not know everyone very well yet, there can be a lack of obligation felt to stick to any one person you may have travelled the bases with or at least exchanged contacts with. So this is for the people, who can count off names across their day(s) of outings to the tune of a Craig David classic.
The Troublemaker
When it’s only been a couple of weeks, there’s always one or two that manage to break some form of rules and you can tell are going to be trouble in one form or another. Keep an eye out for these and prepare to offer a kind hand or a word of caution. If they are beyond your help, at least if you’re in the right place (in the UK) and the right time you may be able to get an easy £250!
Challenge Accepted
In this modern age of social media, challenges are everywhere and achieving them all for some is a true sense of gratification and belonging. Whether it’s taking buckets of ice, replicating choreography or raising money for charity – these people are up for anything and will do all they can do win the task.
The Illusionist
Whilst there are many students who are visible and social creatures, there are some that are rarely seen, but known to be there by things magically moving in your house/apartment/dorm as if by itself and others that seem to have developed a teleporting technique to allow them to appear behind you out of nowhere without you hearing them ever leave their room. Likewise they can vanish into a crowd in seconds and never be found again for the rest of the day or night, maybe turning up again unexplained by your side.Finally, there’s the type of people that remain visible to you, but seem to be able to pull out just what you need out of nowhere – such as gum, a drink, random tools or your handbag/purse that you said you needed – which is helpful, but how did they know to have it?
The Buff
Every shared house or dorm has one – be it film, music, stage or sport and if you, like me are someone that doesn’t know much about many things you are often the one to be educated. On the plus side you get exposed to a curated and pre-screened list of great new stuff to potentially enjoy. The downside, it feels like taking another module or class at uni with the consuming and learning of the facts being your assignments that you’ll be tested on later.
Split Personality
Already on the slippery slope with attendance, there may be a few new found friends that decide that last night’s party was a little too good and would rather sleep in, despite knowing that skipping class may affect their performance negatively, so feeling like a good friend you agree to sign them in or swipe their ID card (where applicable), meaning they’ll effectively be there for a large percentage of their course, but also get to sleep off their hangovers.
What accolades can you think of for your friends, new and old during the first week or few on campus? Feel free to leave a comment down below.
So, Fresher’s fair either looms or has rolled around and for the latter that means you need to decide if you’re taking on that all important first meeting. For some, the extracurriculars become a part of their student life, for others it’s something they keep in touch with on occasion and for others it’s just not for them. Whilst all of which are perfectly valid to experience (and sometimes should be), here’s a guide to help you to expand on what I touched on in my previous article here.
Visit the Fair
If your university, student union or guild put on a gathering of clubs/societies/groups (depending on what your institution calls them) during fresher’s week, then it’s worth going to see the collection available to you at a glance, regardless of your year group. This will be one of few opportunities to compare interests, ask questions with members and organisers and for the larger groups a chance to get to know people on a one to one level before you commit your coin to them. If you need any more incentive, this is the haven of free stuff and competitions too (one fond memory was entering to win my height in pizza!)
Don’t Be Afraid to Try Something New (Or You’re Passionate About)
Clubs and Societies come in all shapes and sizes, from food appreciation to LARPing to religion, to crafts and performing arts to subject specific activities. If it sounds good, it’s worth saying hello and finding out more. Don’t forget that there’s no obligation to do anything you haven’t agreed to, so enjoy, discover and potentially meet some new friends and connections with the same interests as you.
But Don’t Sign Up For Everything
As exciting as it can be to take on everything you see, you’ll quickly find you won’t have as much time as you anticipated. I’ve found in experience it’s best doing the above and making a mental note of what interests you most and sign up to your picks of those. If it turns out you don’t like them, you can then always join the others.
Socials
If you’re unsure whether to join a team or a more committed club, see if they offer a social event such as a party, meal or night out. This way you can trial your time with the members before paying in any subscription that you may not have wanted to. These events are usually fun and informal to help you relax and feel welcomed by the members. Don’t forget they are human beings that just want to have fun just like yourself, so don’t be afraid to be friendly, ask questions and join in where appropriate. If it all goes well you’ll be off to a good start and making friends in no time.
