My advice for Freshers aka. first-year students

Hey! I’m Zoe, a second year student at the University of Bath, and today I’ve decided to hand down some tips about the first year at Uni (hopefully applicable to any Uni in the UK, but more closely to Bath, of course) based on my own experience. Hope you find it useful!

PRE-ARRIVAL

Before actually getting there, you have probably spent countless hours scouting the Internet to find out everything you can about the new chapter in your life that you’ll start in September. I guess you pretty much know the Uni’s website by heart, and have watched YouTube videos on end about advice, Freshers’ Week, etc. Out of excitement, I know. I did the same. And probably most, if not all, of what you’ve read/watched is useful. I would just suggest you don’t omit the less exciting but essential things that will actually help you once you are there: if you don’t know, learn how to cook, clean and manage your money. Ask your parents or the people around you, look it up, however you might prefer to do it, but learn a bit at least. A couple of recipes that will help you out when you have to cook in bulk; how to do the laundry and not mess up your clothes; how to clean a bathroom; how to stay on top of your expenses so you don’t find yourself in red numbers. All worth it. I know there are far more exciting things you could be finding out about like your fancy dress gear for FW, but really don’t ignore these vital chores.

LIVING IN HALLS

One of the best things about the first year at University is living in halls. You get to experience freedom and independence; you meet tons of new people, some of with which you will become friends for life; you are close to your classes so you can sleep in in the mornings. However great and awesome halls might be, there are still a couple of things to watch out for. First, you will be living with a lot of strangers for a year and sharing a lot of facilities, so keep things to a decent cleaning and noise standard. Talking of noise, halls are noisy. That is a fact. People go out every night, shout when they are drunk, play loud music. You should definitely get some plugs or else you will just have to survive with the racket (which I don’t recommend, it won’t benefit your results). Another tip: don’t mess with your sleeping patterns! You sleep less at Uni, whether it is because you are late with your work and have to finish an assignment due tomorrow morning, or because you are a night-owl who parties all night, try to stick to an homogenous sleeping pattern. Above all, don’t let yourself sleep in until late, particularly mid-week, because you will feel tired the rest of the day (and possibly, week) and will have wasted good working time. Use the alarm clock and don’t be lazy! Another piece of advice is to choose a non-catered accommodation. I lived in Brendon Court during my first year, which was catered for. Here is a link to a more in-depth post about the hall: http://gathering-smithereens.blogspot.com.es/2015/08/brendon-court.html. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Brendon Court: I made a lot of friends, enjoyed my time there, and having catering credit spared me from cooking which I hate. But in retrospective, I think another choice –perhaps non-catered like Eastwood or Westwood, or semi-catered like the Quads- would have been better. Simply because I think the community feel of those halls was better precisely because people spent more time together in the kitchen and the groups you share with are slightly smaller than Brendon. 

And last, I would like to mention the British drinking culture. I am Spanish from the Canary Islands, so stories about drunken Brits causing mayhem were not that rare, however, it still shocked me once I arrived in the UK how much young people in Britain drink. Right from the start, which, I will give it to you, was Freshers’ Week when everyone gets a bit carried away by the parties and will to make new friends, I was shocked at the amount of alcohol people could drink before they actually went out. I guess the culture shock was more acute here. Generally, in Spain, we drink a couple of beers while we chat and when we go out, maybe also some spirits and shots, but not with the purpose of getting absolutely wasted. In the UK, as far as my experience has shown me, it seems like young people mostly have fun with drinking games- the faster they get you drunk, the better- during which, yes, you somewhat socialize, but can you consider getting wasted to the point some people drop to the ground actual fun? The aim seems to be getting wasted before you’ve actually reached the club. I don’t think I will ever understand the fun in this.

