Parties, alcohol, living
alone, learning how to reference properly…in a nutshell, this would definitely
describe most peoples’ first year at University! For those of you starting
University this year, I know exactly how you’re feeling right now – its such a
nerve-wracking but exciting time to think that in just a few months, you’ll be
jumping into a completely unknown world; especially if, like me, you’d been at
the same school for 10 years! Chances are, some of you are probably waiting on
A-level results to guarantee your place, which makes it all the more
terrifying!
I wanted to write a post on
the advice I could think of that would’ve had the greatest impact on my first
year, so without further ado, here are my Top 3 tips for surviving your first
year at Uni!
#1 – Don’t freak out if you
don’t find best friends in Freshers’ Week
Naively, going into University,
I just assumed that I would be super lucky and meet all of my best friends in
Freshers’ week, or better yet, that they’d be in my flat! For me, this wasn’t
the case AT all! I only shared a flat with 4 other people, and even though I
did grow to be close to all of them, at first, I really didn’t ‘click’ with any
of them. In a way, this was a good thing – it meant that every night of Freshers’,
I would branch out and go and talk to new people, and I ended up spending every
night out with a different group of people! However, after the excitement of
Freshers’ week ended, I did feel kind of lost for a few weeks. Even though I
had already made so many friends, I didn’t really have anyone I was super close
with, or a ‘group’ of friends that I hung out with. But after a few more weeks
at Uni, I met a few girls who I’m super close with now, and built stronger
friendships with the people I already knew, and before I knew it I felt SO much
more settled in. I think its so important not to put too much pressure on
meeting all your best friends Freshers’ week – just have fun and try to meet as
many people as you can – the rest will fall into place in no time! J
#2 – Find a balance between
work and play
Before starting Uni, I was
convinced that I was going to work super hard during my first year and come out
with a First. Well…that definitely didn’t happen! But I really don’t think you
should pressure yourself too much to do super well first year – firstly,
because first year doesn’t count towards your degree, but secondly, because your
first year is meant for finding your feet in your new life, making friends and
having fun! Even though it is important to find time for studying and to get
used to organising your time – working at Uni is so different from school, so
use your first year as a learning device to get used to this different way of
learning and working. Don’t stress if you’ve worked super hard on an assignment
and not done as well as you thought – it definitely takes a while to get used
to doing things the way your professors expect! All in all, during your first
year, you should enjoy being able to go out multiple times a week and miss a
lecture or two – I came out with a 2.1 my first year without having to stress myself
out completely with work; its all about finding a balance!
#3 – Look after yourself
Starting university is a
pretty crazy experience to be honest – the concept of living alone for the
first time can be quite daunting. Don’t get me wrong – it is SO much fun - you
get to see your friends all the time, go out whenever you want, and pretty much
do whatever you want! Having said all that, it also means having to cook for
yourself, do all your laundry & cleaning…even if you already do all these
things for yourself, it can still be to adjust to not having your parents
around! During my first year of Uni, I really didn’t take the time to look
after myself properly at all. I was basically never alone – I was always
hanging out with friends, and I really didn’t have much ‘me’ time. My diet
became so odd – I wasn’t cooking myself meals & I was pretty much living
off of fruit and sugar, which lead me to become really ill towards the end of
the year....somehow I managed to lose 6 pounds (which I didn’t want to do at
all!) and give myself anaemia. Learning to maintain some sort of routine during
Uni is SO important! Really try hard to make sure that in between seeing your
friends & going out, you’re eating healthy meals, taking time out for
yourself to just chill, keeping your room somewhat tidy, getting enough sleep…you’ll
thank me later, trust me!
I really hope this helped
out any of you prospective Freshers – obviously, this was all very general advice,
but if you’d like me to write about any specific topics to do with my
University experience so far, please let me know and I’d be more than happy to
share!
Until next time! <3
