Essential Guide To Freshers' Week

Freshers’ week ‒ what every first-time university student looks forward to. From moving into your halls of residence or house-share and meeting new people, to non-stop partying, freshers’ fair and freebies. You can’t totally escape from university classes in freshers’ week, however, as induction lectures will likely be scheduled into your timetable, where you’ll be given an overview of your courses and assessments, and what books you need to get.

For the most part, though, freshers’ week is your chance to have fun and meet new friends – it’s best to enjoy it while you can! We have put together this essential guide to freshers’ week to give you tips on making the most of your time as a Fresher, whilst of course being as safe and sensible as possible.

Step out of your comfort zone

Making new experiences, meeting new people, facing challenges, making mistakes, and learning are all part of the university experience. It is best to embrace this experience from the start, and although it will mean stepping out of your comfort zone, it is something that you can be thankful for later. If you are usually a person who gets shy and awkward when going to social events and meeting new people, throwing yourself into the social scene gives you the chance to meet friends that can make your university experience even better.

Also, if trying new things is something that you usually wouldn’t do, throwing yourself into new tasks, activities, and situations at university could end up being the best thing that you’ll do or something that you can learn from. School can teach you the basics of university, but not the university experience itself, which can be the experience of a lifetime!

Be yourself

As much as you may want to impress people at the beginning of university in order to make friends, it’s best not to use a false persona. This will only come back to bite you later down the line. There are so many people that attend university, so if you are yourself, and the first people you meet don’t like you, it’s no biggie – there are plenty more people to meet and build friendships with. It is likely that friends will change as you go through university as you might attend different classes, hobbies, and go to different social events.

Don’t take yourself seriously

Freshers’ week is a time for having fun, which you won’t be able to fully embrace if you take yourself too seriously. Doing silly things like fancy dress, throwing shapes on the dancefloor, playing icebreakers, and maybe making an idiot of yourself after having a few drinks are all a part of it. After the hangover subsides, these are all things that you will laugh about with your friends and look back on as the fun days of university, which you may not be able to have as many of when you’re drowning in exams and assignments.

Be prepared

Setting aside the fun part of freshers’ week, there are other more boring things that come with your first couple of weeks at university. We aren’t saying you need to go and read all the recommended books for your first lectures, although this will of course set you off to a good start. However, you can prepare for the start of university by doing simple things like setting up your student finance, having your university timetable somewhere you can easily access, buying resources needed for your lectures, and reading up on any information that you need to know about the university. It’s better to sort this stuff out beforehand, rather than having to do it when you’re drained and hungover from all off the fun of freshers’ week.

Sign up to clubs and societies…and grab some freebies

Signing up with clubs and societies is not only great in the long run for your CV, it is also a great thing to do to meet more people and to have even more fun at university! You can sign up to as many different university clubs and societies and get lots of freebies!

If you are heading off to university soon, use our international student shipping service to avoid the struggle of getting your stuff there. Also, if you are heading to a university in the UK, check out our blog series on the best nightlife in the UK for some inspiration over freshers’ week.