Fresher’s Fortnight Drink or WIN? – First Nights Out

Posted on 14th October 2018 by mike

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.

Mike

Achievement Guide: Fresher’s Week Edition

Posted on 11th October 2018 by mike

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.

Mike

Fresher’s Fortnight – I Remember… Drinking Games

Posted on 6th October 2018 by mike

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!

Mike

Fresher’s Week: 6 Useful Things To Check Off

Posted on 3rd October 2017 by mike

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.

Mike

Choosing Your Pad

Posted on 29th August 2017 by mike

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!

Mike

Sports, Societies & Socials

Posted on 11th October 2016 by mike

So, no doubt you’ve settled into your new abode and met a few new friends or been reunited with others. As many fresher’s weeks have drawn to a close and lessons are now in swing, there’s no doubt you’ve been around the fairs and the student union and been given flyer after flyer after sign up sheet, suggesting you join this and that.

If you feel a little in over your head or are beginning to question if you should have really signed up for every table you visited then don’t panic. Thankfully most of the sheets at fresher’s fairs are mostly there to gather interest and you usually don’t commit to joining a society until you’ve either paid ‘subs’ or been to the first few meetings.

Let’s break some of these groups down to get a better idea and hopefully demystify some of the assumptions.

Now bearing in mind colleges and universities around the world will operate slightly differently (sometimes inside a country itself you can have different institutions with different governance and representation), so this guide won’t fit every place perfectly. For that reason I’ve missed out specific lifestyles (such as Greek Life) and tried to cater generically to both Student Unions, Guilds and organisations alike. For the sake of translation, most student organised groups will be referred to as “societies” and teaching rooms as “labs” or “spaces” and job roles described as generically as possible.

VIP Club Nights and Dining Discounts

The offers you’ll have received here are usually vouchers for drinks deals and discounted entry to dedicated student nights. Some clubs occasionally give away or offer discounted VIP subscription to encourage you to visit them more. There’s never any commitment to do this of course and sometimes the more you connect with the better chance you’ll have of a cheap night out.

As for food discount codes and cards, it’s always worth a quick read thorough the terms and conditions, particularly when it comes to deals. Sadly most places won’t let you apply for discounts alongside deals (e.g: For Domino’s Pizza, you can either have x% off with your discount code OR you can have a deal such as ‘Two for Tuesday’ or a seasonal offer, not both), but again shop around the different takeaways to work out who will give you the most nosh for your dosh.

General Clubs & Societies

These are great little groups (sometimes known informally in their short form as as ‘socs’) often formed by students for students (with the occasional help from staff if it’s related to a subject or department), often free or for a very low joining fee. The scope of societies is as large as anyone’s imagination (within lawful reason) from chocolate to history to gaming to geocaching.

If you missed the sign up at fresher’s fair, there’s almost always an opportunity to join at a later date. Simply turn up at a meeting night or contact either a society member or even your student activities co-ordinator (if you have a specific one) and likewise if you wish to leave, give one of the above the courtesy of some notice rather than just not turning up, or you may keep hearing from them regarding events and subscription fees.

If you society doesn’t exist yet, why not start it yourself? It’s usually just a word with a student activities co-ordinator, a few signatures from your initial members, a decision on if your society will be a free and if so how you will fund activities) or subscription based one, submission of the paperwork to have it ratified by your SU/Guild council or guild to make it a formally approved and supported society and an initial general meeting (which becomes an annual requirement) in which you democratically elect a president (if not already agreed), a secretary and a treasurer. How formally you wish to enforce these rules in your society is up to you during each year in office (within many societies the title is just a formality), however bear in mind if the co-ordinator needs to enquire on something for whatever reason, these elected members will be the ones contacted first. Once you’re ratified, you’re away and the rest is up to you and your members to organise (although your guild or union will always be there to help should you need any advice or basic support on matter such as fund-raising, locations or issues with members).

If your society is of an academic nature, it’s worth speaking to your relevant department when you set it up. Whilst as non-students they may not be allowed to run the society itself, they may be able to provide support on a voluntary basis or allow you to use equipment or a teaching space in free hours (for instance, a Science Club may let you have supervised access to lab equipment or a Drama society have access to a performance space). If you have the funds you may be able to book spaces both on and off campus to host events (e.g: a play or a special night function) or seek sponsorship to get it for a discount/free provided you promote their services.

