Tips, tricks and tit-bits for the fresher starting uneh
Uni is a lot like Fresh Meat. If Fresh Meat was reffering to the reduced meat aisle of Aldi, and not the iconic Channel 4 situational comedy commediene starring Jack Whitehall and the welsh one from 'Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging'. It's slighty terrifying, full of unknown grey areas and you might get sick from it but hopefully it'll be a meal you remember for the rest of your (recently converted vegetarian following this slab of meat) lifetime.
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| if 'fresh' was a synonym for salmonella |
Enjoy and take these uni tips and tricks on board (or don't! I've scraped my 2:1 in Sociology so you don't have to).
Loving your degree (or not)
Some people love their degree, a lot of us don’t. This doesn’t mean you can’t still love uni, but engaging with your course will probably make those lectures a bit more doable.
We all tell ourselves that we work better at home, or that watching telly and a lecture together actually boosts concentration(!), but we’re all victims of false hope and self-kidding. Sometimes you need to get arts and craftsy and devise fresh ways to make your degree great again.
Bring your child to work day
Alexa my darling, play Unorthadox ft Wretch 32 on Spotify. Yes yes an unorthadox strategy and a poor man's answer to Open University but a fun way to sink your teeth into your course is to bring a mate along with you to sit in on some of your lectures.. and then try out some of theirs! Whether it’s wanting to convince your mate that your course isn’t actually as easy as people make it out to be (Liberal Art veterans rise up), to show them that one really fit course mate you’re always banging on about, or just for some moral support, it's a fun way to bring some novelty back into the mundane.
Bringing a familiar face into an otherwise all too familiar lecture suddenly transforms studying into a day out. Then pay a visit to your pal's own lecture, you might learn something new (or even better, have some newfound appreaction for your course once you realize that there are far drier alternatives out there)...
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| one minute you're a freshi getting lost on campus the next min you're a grad saying GET LOST CAMPUS |
Explore campus
don’t trek to the library just because that's where everyone else is going Find your own favorite study spot. You'll surprise yourself at the countless study spots scattered around campus. And girls! You can use this to your advantage. For my gastronut girlies, find that secret study room nextdoor to your fave campus supermarket (work motivation is best served delicious- if good taste came in the form of a meal deal and cost £3.40)
Coming home and getting into bed will feel so much more satisfying after a day out at campus, and it lets you leave work on campus instead of having it mess up the feng-shui of your uni room.
Sharing the love... of flat cleaning
Hear me out, but flat kitchen clean-ups became mini national holidays in my first year flat.
I know.. I know this sounds like something your mum would say after reading an article about how to make household chores sound more fun for your lazy teenager.. But it genuinely became a comforting silly little ritual that allowed us to play adult, whilst wiping away the mess and regret from the heavy night before. You can tell that my first year was during lockdown, can’t you? Times were tough.
The great peak-aliser
Uni does have its fair share of the mundane, the chores and cleaning, and the little jobs that you might not think about whilst living at home. So turning a flat cleaning session into a group activity, (no matter how mundane the task may be) is actually perfect for chatting away (especially once the novelty hangover-laiden chats perched around the breakfast bar start to wear off).
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| my front garden during second year <3 |
Blaring out music and bonding over the inevitable moldy garlic baguette you find behind the fridge freezer is community bonding babes. This may sound too Brady Bunch, and the chances are that flat chores are never born equal. Resentment can build and so drawing up a basic cleaning rota is a good shout. Either way, you will probably find that each flat mate will fall into their role.
(I never took a bin out during first year and I'm prettier for it)
Put yourself out there
Said every ‘inspirational’ embroidered quote cushion ever. Ok! Ok! I know! Bear with me, because writing such a cliché does not sit right with me either. But! as much as you hate reading it, and I hate to love writing it, it’s the most important piece of advice there is.
Find your accommodation Facebook group page, join the group chats and take the plunge early. Once you’re moved in and the tapestry has been lovingly blu-taked to the walls, get knocking on your hall’s doors. It might feel daunting but, (start the cliché chart), everyone is in it together. Plus the aura points you’ll gain from being the balshy, brazen flatmate that brings the whole block together is unmatched. Once the scary five seconds of inital meetings is over and out, you'll never have to re-do that first impression ever again. But it will be 10X more awkies trying to introduce yourself to your neighbours once you're one uni term in, and the ice-breaker go-to of playing Paranoia with a gaggle of mis-matched 18 year olds has well and truly gone stale.
"Strike whilst the iron is hot!" - Chirag Gupta, 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid'
It’s unlikely that you’ll be best mates with everyone you meet, or even that all your friendships at the start will see you through your whole uni experience, but that’s okay and happens more often than not!
Uni is the one place where you will live exclusively surrounded with people your age, so the chances are your next best mate is just around the corner. It's like Westfield's Kidzania but for young adults. There are tons of societies to join (or opportunities to start your own one), with tons of like-minded people. It can feel daunting joining a society on your own or taking up a completely new sport or interest as a beginner, but even the most confident, expert level members of that socety you want to join were a nervous beginner once too. Nobody's born a natural Battle Re-anactment Society warrior babe, and even the toughest of Hummus Society members also had to take the plunge once for the first time!
If I could re-do my first year, one thing I would do differently (as well as avoiding my white rum and apple hi-juice tipple era) is say yes to more opportunities (whey! Tally number 3 for the cliches!). I met amazing people in the first year who would become my best mates in the second year -my only regret here, is that I didn’t cement those friendships sooner. #sobstory
stay tuna for part 2 if u want the full uni survival guide of tricks, treats and tomfoolery.
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