Remember the Take Home
Whatever motivates you to join your society, you should be able to get out what you put into it and ensure you have something lasting from it once you graduate and join the ‘real world’. Be that something great to put on your CV/resume, physical items or future opportunities sprung out from it, trophies and medals from competitions, friends or venture partners or even just the great memories of it contributing to who you are now and how you’ve made your mark on the world. So choose carefully and pick something you know may make you proud to look back on.
Have you recently joined any societies? To the graduates and non-freshers? What are your favourite memories of first joining a society, club or team? Any horror stories (no personal names or attacks though!) Feel free to leave them down in the comments below.
Let’s be honest, starting to look after yourself and potentially living away from parents can be a daunting thought. However, in the age of digital technology and where everyone seems to have information available at the touch of a button, it doesn’t have to be quite so bad! If you, like me, didn’t quite have independence in the house as much and you’re just starting out in looking after yourself, be you a fresher to uni itself or to being the “proper grown up”, here’s 6 fantastic resources to help you to step into those shoes and make yourself proud.
Your University or College App
This one probably sounds a little cliche, but these days most institutions will have their own app on iOS or Android, or a web application built into their site. These usually let you access timetables, reading guides such as LibGuides, the library catalogue, resource booking, possible access to an online learning environment and an online directory or webmail so you can get in touch with different tutors, lecturers, professors and support staff. Whilst it may seem a bit of a gimmick at first, in time you’ll find this may become your daily companion to allow you to get to what you need. Back when my university campus existed, we used a tool known as the Pocket Campus (which also existed as an intranet as well as kiosks and a pair of giant touchscreens in the reception) and gave invaluable access to things like booking studio time or finding out what the latest bulletins for the campus were.
How-To Videos
These days, it’s easy enough to learn any basic skills you might need such has how to cook something, how to change a component in your car or how to fit a new cylinder on your gas heater. Depending on what responsibilities you may have been given at home, you might find you’ve got some new ones in your new digs, from cleaning up the house to making your own food.
Sites such as Howcast, Instructables and Wikihow offer great step by step instructions and channels like SORTED Food and How To Adult on YouTube give you helpful tutorials in video form. If you’re stuck for motivation, there’s even channels for that too such as The Life Survival Guide series on WERK! TV (Devon Werkheiser, of Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide fame).
Discount Websites
Living like a student is a pricey business. Fortunately many companies feel your pain and like to display offers and discounts to students. Unfortunately, it can be hard to keep track of this without a fairly centralised experience. In the UK, sites such as NUS TOTUM (formerly Extra) offer a great directory for deals, especially for students. Internationally there’s also Student Beans, UNiDAYS and the ISIC Card to take advantage of, with an array of benefits online and on their app! Sign up early to make the most of these throughout your time at uni. Amazon also advertise their Prime service at a discount too, provided you have a student address.
Access to tech and software from the likes of Adobe, Dell, Microsoft and HP is cheap too from their websites. On certain courses, access to software may be free courtesy of your institution through the Microsoft Student Partner Program found on the MSDN website.
Finally, don’t forget the generic discounts you can get from the likes of HotUKDeals, PRIORITY (offers and event tickets) on the O2 Mobile network or Wuntu on the Three mobile network.
Student Forums
If you’re starting afresh or just need to find some like-minded people to share the experience you’re all going though, student forums and groups are good good place to start. Many colleges across the world will have their own community forums or apps that will be advertised to you at application (possibly even part of the apps mentioned above!), on the website or emailed to you as part of a welcome pack. The Student Room is also a popular option in terms of a message board, whilst typing in virtually any university name into Facebook can pretty much guarantee a wealth of groups already existing. Not seen a Fresher’s group for you yet? Why not start one featuring your institution or campus name – don’t forget to set it to public so other new students can find and connect with you. If you prefer a more Tinder style approach to making new friends and meeting people, Friendsy is another option more focused to US students available for iOS or Android on the respective app stores.