Whilst societies are often pretty relaxed, there may be some ground rules you may have to follow, particularly if it’s not a free membership. The president does have the right to exercise these within reason, so please respect them if you want to reap the benefits and memories of being in a society.

The Athletic Union and Sports Teams

Most universities will separate sporting activities into their own sub division known as the Athletic Union or AU (though not all Student Unions or Guilds have this). Alternatively the University themselves may manage the sports teams. Much like at school these aren’t strictly as formal as the ‘real world’ sports clubs, but unlike student societies will expect a degree of commitment, particularly if you’re competing in a university league or competition).

Once you’ve registered your initial interest at Fresher’s Fair, you’ll be invited to ‘try out’ for your chosen sport(s). If you meet the criteria for a position you’ll be invited to join the team. For larger universities, there may also be reserve teams, so if you make the grade but somebody else go there first too, don’t despair! Unlike a football table, University team are often fairly equal in ranking and are just as responsible to fighting for the competition and league titles.

Sports clubs are usually funded through sponsorship, either by business who will often be printed on your uniforms or by bars, pubs, taverns and clubs whom you’ll be expected as team entity (not necessarily as individuals) to visit on various nights out (sometimes on a dedicated ‘AU Night’ or ‘Socials’).

In addition to your match days, practice sessions and evening socials there’s often a chance to go ‘on tour’. This in effect is an organised semi-holiday/semi-sports week with your teams and other teams from your campus to join other university teams in a predetermined country (which changes each year at the discretion of the tour company organisers) and often has activities geared towards friendly inter-campus and inter group activities.

University Opportunities

As the heading suggests, the University also like to get involved at the fair too, offering opportunities to students to help them out in addition to participating in the student union. This can be both voluntary and paid job roles for both immediate start and information on positions for the future.

Opportunities can involve outreach work for supporting the staff on open and applicant days & to visits to colleges and sixth forms, to becoming a university ambassador who may be part of the above in addition to further internal and public events – representing the face of the university. There’s also opportunities to support different departments such as lab assistants for students in higher years or performance technicians and front of house staff for theatrical, musical and conferencing events.

Outside of academic roles, there’s also opportunities in the community such as wardens for student accommodation (be it a dorm/room advisor, part-time and live in residential wardens, fire safety officers or accommodation reps) which can allow both the mix of some or all of the following: reliving the fresher student life again, having responsibilities to safety or accommodation matters (all of which look great on CV and Resumé type documents) or generally just the warm feeling that you’ve made newcomers to the adult world feel welcome and supported as I’m sure you hopefully would have felt when you first started university. If you’re a fresher yourself. I wouldn’t recommend these roles for immediate start (and often it’s quite hard to get them for your current year as they usually start just before you arrive) and would wait until the second year when you will have got your head around how your university works.

Hopefully this has provided some insight to the life around uni outside of lesson time and as always I’m keen to hear your additions and comments in the comment box below if you have any.

Thanks for reading and hope the start to your respective years is going well.

Mike

Regular Essential Supplies

Posted on 4th October 2016 by mike

So, you’ve done the hard work of revising, passing your exams, getting your choice at uni (or applied through clearing), made endless lists, survived the end of an era with your local friends and immediate family, packed the car to the rafters and made it to your campus. Whether you’ve just arrived at the weekend and are finding your feet as as fresher or you’ve been there a couple of weeks and familiarised yourself with your bar staff, memorised the takeaway menus or drained your bank account buying your reading list – hopefully this article may come in use should you have forgotten anything when your parents took you shopping or you realise a few months down the line that you’ve blown your student loan and need to prioritise what cash you have left.

