Freshers Week: the two words you thought about non-stop ever since you accepted your place at university. Your brain was filled with images of wild nights, hilarious fancy dress, unlimited alcohol and an abundance of hot boys. But now that freshers week is over, we’re forced to face the reality of uni life. Clubbing every night and a free slice of Dominoes outside the Union has now been replaced by 9am lectures and a workload you weren’t quite ready for. Through some serious trial and error, I’ve discovered the true reality of a Leeds Uni student. But don’t despair, as in spite of the “hardship” of first year there are still plenty of ways to maintain a little piece of that fresher’s flair. So without further ado, here’s my mini reality checklist of what will inevitably happen (or has already happened) as week comes to a close and the academic year continues.
Workload Overload
Numerous times I was told that the first year of university would be a breeze compared to upper sixth. So after a lengthy four month summer break, I prepared my liver and welcomed fresher’s week with open arms without shedding much thought towards the degree aspect of uni. However, the fluffy cushioning of my first week only made reality hit harder when I realised the hours of reading and amount of commitment I needed for my course. It was no longer a case of being spoon-fed by teachers at school, but rather about being self-motivated to read and research numerous books before lectures, even if they made little sense.
While it’s all too easy to let work take over your life, it’s just as important to maintain a social life. By making sure to do a set amount of work each day, it’s easy enough to pursue that fresher’s lifestyle staying out until the early hours a few times a week – just as long as you’re ready to deal with the consequences in the morning.
The Question of Cuisine
You’re a few weeks into university now and your supply of home cooked meals that you relied on in week 1 has now run low, subsequently forcing you to depend on your own cooking expertise. Friends constantly remind me that a £5 bottle of white wine does not constitute a balanced meal and that getting your 5 a day apparently does not refer to the single-handed devouring of a Walkers crisps variety multi-pack. While I had the right intentions that I would cook healthy meals (yes, I even purchased a blender for soup making) this lasted for all of two days.
In reality, the cliché high carb diet of noodles, pizza and Uncle Ben’s really is the fundamental backbone of student dieting. All of a sudden, cereal becomes socially acceptable at all times of day and you struggle to remember what an orange looks like. So you might not be a food connoisseur, but hey, at least you sort of tried for a while (and yes, the blender is still in its box unopened – sorry mum.)
Burden of Budgeting
Like any student who is buying on a budget, you’ll catch yourself debating between the purchasing of alcohol or dinner. In Fresher’s Week it was easy enough to spend nothing by rolling out of bed with a hangover at 1 and claiming some free munch at LUU, leaving you with plenty of dosh to spend on your night out. But now that it’s post-Fresher’s you’ve metamorphosed into a semi-functioning adult, meaning you actually have to be prepared to buy certain things and leave other items on the shelf. It is with great sadness that purchasing textbooks take priority over Topshop and ASOS orders, but let it never be said that no joy is found in comparing food prices in your local shop.
Despite my reasonable weekly budget, I seem to spend the majority of it in the first day leaving myself to find miraculous ways to stretch £15 for the rest of the week. Although I haven’t quite come to grips with the art of budgeting, some habits from Fresher’s Week will never change. No matter how little money you have in your pocket, there always seems to be enough coins to splash out on those late night chips at Flames.
Home Sweet Home
Tidying up, washing your clothes and looking after you when you were ill. These are just a few home comforts that may have been done for you by Mum and Dad, but now there’s no one to do it but you. In Fresher’s, the cleanliness of the flat didn’t seem to matter as you were barely in it, and the catching of Fresher’s Flu was worn as a badge of honour. Now dust seems to collect in places you didn’t know existed, you have a chair in your room stacked with dirty laundry and if you haven’t registered with the GP then your policy for treating your illness is to simply stick it out. However, if you want to pass your inspection (which we did not) you actually have to do something about your flat. So embrace the laundry detergent and enforce the bin rota as part of student life! As for registering with the NHS, I found out ‘sticking it out’ was not the most effective way for remedying a chest infection (who knew right?).
Reading this article, you might be led to believe that the post-Fresher’s lifestyle is simply an unhygienic concoction of bad dinners, hard work and no money. But it can’t be denied that some aspects of Fresher’s week live on throughout the year. Taking afternoon naps, waking up on other people’s couches, going on pub crawls, getting drunk – these are just a handful of things that keep that Fresher’s feeling alive. So in the infamous words of David Guetta, ‘work hard, play hard’ – first year doesn’t count right?