Welcome Parties/Events
Given a number of you will have already started or will be beginning in the next couple of weeks, don’t forget to attend all the welcome events and socials occurring both as part of Fresher’s Week and in local bars, clubs, sports teams and organisations. These are crucial networking events on different levels to allow you to meet others in the same boat as you as well as veterans that can steer you in the right direction, and in the case of interest groups may be people who share your passions and/or interests, breaking a huge chunk of the ice to get you involved in conversations and activities to allow for that all important bonding where friendships and partnerships form. Not found a group you like? Similar to the online groups, why not open up your space for a party or a meal? Just ensure you follow your house or college/university guidelines to ensure you don’t get your new found friends on the wrong side of things, or that first impression might not go down so well!
Don’t Forget Your Old Friends!
Whilst it might seem a little backwards, especially if you’ve moved cities, states or even whole countries to get to your institution, but friends are friends and will always be there to give you the same form of advice. If anything, they may still be going through what you are at a different institution and may be able to offer advice on what has worked for them as well as you offer them in return. For those whose friends may be in different fields, they can provide you with that sense of grounding as you get used to a new life and will ensure you still have those people to see when you go back home or visit a place where they live and allow your friendship to grow with you and your life as you both/all learn to adult together.
For those who have been through it before, what was it like adjusting to student life for you? Do you maybe have any alternative advice? Feel free to share any stories and comments down below!
Apologies for the delay with this one! But here is my brief account on a few popular and favourite drinking games I had the fun of participating in during my undergraduate years at university:
Whilst this video is published for educational and anecdotal purposes, please please please, remember to drink responsibly and to abide by your local laws on age and behaviour for your respective country. Alcohol can be fun in moderation and control, but always know your limits.
Now the serious stuff is said, do you have any favourite drinking games or funny stories surrounding them? Feel free to leave them in the comments below!
So, with your exams out the way, results sorted and car packed, you’re off to or have now arrived on campus. For those just starting uni, enjoy your welcome to the student life! However, before letting loose with your new found friends it pays to be prepared for unexpected surprises and issues during what for many of you will be your first dip of your toes into life in the ‘real world’. This is by no means exhaustive, but touches on some of the most popular ones that many find a lifesaver and some pick up as lessons learned.
Meds
Many Universities are known for the pastime of trying different ways to ‘medicate’, but the one form many forget when completing their shopping for food and supplies is medication. Now some people like myself might not be so keen on popping a pill at every off feeling they experience, but when you start to experience the effects of a sick room/floor/block mate in your accommodation, or a dodgy kebab and the mother of all hangovers from the night before, that little container of rounded miracle workers will become a lifesaver! Typical ones to keep in stock of are:
Painkillers like Paracetamol or Ibuprofen.
Diarrhoea Suppression Tablets
A stomach acid dissolver like Rennie
In the winter months a bottle of cough medicine
Anti-congestion creams like the famous Vick’s Vapo Rub
As much as reasonably possible of any prescription medication you take.
It’s also a good idea to have some small bandages or plasters on your person too, as first aid kits are often only found in the more public buildings and less so in residential buildings.When it comes to medication, remember to read the leaflet to make sure things like alcohol and other medications you might want to take won’t counteract or interact with each other and you know the correct dosage.
Emergency Cash
When you first get a grant or loan instalment, it can feel like you’re on top of the world and fresher’s week and returns to a new semester can be tempting to go out on the town and party hard, or shop till you drop or build up the biggest accumulator you can on game day. However, that money can run out fast and unless you have big saving, rich parents or a part time job, that money has to last you for another 14 weeks or so – so regardless of if you plan to budget it or just work out your spending plan carefully, it pays to keep a little bit of cash somewhere for a rainy day or if something happens. Keep it safe in your room, or in a savings account – just somewhere you can reach to fix any broken prized possessions (like a car or laptop), pay off any debt to the university or even simply to pay your bills should you overspend.
Identification & Paperwork
Living away from home for long periods of time means at some point you make have to use some form of identification (other than to enter late night bars). Documents such as passports, insurance policies, letters of confirmation from the university and any health records you may have are often useful in times of registration or crisis, so ensure to bring what you can with you and keep them safe.