So before you decide you’ve got enough for Pub Golf tomorrow night or you’ve roughly budgeted for a cheeky Nandos please remember to have these student essentials before you max out your overdraft and inevitably see this at the cash machine:

‘atminsuff’ by https://voicesofglass.wordpress.com/. Used under CC BY NC SA 3.0

Toilet Paper/Kitchen Paper

By Elya (Own work) via Wikimedia Commons. Used under CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)

Sounds obvious right? Yet with a crazy schedule and the irresistable urge to have one or two more games of FIFA before your lecture sounds much more exciting than nipping to the shops. But if it’s pre-drinks at your accomodation tonight it’s best to make sure you have more than one roll going spare of each type, just in case people spill drinks (and believe me, they will) into your cream carpet or you decide to grab a kebab on the way home, or heaven forbid you have just a few too many shots… Just don’t be without it!

Even if you’re teetotal, don’t think you’re exempt. All it takes is a 3am trip to grab a pot noodle mid assignment and an accidental step on a loose extension lead to send them everywhere and you’ll need something to clean them up with.

‘Stodgy Food’

By Takeaway (Own work) via Wikimedia Commons. Used under CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)

Be it the staple of student foods or something we like to tell ourselves is much healthier, make sure you have a healthy supply of carb food in. When your balance starts running into the red, you’ll find this a cheap class of ingredients helpful to make you feel full (which is great for reducing on snacking) and can be mixed up with a variety of sauces and complementary ingredients, or even in the case of noodles a simple stock cube and some boiling water. Best of all, with ingredients like noodles and certain packs of rice, you don’t even need to touch an oven if you’re not in a safe position to use one! A couple of minutes in the microwave and you’re sorted for a meal!

Pens, Pencils and Power Cables

By MyKlick on Pixabay. Used Under Public Domain

Whilst the former will have probably been drilled into you over your school and college years, it doesn’t stop at uni. Lecturers rarely lend out pencils and pens in your seminars unless you’re really lucky and in a Lecture you have no chance unless you have a kind and organised peer sat beside you. Make sure you buy at least 4 of each writing utensil you need as well as at least spare eraser and sharpener if you’re going to be drawing. One to keep in your bag for lectures, seminars, tutorials and meetings, one for your dorm/house room, a second one for your bag as a fallback if your pencil lead breaks/ink runs out so you can rapidly resume your note taking (if you’ve ever heard the famous Call of Duty phrase “Just switch to your other weapon, it’s faster than reloading!” – this applies to writing skills too!

If you, like me are more of a tech head and prefer to type your notes instead, make sure you have a spare micro-USB/Lightning/DC charger to hand if you’re a portable device user, so you can keep one in your dorm room. You’ll be amazed and how easy these can get mangled when stowed in your bag and moved around, or internally damaged from the tugging when you grab your device or knock it to the floor (I must go through at least 3 a year for my devices!) so to have one can often spell disaster for you if you’re a tapper or typist. If you have a Notebook or Netbook style laptop it’s worth also giving your charger the once over before you move to uni as this will more than likely be the lifeblood of your note taking, assignment writing and film/stream watching time each day. If you’re concerned about carting this around or its general survival, again, add a second one to the wishlist of “Welcome to Student Life” items that friends and family may treat you to as these turn obsolete quickly and can be expensive or difficult to replace one broken.

If you’re a doodler, don’t forget the rest of your essentials to go along with your pencil, sharpener and eraser too!

A Thick Duvet and a University (or other) Hoodie

Wrap Up Warm. Own Work

If you live in the UK, you may have noticed when you left the house to go to School and College over the years that at this time of year on most mornings, the often a large difference in temperature between the inside and the outside. If you’re living in older halls of residence or you’re moving into a student house, you might notice this difference starts to get a little less – especially if you’re not on an all inclusive rent and have to face those scary numbers on the bill for the luxury and comfort of the temperate indoor climate.

To help combat this problem (a lesson I’m sure your parents and guardians hammered into you at an early age if you complained the heating was set too low), is to invest in a thick tog duvet (10 – 13.5 tog usually works well) and the classic University Hoodie (particularly if it’s made by AWDis). Whilst a small expense at first, as you notice it getting colder in the winter, you’ll be glad of these to snuggle into whilst you have your Netflix and assignment writing sessions. Alternatively, you can just work harder at the gym, but that feeling will only last so long.

As a side note, if you have gas central heating, remember to turn it on once in a while for an hour or so when the temperatures drop, or you’ll be facing an even bigger charge when the pipes freeze/burst and the system inevitably seizes up!