FRESHERS’ WEEK

FW seems to be the massive event of the year everybody is looking out for. It was awesome, that’s for sure. To me it was a once in a lifetime experience when I was able to learn more about Uni, get tons of freebies, join amazing societies and, the most important, meet loads of new people and have fun! I would suggest you make the most of it by attending your inductions, when you will meet your teachers and classmates, learn more about the structure of your course and any books you might need, and get your printed timetable (the staple of your new life!). It will also be the time to meet your Peer Mentor if your University and Faculty offers the Peer Mentoring Scheme, and when the societies and sport clubs will be showcased and looking for new members, so try to get involved as much as you can! It was then when I met my closest friends at Uni, so try to get the conversation going with anybody really. It is as easy as saying “Hi, I’m… What’s your name? What are you studying?” It is the one moment you can walk up to a stranger and randomly introduce yourself without coming across as creepy! Just be that person who takes the first step, you will make friends easily and a lot of people (especially those more introvert) will be grateful you came up to them! And last but not least, FW is not such a big deal. A lot of people build the whole thing up as it were to be the best week of your life, which it might not. It wasn’t for me, even though it was an amazing experience. Just be safe, don’t feel pressured and enjoy yourself!

YOUR DEGREE

You’ve come to Uni to study, right? Yes, among other things. The way British Universities work, or at least mine does, is that the first year of your degree doesn’t count towards your final degree results. You have to pass your subjects, that’s for sure, but you don’t have the pressure of having to ace them. Teachers kept telling us first year is the time to experiment, to try something new, an approach to study you’ve never done before. My advice is this: make the most of this by socializing as much as you can; go out, try new things, meet lots of people. But keep on top of your workload! You are here to study after all. If you do your responsibilities, the work won’t pile up and you will avoid stressing out around exam season. Just do your homework and learn to balance your activities with your course. In my opinion, semester one was easier than the second one, so I’m really glad I kept on top of things and had gotten the hang of it by the time things got harder! Also, the Library will become your second home during exam/deadline season, you mark my words! Anyway, you are at Uni to study something that you love (hopefully), so in general, you will like all of your subjects (some more than others of course) and teachers will be helpful on the most part. Just try to enjoy it, it should be a field that you like and so that’s what you should be doing!

CAMPUS LIFE

University life is awesome; you get the taste of proper adult life, without being totally emancipated. But you are here for advice, so here it comes. First, learn this, because if you aren’t already accustomed to it, you will be come in no time. This is the truth:

Second, socializing. It is so important! You have to get yourself out of your comfort zone and try out new things. Join societies that interest you, and others that sound amazing but you never thought you’d have the guts to try! Even if you end up not doing half of them (which will happen, believe me, because you don’t have enough time or because they don’t work out as you expected). But these are the opportunities – societies, volunteering, the course you are studying, sports, flatmates, part-time jobs,- these are the moments when you will be meeting new people and not just when you go out at night. In my experience, I was an introvert and non-drinker, so it took me a lot of effort to put myself out there and, of course, I didn’t do it all in one go (you shouldn’t try to be someone you are not at Uni, that’s another tip) but I did brace myself and do volunteering, taster sessions,… I even went to a random Erasmus Meeting which was anything but enticing on a late rainy night, which turned out to be great because I met older students from my course who gave me priceless advice! 

Anyway, even though you will meet lots of people, you will only become close with a few, and you will still feel homesick. I felt really alone at times and even cried about it. I missed my home and somewhat questioned my decision of studying so far from home. There is always help if you need it, so talk to someone. Be it at home, someone from Uni – tutors, mentors, friends- or call a helpline, but speak to somebody if you feel you need to. We all go through this phase of homesickness, particularly the internationals with all this culture shock. And it will all get better and soon enough it will be the most needed holidays again and you will go back home for a while! Honestly, holidays give you life, even if they are still kind of a lie because of the deadlines and work… And finally, let me mention the queues. I just have to. I’m definitely going to dread the microwave queues next year but taking into account that there are thousands of students at University, all going to lunch pretty much at the same time, in pretty much the same places... Do your maths; some queues even went out of the buildings at times. Have patience, and eat fast!

Anyway, as you probably know from the post, my main conclusions from my first year at Uni are: you gain independence and grow as a person as you have to take care of yourself (cooking, cleaning, sorting the bank and doctors…), manage your studies and make the decisions for yourself; as you grow, you will find out that University changes you – you will realize it especially when you go back home for the holidays – just make sure it is for the best; and make the most of it! It will be your only first year and time flies so grab those opportunities and have a blast! Life is always an adventure.

As usual, any questions, feel free to ask :)

Advice for second years here.