If you have chronic condition or feel you might partake in an activity that involves a risk to your health (this includes being known for being quite the party animal), it’s worth making a card with some emergency contact details to keep safe for your friends in case they have to relay a message to your parents or partner should you go into hospital as well as help find any of the medication mentioned above if a situation occurs.
Storage Drive
This might seem a strange one for the kit, but considering our ever growing reliance on technology to complete homework assignments, essays, projects and research and more and sometimes as far as uploading and plagiarism checking online – that’s a lot of data to accidentally lose should there be a failure in the drive or the file you were working on gets corrupted. Always keep a secure backup of your personal files and uni work. There is nothing worse than being 1,000 words down at 2am the night before the deadline!
Chargers
Whilst most of them come cheap, it pays to have a charger nearby for when your devices run out. In regards to older equipment, you want to ensure you can take your devices out and about or to lectures without the batteries dying partway through. if you have lots of similar looking chargers that have transformer bricks, remember to check your Voltage (measured as 12.3V) and Amps (12.3A or 123mA) on your devices roughly matches it.
and finally
Yourself
Whilst it’s a new experience and a change to reinvent parts of yourself – in order to have a good experience of uni where you can choose between work and play balance, it’s important not to try to act like someone else and forget about where you came from. Sure you may grow up and become more mature, but you should never forget to think of yourself and whether what you sign up for at fresher’s fair is worth your time and effort, or just looks cool.
To all students, I hope you have s great time in your respective spaces and I these tips will find you well. If have any more of them then please feel free to leave them in the comments below.
It’s that time of year again! When no-longer children fly the coop to explore a subject of their interests, or perhaps return after a couple of years there already in pursuit of the most expensive and valuable piece of paper you will ever own (well, until you decide to do a Masters or PhD!). Whilst some of you may have already arrived and settled in, and others may still be packing their bags and shopping for supplies, here’s a few things you should make sure to do in your first week or two of starting the new University semester.
Bring Your Documentation!
There’s no doubt when you first got accepted you’ll have been given a letter and some forms with reference information on. It’s important to keep hold of this, at least until after you’ve registered. Particularly for UK based students, it’s really important to bring your financial information as proof if you’re paying by student loan and your payment details if not.
If you’re returning for additional years, please check with your institution what additional documents you might need to register in addition to your finance.
Get Your Kit Before the Sales End!
If you’re leaving home, make sure you pick up all your housewares and essentials before the sales end. Rebuilding your life can be an expensive business, not to mention course materials and the instruments you need to do your assignments and homework on. If you’re not sure where to start or want something to double check by, please feel free to check our my Student Essentials post I wrote last year, I’ll be here when you get back.
Meet Your Neighbours
If you’ve moved into different accommodation that’s shared, it’s good courtesy to meet your fellow house or floormates, whom you’re going to be sharing facilities with for the next year. Many a lifelong friendship has started in student accommodation, but as with every epic journey of friendship, it starts with a first step. So be brave and knock first. You never know, you might just get a few knocks on the door in return. If you’re still staying at home, it’s worth introducing yourself to any newcomers on your street or on campus – many people will have travelled to an entirely new town and surroundings, so it’s nice to have a friendly and welcoming face when faced with a completely new environment.
Sign Up For The Vital Essentials
I’m a true hypocrite for this one (all the more reason to preach it!) but when the opportunity comes, it pays to sign up for medical services such as the doctors, dentist and opticians as well as knowing where the nearest hospital or medical centre is. Particularly with weeks of booze filled fun and winder diseases around the corner, it’s good to know you can head somewhere should your health go south.
Sign Up For the Less Essentials (But More Fun)
No fresher’s week is ever complete without a fair – a chance for both the university and student union/student body/Guild to showcase different extra curricular activities (sometimes known as clubs or societies) you can enjoy with your friends and colleagues outside of contact time. From chocolate to archery to debatable conversation to wildlife conservation – there’s usually something out there for everyone, and on the rare chance you are in that “unusually” bracket, you can often make your own with a few members and some ratification from the officials. Sign up is usually free and membership at bargain prices, so don’t just sit there…get out and do something special!
