Whether you’re an incoming fresher or a returning student, the start of a new academic term is the perfect opportunity to introduce you to or to remind you of the unofficial checklist for all UEA students. You cannot call yourself a true UEA girl until you have experienced at least eight of the following experiences. Only then can you graduate from UEA with your head held high, knowing you’ve experienced the true student life and that you can navigate your way around Norwich like a native.
The 5 Ls
The 5 Ls: the big UEA myth. It is the first thing you will learn about at UEA and is something everyone secretly wants to accomplish before they leave but very few actually manage it. And for good reason, security is on it so be careful!
– Library
– Lake
– Lecture theatre
– Laundrette
– LCR
I’m not going to explain it. If you are a true UEA student, you will definitely know…Do you dare? Good luck.
Catch a UEA bunny rabbit
The UEA campus is covered in wild rabbits and despite laughing when most people discover it is a long standing tradition to try (and fail) to catch one, there will always be drunken girls trying to lure rabbits into their rooms with lettuce at 3am. As cool as it feels to walk past them with dignity and to judge them ever so slightly, try it for yourself. It really is a hell of a lot of fun.
Spend a whole day on the UEA steps
The UEA steps are the centre of the University campus and the best place for people-watching. As soon as a hint of sun comes out, the entire student body will be sunbathing on the concrete with glasses of Pimms and their notepads.
Do an all-nighter in the library
During exam week, especially in your final years, the library will become your home: you work there, hang out there, and occasionally order food there.When you realise that by going home to sleep, you will lose your spot on the library sofa, you will also inevitably stay the night there.
Have a BBQ by the UEA Lake
UEA Lake and the grounds that surround it are beautiful. During the summer term you must gather your girlies and your picnic blankets and head down to the lake for a day of sunbathing. You can rent a BBQ by the lake for free, but be warned, all of UEA will be doing the same thing.
Come to University in your jammies
This is an experience all students will go through, even if you promise yourself you won’t. An early seminar combined with a late night at the LCR and very little sleep will lead to you sitting in a lecture theatre wearing your pink onesie and a face of shame. It won’t be pleasant, but it will happen. Embrace it.
Sing ‘Oh UEA is wonderful’ at the top of your voice
If you have not completed this by the time you leave UEA, you should give your diplomas back. The UEA anthem is sung everywhere: the square, the clubs, the bus and the library. Nothing will make you feel more UEA-spirited than this.
LCR
Even if fancy dress, 90s pop music and £1.50 jaeger bombs are not for you, the Student Union club (the LCR) is an absolute must…At least once.
Pimp my Barrow
The perfect combination: a hot summers day, 1000 students in extreme fancy dress, a Wheelbarrow race and a pub crawl. Enough said.
Go for a fully at The Unthank Kitchen
The vast majority of students will live in the Golden Triangle during their second and third year and will therefore be regulars at the Unthank Kitchen, a small, friendly family-run café boasting the best fry ups in Norwich. The café is packed every morning with hordes of hung-over students eating a Full English Breakfast in their pyjamas and reminiscing about the night before.
Disclaimer: You will bump into just about everyone that you know there.