Living away from home for the first time, having to cook all of your own meals and the crucial reality of having to budget your money for a whole year can make going to university an extremely daunting prospect. However, please remember that everyone is in exactly the same position as you and it is important to make the most of your first week at university.
This week comes with the freedom of being able to go out (and come home) whenever you want, and with such a new found sense of freedom many drunken nights, vomiting in your bed and finding someone else in your bed will probably follow. Some of the things you may do during this week may seem like a good idea at the time, but they always come back to haunt you during the rest of the year so try to make sure you won’t regret anything in weeks to come.
A year before I came to university a friend of mine who was going into his second year told me that for Freshers’ he spent £1000. I naively misunderstood him thinking that he spent this amount in his Fresher’s year, until he corrected my innocence saying ‘No, I meant the first week’. This didn’t include money spent on other expenses such as food, joining new memberships, or even rent, but the money solely spent on alcohol!
Although I personally couldn’t quite comprehend spending a grand on alcohol in one week; I guess Freshers’ week is what you make of it. My friend said he was content with his heavy spending as it had been one of the best weeks of his life and admitted to curbing his spending in the following few weeks. Turning back the clock, he wouldn’t change a thing about his Freshers’ week experience.
Although you will soon become accustomed to the Sainsbury’s basics student diet as the weeks progress, make sure you plan to eat some decent meals for the first week to keep your energy levels high and combat the ever-looming Freshers’ flu. Or you could try pulling on your parents’ heart strings and ask them to buy your first food shop or bring food from home to get you through this week; saving your cash for the rest of the term.
Your first week of university is all about getting used to an independent new lifestyle, meeting new friends but most importantly having fun. But remember rule number one; come armed with plenty of paracetamol and maybe even a lemsip.
