Your University experience will be shaped by the type of friendships you have. Period. University can be a very lonely place (especially if you have moved away from home) if you don’t make any friends, but also if you make the wrong type of friends and if you never really find your ‘click’. The people you make friends with at the start of University in all likelihood will probably not be the same people you hang around with during your final year at University. As you progress further through University and become closer to graduating, you will find that your friendships will become deeper and long-lasting- these friends will become firm friends for life who you create your best memories with and who you will continue to make memories with after graduation. But before you get to this stage, there are many different phases of friendships you will have to encounter. Below is a list of all the phases of friendships you can expect at Uni from freshers to graduation:
Before you actually start Uni you will most likely join group chats and pages on different social media platforms belonging to your University, such as virtual chat rooms and Facebook group chats. Social media can be a great way for you to connect and communicate with other potential students before you actually enrol. If like me you commute to Uni, you can also reach out to other fellow commuters and become commuting buddies. This can be a huge comfort but don’t rely on these friends too much- don’t become chained to a small group and restrict yourself from making new friends- the key is to keep expanding your friendship group! This is really interesting part in the phases of friendships!
During Fresher’s Week there will be various socials and meet ups so you can mingle and meet people doing the same degree as you and other first years. Oh and of course, there will be Fresher’s events of an evening (the events all University students dream of) where you will meet even more students and form friendships to attend different events with as long as fresher’s week (weeks) lasts. Some of these friendships might last, but not to sound too cynical or pessimistic, during fresher’s where no one knows anybody, people will be desperate to make friends and these friendships can be superficial and will not necessarily stand the test of time.
During first year, you will be assigned to a specific accommodation and to specific flatmates- you do not get to choose. It is unlikely you will be best friends with every member of your flat, but you might bond with one or two in particular who you wish to share a flat with in your second and even third years at Uni. These friends have the potential to be your closest friends throughout the whole of your university experience if you can survive living together for two or three years because you will undoubtedly spend every day together, confide in each other about everything, and experience all the highs and lows of Uni life together.
Joining societies at University is a MUST and every student knows that the main incentive for becoming part of a group is to meet new people and make new friends with people who they share similar likes and interests with. These friends will be friends that you socialise with when there are society meet ups and society socials- you will not necessarily mix these friendships with your more academic friends. For example, the friends you make on your course. I mean it is very unlikely that your cheerleading squad will be up for a serious chat about eighteenth-century politics, am I right? But that is the beauty of Uni societies and of Uni in general: societies bring students from all DIFFERENT academic disciplines together and Uni allows you to explore the different parts of your identity and personality. It is good to have different types of friends at University, those you can be quiet and serious with and get work done, versus those you can be a bit wild with and let loose with! This is one of the most interesting phases friendships!
Towards the end of first year and the start of second year, you would have met nearly everyone on your course and found those that you want to spend time with outside of lectures and seminars. You will begin to do extra curricular activities with each other such as attending various Uni socials and nights out, as well as normal daytime activities such as attending exercise classes together, eating out and going shopping. These are the friends who unlike in first year when you are still trying to impress, you can totally be yourself around. These are the friends that you will become inseparable from and share everything with. They will be there to make you laugh when you are down, to wipe your tears and to offer endless support and an ear to listen to. These friends will become your Uni family and they will remain your friends well after you graduate. They will be friends and family for life and the kind of friends you want to introduce to your closest friends and family members back home. This is one of the best phases of friendships!
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