Becoming a fresher is an exciting time in any persons life. There is so much going on and all at once. Here are some tips for all you upcoming freshers.
This is absolutely essential to any young person moving out of their family home, you are going to need to have some degree of financial know how. You need to consider how much money it costs for food, rent, travel, leisure activities and general life. Work out what you monthly or fortnightly income is going to be, factor in what events you know you’ve got coming up, how much on average you’d spend on a food shop and go from there. Even a rough estimate can prevent you from coming unstuck when it comes to money. Also, try and save up as much as you can beforehand – this will help you out in the long run.
In freshers week you may feel the pressure to go out every night of the week because “it’s freshers” and “you’ll only be a fresher once” – but that is a load of crap. Sure, you will never be a fresher again but that does not mean that you can’t go out ever again. Moving away from home is major and sometimes nights of endless drinking and partying can bring you down. There is no harm in staying in and having a flat movie night.
Beans on toast aren’t going to cut it any more. You need to be eating substantial, healthy meals otherwise you will find yourself getting ill. Learn some basic meals like pasta dishes, one pots, curries and stir-fries. You can easily cook extra and keep it in the fridge for lunch the next day or if it’s a bolognese or something you can freeze it for up to 6 months.
By this I mean, make sure you’ve changed your address over, switched to a student account, got a part-time job and done all the boring admin things before you leave! This way you can still get your parents to give you a hand with it (if need be) and you don’t have to worry about it once you are there. Most important documents and things you’ll need will be at home somewhere so it’s best to do it ahead of time and save yourself the hassle.
There are some things in life that are just always around the house, you’ve never really had to buy them for yourself but now you are going to need them; normally it is boring things like washing up liquid and plasters but just make sure you’ve made a comprehensive list of everything you might need before packing. Make sure you tick everything off once it is packed!
Freshers week is where you will make most of your friends and it’s pretty hard to infiltrate a friendship group once it’s formed. Try and be as extroverted as you can, do not hide away in your room. Join societies, go to socials and get to know our flatmates. Having good friendships around you will make the whole transition a lot easier.
If you have lived the life of luxury until now and your clothes have been washed for you, then you are going to need to learn how to wash your own clothes. It is not difficult but just be careful when washing things like jumpers and jeans so the colour doesn’t wash out of the jeans and the jumpers don’t shrink whilst drying.
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