Top Tips for Surviving Freshers (Year)

Hi Internet,

To start I know it has been ages since I have posted anything on this blog (although, I have been taking some pretty epic pictures that I hope you have been enjoying haha). Basically I have just been quite busy getting a new job, and I am also in honesty, just very lazy when it comes down to actually writing all the posts that I think of.

However, with the coming of peoples exam results across the UK recently and so many of you having been successful in getting into University recently, I feel that today’s post is appropriate: Steve’s Top 4 Tips for Surviving at University.

Just quickly before you jump to conclusions, yes, the majority of these points will be most relevant to nooby* first years moving away from home for the first time, however even if you are in your last year of your PhD or just happen to live in shared housing with some friends and work full-time, I can guarantee there will be points of interest in here for you to read.

So here goes:

1 – DON’T GET DISHEARTENED.

I feel that this is probably the most vital rule to stick by when moving away from home and going to University for the first time. There are a number of factors that could lead to you end up feeling just all round a bit down in the dumps during your first year – whether it be that you’re just home sick and struggling with living by yourself or maybe it’s that you didn’t get into your first choice of University and you’re just not sure if this is right for you. The only real advice that I can give to this is to not let it get to you. Although it may feel like you’re the only person that is feeling this way, trust me you are NOT. Everyone gets at least a little but worked up and down about something in their first year, and I guarantee you 9/10 people will be up for going to the pub of going to the café for coffee to chat about it all with you and just have a good rant – and nothing will make you feel better than knowing you’re not the only person feeling the way you are. And on a brighter note, if this still doesn’t help, just think to yourself that you’re at Uni. I mean, you are actually getting paid (kinda) to study a course you’re passionate about and make your future job prospects brighter in every way. (Definitely beats working in a pub for minimum wage for the rest of your life!)

2 – BARGAIN FOODS.

I was going to do this within a section for budgeting in general, but I felt this needed precedence on its own as it is potentially one of the most important things to know about at Uni. Tesco Everyday Value/Asda Smart Price/All of Iceland’s ready meals are life savers. You won’t need to spend more than £0.60-1.50 on any of these meals and you can have all sorts of varieties, from pasta bakes, to curries to a good old fashioned plain roast dinner and Yorkshire pudding (a personal favourite of mine).  And probably the greatest part of all about these meals is that all they require is a microwave.

3 – KEEP UP TO DATE AT UNIVERSITY.

I know that first year of Uni is said to be remarkably easier than the rest of your time and ‘does not count for anything’ as so many people like to say, but I disagree. Yes the workload is not as great as once you progress through, but the only reason it seems easy is because at Uni, unlike school, all you need to progress is a 40% pass. And yes, obviously this is going to be ridiculously easy to attain, but in my opinion it is just not worth it to aim low like that. Your first year is giving you the grounds for the rest of your degree, so if you start low at 40% knowledge of the course, all that this is going to result in is two possible outcomes. The first outcome is where you never change, aim for 40% through your entire degree and get an ordinary or a very low (3^rd Class) honours – which truly no one goes to uni to get. Or the second outcome where you realise how skiving about in your first year has left you on such a back foot, that you just end up having to work twice as hard later on in your uni career to catch up on all of the basics you missed earlier on. Either way I’d say it’s pretty clear that after having put in all the time and effort at school to get the grades to go to Uni, it is definitely worth to a little bit of study time and effort in your first year to keep up on your lectures and classes etc.. So that when it comes to your exams and progressing through your courses, you know your stuff and you know it well.

4 – LIVING WITH OTHER PEOPLE

I know that to those of you that haven’t lived away from home yet, this point may seem somewhat trivial. I promise you it is not. This is why I have left this point until last, as I feel at University this is probably going to be one of the greatest challenges you will face. Now don’t get me wrong some people (very lucky people might I add) go away to uni and have great flat mates, make great friendships and never have any problems. This is not the case for most people. In my opinion there is one key solution to this – tolerance – and I will explain why. Tolerance is essential as if you live in a flat in student halls then everyone in your flat has just moved away from home and into a new place with complete strangers. Hence, everyone is going to be slightly on edge, nervous and going to cope with it in different ways. So all I can say is, if someone is being slightly messy in the kitchen or seems as though they are being anti-social, or maybe even as if they are just being a bit of a clean-freak and getting annoyed with you for being dirty around the flat, just be tolerant. Just think to yourself; maybe they’re just having a rough day missing their family and so they’re a bit on edge, or maybe they have just been a bit spoilt at home and aren’t used to having to look after themselves yet. Either way, whatever the problems are, although they may seem major to you because you have to live with the people, TRUST ME, in the long run, it is far better to have a few things happening that slightly bug you but still be good friends with your flat than to voice your opinion and have them all turning against you – cause in the end that is only going to end up leaving you on the back foot again.

So that’s all from me today, its weird coming back to writing after doing nothing academic for almost 3 months, so hopefully this wasn’t too bad. As always, if you enjoyed this post please share it around, especially to anyone you know who’s moving away to uni for the first time soon and also give the blog a follow. J

#Lovefromsteve

*Just to point out, after Belle told me what she thought this word meant, it is not an insult. In fact for anyone who has ever played Halo online before they will already know what this words means. It’s just a description for a new gamer who hasn’t played the game before, and so I was turning it to represent the new students who have a whole new world awaiting them! Just a quick side note to clear up any confusion. J