If socs and clubs aren’t your thing, maybe look into your university’s athletic union – there’s often a whole bunch of sports to choose from including football (both kinds), racquet sports, bowling, jousting,and swimming etc, with the possibility of this helping boost your exercise, allow you to have fun and potentially find a secret calling (after all, the NFL draft in the USA is traditionally performed with college football players).
Make the Most of Your First Week
For newcomers to university, there is always a lot going off for you to choose from to help meet new people, make new friends and learn more about the area. By day, take advantage of discounted tours and trips to local attractions, enjoy fair days and cookouts and fun events to get you into the student spirit. At night the bars and clubs come alive with cheap offers to entice you to spend away.
Whatever you choose to do, make sure to try at least 2 things out there – you may regret it later on down the line when you hear your friends talk the memory of something only they shared.
Use Your Frugal Instincts
One of the great things about student life, is the ability to get money off shopping items often with a large amount of the price sliced off. Look for coupons in your Student Union or Guild, flyers dropped in the postbox or mailbox, special offers for certain nights at bars, pubs, clubs and restaurants, sign up for your university’s discount program or a body like the NUS and Student Beans in the UK and keep an eye out for special offers with banks and phone networks.
Whilst this a very short list of the many things you must do and experience, I hope it’s enough to inspire you before you start, or help you continue if you’re already on campus.
For returning students, what other factors do you feel are important to remember? Maybe you disagree with what was included? Please feel free to continue the conversation down in the comments field.
A while back, I wrote about the guide to Moving into a Student House or Apartment, but what if this is your first time and you have to choose where you want to go? There’s a chance you got to sample the different types of accommodation on your campus open day – but if you’re still unsure or perhaps you’re looking to apply next year and want an idea of how students live, here’s a short guide to how you can spend your first year at University.
As the usual disclaimer, every country may approach this a little differently so the following knowledge comes from my UK experience and shared experience of the American college perspective from various friends and helpful internet peoples. Your results may vary.
Halls of Residence
Perhaps the most typical of student pads, the halls of residence offer a great way to build a community amongst your fellows studying in the same subject or at least on the same campus and hopefully will help to form a new circle of friends and connections.
The combinations of halls are as varied as the hotels they can resemble from the outside and each one will offer a different feel. Often named halls come in a small complex divided into ‘blocks’ that will contain a varying amount of amenities. These may include a laundrette, a security office, a lounge or hangout area, a bar, a shower block (should your bathrooms not be incorporated into the buildings itself), a post room/concierge and car parking facilities. Check with your accommodation office to find out the specifics.
At one end of the scale you’ll find the fully shared option – famously seen on TV and found around the American College campuses amongst other areas, Dorm rooms offer shared accommodation with one or more room-mates sharing the same sleeping quarters and working space. Having this setup means you won’t be short of company and for those that shared a bedroom with siblings or wider family growing up will have a familiar feeling (albeit on a more adult level) . The flip side to this of course means you’ll have to set ground rules and agree boundaries for decor and space and visitors.
At the other come single rooms along long corridors that share a common floor door and occasionally storage and kitchen facilities. Some halls also share bathrooms, whilst others will have them en-suite in some or all of the rooms. The responsibility for the upkeep of the floors/half floors and communal areas can vary here depending on if you’re cleaning your room, cleaning the corridor or helping to keep the kitchen clean.
A common middle-ground to these two extremes are the concept of “Flats”. These blocks tend to have floors will be divided into small groups of single rooms that share a kitchen and dining/living space and are often responsible for the upkeep of the general area as a smaller team.
Halls are often maintained by university staff, from having the kitchen and floors covered for basic cleaning, with you the tenants responsible for your own dishes, excess mess, bedrooms and bathrooms if you have one of your own with many institutions running regular inceptions to ensure contract rules are adhered to.
