Excited? Slightly worried? I was both! This time last year I both couldn’t wait to get out of my house and was nervous that my first week away wouldn’t live up to my high expectations. To be honest, I should just have stuck with being excited! The best thing to remember is that everyone is in exactly the same position – oh, and that in 3 months’ time you will be howling at your hysterical Freshers’ Week antics. A few people might be lucky enough to be at uni or even in halls with their friends from school, but most aren’t: everyone is looking to make new friends and to settle in. So we compiled a few top tips to ensure your week goes as well as possible!
1. Be the girl with tea, coffee and biscuits!
It’s the easiest way to have a chat with the people on your corridor and to introduce yourself. Then when you remember that everyone wants a cup of tea when they’re hungover or just after they’ve been to their 10th taster session that day, you’ll soon become very popular. Personally, I think I owe my caffeine addiction to the fact that my friends and neighbours always knew where to come for a cup of tea or coffee and to catch up on the gossip from the night before, or to avoid doing some work (this was still happening in June!) – so be warned! As well as this, take a packet of biscuits or cookies round your flat/corridor and offer them round. It’s such an easy way to work out who lives where and to tell people where and who you are. No one is going to refuse company or a biscuit!
2. Bring a doorstop
Okay, you’re probably going to get told that you have a fire door that shouldn’t be propped open… But go wild: bring a doorstop! An open door is such a friendly gesture that you’re likely to get people on your corridor popping in and just saying hey! Add this to the smell of freshly made coffee and the sound of other people laughing and enjoying themselves… You see where I’m going!
3. Freshers’ Fair/Squash
This is where you join all the societies and sports clubs that you want, but beware: make sure you take cash out earlier in the week or that you bring your cheque book with you. The queues for the cash machines on campus are huge and they sometimes run out of money – not the best start!
4. Go to all the taster sessions you want
Been inspired by the Olympics to become an athlete? Want to improve your language skills and join a foreign language society? Go and try it out! You very rarely get to try almost anything you can think of for free – and you’ll probably meet a lot of new friends this way – especially if you end up joining the society. Best of all, it means you don’t end up spending a fortune on a sport or society that you discover you really don’t like. Sports and societies are the best way to make friends who aren’t in your halls and to find people with similar interests. (HINT: HCX would be a really good one to join..!)
5. Go out!
Okay, now for night-time! Everyone ends up with those hilarious Freshers’ Week antics, so make sure you go out and make yours as well! I still have fond Freshers’ Week memories of being in the Lemmy in my old school uniform, or of 5 girls with tea and biscuits at 3am, or even managing to get lost on my way home one night, but every night was worth it. I have to admit, I didn’t make it out every night of Freshers’, but that’s just me: I could never hack it! Go out as much as you want and see all the different nights Exeter has to offer – you won’t get another week without lectures for a year! Make sure you take a few pounds for a taxi at the end of the night – just in case. But if you end up spending them, I wouldn’t worry as long as you stay with at least one other friend from halls; one HCX girl I know (along with her friends) managed to get piggy-backs home from willing 2nd years outside TP in her Freshers’ Week! And they say chivalry is dead…
6. Hangover cures
Everyone is different and you’ll soon learn the hangover cures that work for you! Some people swear by a cooked breakfast, I prefer fruit juice, tea and toast! If you’re in self-catered halls or in a flat/house, try this one: ice cream or sorbet. I’m not joking, this has made some truly awful mornings much better. No idea how it works, but all I know is I have made it through days that I thought were going to be spent on the sofa!
Whatever you do in your Freshers’ Week, make sure you enjoy yourself (cheesy, I know, but it had to be said somewhere!). It can be such a fun week; there’s so much going on during the day and at night, that really, the only way you won’t enjoy Freshers’ Week is if you don’t take part! Also, look out for the Her Campus Exeter “Meet and Greet” on Saturday 22nd September – more details soon!