Cleaning Supplies

By jarmoluk on Pixabay. Used under Public Domain

This one probably goes without saying, but it’s really easy to forget – which isn’t good if you forget at the last minute and realise you’ve run out of dishes, spilled your drink all over your desk…or something worse that we won’t talk about that needs cleaning up.

For those that have regular inspections in halls and student houses, they’re not joking when they say a stint of regular cleaning of your pad is easier than leaving it until later, and not having the supplies in stock will cause you further problems!

Past memories of still cleaning at 3am to try and remove gunk in the shower so I could avoid being fined is a memory still strong enough to motivate me to clean parts of my flat on a regular basis these days still.

Batteries

by ‘nicubunu’ from OCAL. Used under Public Domain

Okay, this isn’t massively threatening if you don’t have them to hand, but on those social nights where you have a few games of FIFA before you go out on the console or you prefer to have your mouse and keyboard wireless it always pays to have some spares to hand for when things run out.

You can also go rechargable if that helps you remember. In theory this is pretty cost effective if you get a good value charger and batteries – though admittedly if you’re a gamer like me you’ll find they won’t power your Xbox/Steam controllers for very long… (Usually about a day or so).

Drugs (not the dodgy kind!!)

by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay. Used under Public Domain

When you become independent, it’s very easy to feel ‘grown up’ and feel you can do anything. To some extent you probably can, but it’s still useful to have a few basics (e.g: Paracetamol, Ibuprofen, Diarrhoea Tablets, Bonjela etc) in stock, because there’s nothing worse than eating something that didn’t agree with you and being caught short. Likewise if you’re in halls in particular, when Winter comes it’s the equivalent of working in a hospital (speaking from experience of being in halls and working at 2 hospitals) and especially if you’re in Medical school and doing both – disease spreads and it spreads easily.

Fun fact, the year after I left on my campus somebody entered the main dining hall with the norovirus, once they left they went back to their room in halls. Within 48 hours, one hall was quarantined. Please don’t let that scare you from living in halls – it really is an amazing experience – but please, be prepared when winter comes.

Tinned Food

by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay. Used under Public Domain

Similar to above, it’s worth having canned/tinned food in your arsenal. When the funds get low, you’ll find many foods require very little needs for storage and will often last until you next get your payment of your student loan. No power, no chilling (unless you’ve opened them) – just a shelf somewhere and (if it lacks a ringpull or a key) an instrument to open it with.

Headphones

By Ballerinus (Own work) via Wikimedia Commons. Used under CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)

This one might seem strange, but with our ever growing dependence on technology means these accessories, big or small are becoming essential to both our everyday lives and potentially to your studies too!

When you’re watching a webinar in the library, not everyone around you wants to hear it (if the PC you’re on hasn’t had it’s internal speaker muted already). The same goes with middle of the night binges of Orange is the New Black or The Man in the Highcastle on your device when your room/floor/housemates are sleeping.

Headphones are also great for when you’re out and about listening to music on your iPod or the latest trends on your smartphone allowing you to temporarily disconnect from the world and make use of that valuable time when you’re travelling from one place to another (of course, don’t forget to be sensible!)

You can get earphones quite cheap in your nearest music or electronics shop or even online at shops like Amazon and eBay, so if you don’t have a pair already, I’d highly recommend it!

And finally…Patience & Will

Being a student is hard work – transitioning from the young to having all (or most) of the responsibility of an adult all at once. Thankfully it’s not as threatening as the ‘real world’ with many student friendly places offering discounts and lower prices on everything from shopping to utilities, but the responsibility is still there. You will make mistakes and misjudgements. You may hit stone broke. You may need to ask the family for a bit of cash now and again or get something functional rather than just fun for Christmas and that’s all okay. Being a student is all about learning and sometimes this learning will occur outside of your teaching spaces and learning to live on a tight budget takes time. But keep to the items above and for those that spot the ones I have inevitably missed, please share them in the comments section below so your fellow peers and other students alike can benefit and most importantly, don’t forget, loans do come in sections, so you will get your grant/bursary/loan again throughout the year and there’s always the jobs board if you do need more cash fast!

Best of luck to you starting out on your first year and for those returning to university, best of luck with your studies this year!

Mike