Hi babes, today I thought I would share a bit of advice for those starting university in September. Having been at university for what feels like 9 years and have experienced both living in halls, commuting from home and living in a flat, I feel like I can impart some pretty good wisdom to you soon to be freshers.
- Don't buy a freshers wristband
This especially relevant if you're going to uni in a big city like Manchester, you may find that half the events your flatmates or the people you make friends with don't want to go to, or you want to go to other places that aren't on the wristband. Honestly as someone going into their fourth (gulp) year of university overall, I have found that many freshers events are over hyped and you and your friends will probably find other fun nights to go to that aren't as expensive.
- Join a sports team or society
I know some of you may feel like you are the least sporty person in the world so this might not be relevant to you, but genuinely you will make amazing friends on a sports team and most unis have something for everyone such as cheerleading, pole dance, water polo, netball, martial arts and equestrian. I joined Women's Football and it's probably the best decision I made while at uni. And sign up for tour!! This is where you go on holiday with all the other sports teams at uni (best week of your life trust me)
- Don't feel like you need to be having loads of sex
Not to sound like your mum or anything, but this one is important. It may seem like every single person at uni and their cat is having sex 24/7 and it's easy to feel inexperienced but this isn't always the case, be your own person. Genuinely not everyone is having 5 one night stands a week.
But it's okay if you want to!! Make yourself aware of the nearest sexual health clinic and get tested regularly. Use condoms if you're having sex with boys (some people do it, apparently)
- Download the uber app and local taxi company apps
This makes it easy and safe to get yourself home on nights out. You can set up uber to paypal or your bank card so you don't have to worry about saving money for a taxi or having to go to a cash machine at 3am. If you end up losing your friends (or your friend decides to pull) you can easily get yourself home without having to worry.
- Bring fancy dress
As I mentioned before, If you join a society and go to a lot of socials you will need a lot of fancy dress as there probably will be a new theme almost every week. To avoid spending ridiculous amounts of money, be sure to pack things from home that you can use, i.e- tutu, face paints, glitter, school tie, headbands, army style top. You can easily DIY really cool costumes as well.
- Download the unidays app and make the most of student discounts
If you've read my blog before you'll know that I have a fair few missguided parcels delivered which can become very pricey so if this is you, always make sure to get student discount, the best way to do this is through the unidays app. There are loads of great discounts for retailers such as Topshop (10% off) Asos (up to 70% off) and even Virgin Trains (34% off)
- You don't have to drink if you don't want to
I know this may be slightly out of character advice for me, if you don't want to drink you really don't have to. There are actually a lot more non-drinkers than you would think at uni and not drinking definitely doesn't have to stop you make you making friends. If you want to drink do it, but it's no problem if you don't.
