Surviving your first semester of university
By Katy Jones, a graduate (and survivor) from the University of Birmingham (2015) – BA Sociology
Starting something new is never easy. However, the prospect of moving away from your family home can be very exciting for a lot of us, but some of us take that excitement way too far in their first few weeks and end up broke and hungry by the end their first couple of months.
Here are a few tips to surviving your first couple of months at university.
1. Meeting your new family.
Get to know your flatmates as soon as you move in. Don’t cage yourself in your room no matter how tempting it is. You have to live with them for a whole year so they are the ones you want to try and get along with. Knock on their door and introduce yourself. Go out for dinner and drinks on the first night to lighten the mood. But don’t worry if you find out you’ve moved in with someone who you think is a sociopath, it happens to most of us!
2. Fresher’s week.
The infamous fresher’s week every student looks forward to has finally arrived. Let’s be real, most of us are most excited for fresher’s week and the parties. Use these 2 weeks to add to your friend list on Facebook, meet potential new housemates, if your current flatmates don’t get along (there’s always one…) and meet friends who you know will always be up for having a good time! But don’t make a fool of yourself, alternate between alcohol and water to ensure you’re still upright at the end of the night.
3. Don’t blow your student loans on unnecessary items.
As I said, fresher’s week is amazing. However some of us forget that the money that comes into your account of your first week has to last a whole semester…Don’t be that person who has to live on beans on toast for the last few months. Take advantage of the different student discounts available to you. It’s surprising how much you can save as a student!
4. Attend your lectures and seminars.
Despite all the partying and socialising you’ll be doing in your first semester, it is important to remember that you are at university to do a degree. Don’t neglect your studies already. You’ll meet future lecture and revision buddies that will make the study part of university less boring and tedious, especially when it comes to exams! You’ll definitely need to swap lecture notes with someone at some point so make some friends in your course too.
5. Most importantly, have fun and don’t stress!
That’s what second and third year is for…
