Congratulations to all of you who got your A-level results today and are going to uni, or even if you’re not. I can’t believe it was 6 years ago since I was in this position and on my way to uni (where does the time go?) I went off to Lincoln to study BA Hons Fashion Studies, and spent three years there. I had good times and bad times at uni, but I wouldn’t change any of it, as it taught me a lot of life lessons and through that I made some of the best friends in the world.
I think I’m going to do a couple of post’s on starting university and my experience at university, but for now I’m going just give my top ten pieces of advice, inspired by the #uniadvice tag on twitter
Talk to people – I know it’s daunting, but make the effort to say hi to your new flatmates and coursemates. Knock on doors and introduce yourself, invite them out for a drink on the first night, organise things! I met my best friends Becca, by knocking on her bedroom door the first night I moved in, six years on we are still having wine nights.
Don’t get too drunk during freshers week – I know I sound like such a bore, but this advice was given to me before I went to uni and it turned out to be pretty good advice. By all means drink and enjoy yourself, but don’t over do it. A girl on one of my house-mates courses got that drunk at one of the first course parties she had to be taken away in an ambulance, and we’ve all seen the embarrassing drunken photos on the internet. First impressions count for a lot and you don’t want to be remembered as the one who turned into a massive dickhead when they were drunk at freshers.
Organise yourself – Again this sounds boring, but it will help a lot when you’ve finally gotten over the madness of freshers and freshers flu, plus its a good excuse to buy new stationary! Write down all your lectures times and assignments and try and do them little and often, rather then the big all nighter rush. Been there done that and it’s not fun.
Learn to cook – I mean properly cook not just shoving food in the microwave or getting take out all the time (Not that there is anything wrong with the occasional take away stumbling home at 4am) If you don’t eat well you’ll feel it, and it will make motivating yourself for those 9am lectures that little bit harder. You can get lots of awesome, budget friendly recipes online!
Socialise – I’m not just talking about going out drinking, join society’s, take up a new hobby and really make the most of everything uni has to offer. Go to the freshers fair and see what’s out there. You’ll not get such a wide variety of activities right on your doorstep again.
Be yourself – This might sound really silly, but a lot of people go into uni with this idea of how they want to be or changes they want to make and end up trying to be something they’re not. Don’t be afraid to say no if you don’t want to do something and don’t feel you have to give in to peer pressure to fit in. 🙂
Be smart with your finances – Again I sound boring, but don’t blow all your student loan at once. Try and budget a little so you can live and eat properly, and try not to use your overdraft or student credit card if you can avoid it. Also make the most of your student discount/ freebies. When I was at uni McDonalds gave you a free cheeseburger with your meal if you showed them your student card.
Discount shops will be your best friend – you can find some really good stuff in there! Wilkinsons is really good for homeware stuff, and I used to find some great fancy dress stuff in the pound shop. Be a bargain hunter!
Ask for help if you need it – Whether you’re struggling with your course, homesickness or house-mates, don’t try and cope on your own. Uni’s have a range of services to help if you are feeling down or just want somebody to talk to.
I could probably go on and on here but I’ll leave it at that. I’ll be doing a couple more posts on my uni experiences so keep an eye out.
I came across your blog a few weeks ago after searching google for a polka dot teapot to buy for when I go to uni believe it or not!!
Sorry if you are going to cover this in any of your next posts but something I wanted advice on that you didn’t talk about in this post is RELATIONSHIPS!
To be a little more specific… I am actually bisexual but already I am nervous about telling people and people finding out in case they judge me. At the moment I am single and it worries me that when I meet someone and want to be with them they won’t want to be with me when they find out I like males and female.
You seem like a kind and understanding person so I was hoping for some honest advice to what you think. Please don’t hold back as I really could do with some insight before I start.
Thank you for such a lovely comment, I’m really glad you enjoyed the post 🙂 I was actually going to cover relationships at uni in another post. I was in a relationship whilst I was at uni for the whole three years, I won’t go into too much detail now, but if you like I can make that my next uni based post 🙂 I’ll probably publish it on Wednesday
And congratulations on getting into Northumbria! I’m not bisexual myself, but so I can’t really comment from experience, but in general I found university to be one of the most accepting places. There is such a mix of people, cultures, religions and sexual preferences that it was generally quite easy going. I don’t think that you will have a problem, but remember it is your own choice to tell people, don’t feel you have to and do it when you feel comfortable. I think people will be cool with it. But if you do ever get any trouble, talk to somebody you feel comfortable with and take it to the uni if needs be. Since you are a girl who is bisexual, you might get the odd sexist pervy comment that someone thinks is funny (happened to a friend of mine! daft comments like “Oh can I watch” “Oh that’s just greedy”), but like I said, if anything makes you uncomfortable talk to somebody 🙂
As for getting into a relationship, personally I’d say don’t rush into anything, enjoy what uni has to offer and if you find the person for you the that’s awesome. I found that I rushed into a relationship at uni, and then made some choices that weren’t too smart but I’ll put a post up on that soon. If this person really likes you then it won’t matter to them if you are bisexual, if it does then don’t waste your time with them. Your sexuality doesn’t define you as a person, and the right person won’t worry about it.
Feel free to tweet/ comment if I can help you out at all again. And remember to enjoy yourself! Let me know how it all goes!