How to get the most out of Fresher’s Week
This is it. The very last opportunity to let your hair down before the work begins again. Whether this is your first Fresher’s week, or if you’re one of those people who have been visiting Fresher’s for the last 30 years (don’t worry, we don’t judge), this is the last decent opportunity you’re going to get for no-holds-barred, zero-consequence, guilt-free hedonism before lectures start and stuff needs to get done. This is the funeral of summer; with a 7-day wake celebrated all over the world. It’s the big one, and you should be prepared to go big to match it. “Go hard or go home” is the general sentiment. Choose wisely.
Some Serious Advice
Trust us, nobody wants their first impression of anyone to be as an angry gorilla impersonator
Remember, first impressions aren’t everything, but they help. You don’t want to be that guy or that girl for the rest of your university life, so be fun, be sociable, but don’t overdo it too much until people are a little more settled – generally towards the end of the week is the acceptable time to show off your aggressive gorilla impression or to share your passionate political views. Trust us, nobody wants their first impression of anyone to be as an angry gorilla impersonator. Don’t force that on people. Seriously.
Remember that yes, Fresher’s week is more or less an enormous party, but there’s still a couple of things you’re going to have to sort out before you lose it completely – you have to let the university know you’re around, for example; and you also probably have to get your photograph taken for your student card. You’ll be carrying around that photograph for the rest of your degree – are you sure you want it to be a picture of you at your most hungover? Didn’t think so.
What to Pack
When you turn up at your new accommodation, you’re going to be needing a fair few things – food, washing up liquid, laundry tablets, and probably a decent-sized case of something to use as social lubricant (and by that we mean alcohol, before you get any ideas). There’s also a few things that you should hold off on packing, that you will nevertheless be tempted to bring with you.
In a recent non-scientific survey we conducted in our office full of recent graduates, old-timers, and students, it was concluded that, on average, a student house will contain; 4 cheese graters, about 50 pots and pans, 2 kettles, 2 microwaves, 3 sandwich toasters, 11 chairs, 4 bookcases and absolutely no space. All student living spaces are also overdue a good clean out – when you can’t find the pan you want without waking the rest of the house up because it’s buried under a mountain of useless kitchen gadgets, you should really think about getting rid of some stuff.
Point is; you know that appliance that you think will be a really good idea to bring up to uni with you because no one else will have it? Chances are at least another two people have had the same idea and will be bringing one already – hold off on miniature kettles and toasters until you get where you’re going and can have a scope around.
One thing we won’t hesitate to suggest to bring, though, is a set of good, sharp knives with a sharpener/steel to go with them – nobody at university has decent knives, and if you get your hands on some, it’s going to make all that cooking so, so much easier. It’s up to you whether you let the rest of your housemates use them – how angry would you be if they were broken during some form of terrifying drinking game, or worse, stolen by someone from rival halls of residence or the apartment across the corridor?
If You Had to Learn One Thing…
Learn how to cook before you leave; get someone – anyone – to teach you the basics like how to roast a chicken and potatoes and how to make a decent spaghetti bolognaise. Chances are the money’s going to be tight at some point and when it happens, you don’t want to be living on cheap bread and ham because you’ve got no idea how to make sausages and mash.
Learn how to cook before you leave; get someone – anyone – to teach you the basics
Some of you will already be able to cook delicious, ridiculous, three-course meals with bells on top and apples underneath. Some of you will know how to turn an oven on. Just about. Whatever your proficiency, master the art of curry cooking, and bring all the spices you need to your new home with you. Curries developed in India for two reasons: first, you could make any old, ropey meat or passed its best vegetable taste delicious by the side of the road; and second, it can be made very, very cheaply as soon as you’ve got your hands on the spices. Learn how to make curry first, focus on your degree a little later.
Fresher’s Fair
Don’t get too distracted by the pretty lights outside the bars and clubs to not visit the Fresher’s fair – for one, it’s a great way to make some friends by joining societies that you have an interest in (Pokémon society, anyone?). Perhaps more importantly, it will be full of companies that have probably made a fair amount of money from you in the past (think Coca-Cola, Windows, Red Bull) trying to give you free stuff. Yes, free stuff. Take everything – bring a suitcase if you can. This is one of the very few times where the free stuff is actually free; if you don’t want to leave your name and email in exchange for some free stuff than make up a name and email and use that instead – who’s going to know?
The Fresher’s Fair is one of those very, very rare times in life when a free lunch is, in fact, a free lunch. Fill your boots – it doesn’t happen often enough for you to afford not to and you might be needing all those energy drinks for pre-drinking sessions a few hours later.
Dolla’ dolla’ bill, ya’ll
Money matters; make sure you have a budget for Fresher’s and don’t go over it – the food you stocked up on at the start of the month will not last forever, and it’s really a bad sign if you run out of money in the first week because you spent it on drinking too much.
And if you do manage to spend all your money; a couple of pointers – the university will have a finance department you’ll be able to talk to if you’re ever in trouble (don’t dare turn up hungover though) and Fresher’s Fair is still on – you can get enough free energy bars/sweets/whatever to last you a month, if you’re good enough at making up new names and email addresses. It could be argued that this is a good time to beg your parents for some money as they wouldn’t have reached their limit on supporting you, however we would suggest that to ask for financial help within your first three days at uni is just asking for trouble as this is likely to panic your family.
Bars and Clubs
Do not just hit the university bar/club every night – check out the local venues, too. It’s important to scope around as much as possible in the first week whilst you’ve still got the time to. There will be deals galore, so make the most of them. Free drinks are very rare, but not unheard of, so get out there and get looking. Remember, though: everybody’s out during Fresher’s week, so you’re probably not seeing a fair representation of the night life – it’s the busiest it will be all year, so have fun whilst it lasts!
This will almost certainly happen naturally – it’s a kind of fundamental law – but if it doesn’t you’re going to have to take the reins and call it: you’re going to need a “local” – somewhere you’ll remember forever as being that place that you always went to and met everyone at. Find it, remember it, treasure it, and make sure everybody else knows about it. Well, everyone you know/like knows about it – it seems unnecessary to tell everyone.
The bars and clubs will be open throughout the entire week, but it may be a good idea to have a night in with your new housemates and just get to know each other a little better without the influence of loud music, bright lights and bad dancing. That doesn’t mean staying in and watching a film, though – by all means go crazy and break some stuff, but just do it where you can get to know each other a little better. Breaking stuff isn’t obligatory.
Finally
All good things come to an end, and just like summer eventually died and turned into Fresher’s week, so too will Fresher’s die and transform into term time. It’s going to happen. We’re sorry, truly, but eventually it will end. Do not go into denial about it and spend the next three weeks after Fresher’s trying to keep the party going. It was good while it lasted; leave it at that. It’s always advisable to hit the ground running when you start a new year in education, and Fresher’s isn’t any different – go to the lectures, study, do your homework, and save the drinking for the weekends for the rest of the year. You’ll thank yourself eventually.