Finally, there’s different catering options. Self catered places do pretty much what is said on the tin – you’ll get a cooker, a fridge and sometimes smaller appliances such as microwave ovens and toasters provided to you in a kitchen and it’s up to you to feed yourself by some means. There’s also fully catered meal plans available in some halls often loaded onto a prepaid card that is handed to the cashier of the outlet of your choice at set mealtimes or in stores around campus. This prepaid plan may have some limitations often creating a partial-meal plan where you may have to fend for yourself for weekends or certain meals.
For more information on understanding this, take a look at these 2 clips from the University of Kent and YouTuber Katie Golan:
Courtesy of the University of Kent on YouTube
Courtesy of Katie Golan on YouTube
Large Managed Accommodation (University, Private Owned or Both)
Occasionally if your university is in a thriving city or a town where local business could benefit the university (which in turn should help local businesses thrive), accommodation is at the front door, with private companies often building their own residential blocks nearby and offering student rent similar to a halls of residence. The difference here is the owners are practically free to build out the layout how they wish, often offering more or more of services than standard university services will (even partnering with certain universities to connect to their campus networks for file/intranet access).
The other difference with these facilities is that they’re not tied down to your specific institution, so if there’s two universities in town or a a large college – there’s a chance students may be accepted from each, which could play out really well in terms of making new friends, but also interesting for rivalries and pranks.
Occasionally some accommodation may be owned privately, but the university will act as the landlord, kind of like a managing agent for a rented out house. The beauty of this means that you’ll be guaranteed certain standards with your place and will often pay your rent to the university like you would with halls – super useful if you get a maintenance loan/grant in the UK and in some cases this can be taken care of automatically.
Private Accommodation
Private accommodation effectively replicates what most people do when they first move out of their childhood home outside of university or after graduation, in which you’ll move into a flat/apartment or house owned by a landlord, pay them directly (or via a management agent) and follow their own set of contract rules. This is potentially the most individual of accommodations where rules can vary from having a live in landlord on site to everything is in working order (including yourself if you want your deposit back) all the way to never meeting your pad owners beyond handing over the keys and contracts at the beginning and end of your tenancy.
What you will have to pay for beyond the standard rent in these varies from property to property, although these tend to me more generous than the general housing you’ll find online – occasionally bills may be included with the rent as well as insurance or furnishings.
If you choose to go down this route, be sure to read the advert description carefully and to ask plenty of questions on a house tour to ensure you’re getting everything in the deal that you want to know.
A really useful website I and my housemates found useful during an accommodation search in my MRes years was Studentpad in the UK, which I would highly recommend if you’re new to taking the big step in a place that’s almost your own. Outside of the UK, the appropriately named accommodationforstudents.com allows you to do a countrywide search by university cities or the institutions themselves and aims to match to the requirements you need. If you don’t find any results in the automatic search, a form pops up allowing you to create a listing with your requirements in the hope a landlord may get in touch with the place you’re looking for.
Stay At Home
Finally, if you’re going somewhere local and you’re more of a homely type, there’s no harm in staying where you are. There’s nothing to pack, nowhere new to get used to (granted your parents may ask you to take some responsibility, or start paying rent, or both) and you’re in a familiar environment. Plus you’ll never worry about having to give up stuff or losing things in transit, because it doesn’t move.
There are flip sides to this as well such as the bonds often shared with housemates and camaraderie shared in living with people that you get to choose (kind of). With that said, there’s nothing stopping you visiting your friends in their accommodation and going to their parties, with the advantage of not having the responsibility of cleaning it up afterwards!
Returning students – where did you choose to live. New students – where are you planning to live at your respective space? Feel free to let me know in the comment box below and share some of your regrets or benefits you have for making your choice of living.
Still Unsure?
Why not take a tour of what’s available. Have a look at your respective University to see if they have any multimedia available or any clearing-style tours left to explore what’s available on or around your campus. If you’d like some inspiration, take the Kent video above for the full spin or check out the ones below from the University of Hull (cameo appearance) and the University of Nottingham.
Courtesy of the University of Hull, Scarborough Campus (RIP)
Courtesy of the University of Nottingham
Good luck finding your pad! Once you do, don’t forget to check out this previous post on how to make it your own!
