Things That Every Student Does In Their First Few Weeks Of University

What people call Freshers month or Welcome month, your first few weeks of University are always going to be a daunting time. You probably feel both slightly nervous and ridiculously excited. You have to leave home and go and live with a bunch of strangers, and in the first few weeks of university you are under pressure to make friends.        

When you get there you will quickly lose your nerves and start to enjoy the beginning of the best three years of your life. It’s the beginning of a new academic year, so thousands of Sheffield students are currently settling into University life. There are some things that most students experience during their first few weeks of University. These are things that you can’t help doing, because they are just part of being a student. Whilst settling into Uni life, here are 10 things you will probably end up doing.  

1.  Have a cooking fail

After being taken care of by your parents all your life, you suddenly have to fend for yourself, which involves cook. Yes, you have to actually feed yourself, who knew this could be such a difficult task?   Planning and cooking your meals is much harder than you think, and in the first few weeks of Uni, it’s the last thing you want to do. Therefore students often end up having some sort of epic cooking fail, such as burning toast to a crisp, cooking a disgusting meal or setting off the fire alarm whilst attempting to cook something edible.  

2.  Gasp at how much a weekly food shop can cost

Who knew a weekly food shop could cost so much? You soon discover all the best tricks for saving money on food shopping and head straight for the discount aisle. Not wanting to spend £30 a week on decent food, you stock up on extremely cheap and unhealthy foods. You will most likely attempt to survive on kebabs, junk food and ready meals.  

3.  Join some sort of sports club or society

During freshers week you get the chance to attend a fresher’s fair where you must sign up for some sort of club or society. Thinking it will boost your CV and help you make more friends, you probably end up signing up to a random society you don’t even care about. Then there’s the sports clubs, which can become ridiculously competitive and involve sports socials where drinking games are a necessity.  

4.  Drink far too much

Obviously, during your first few weeks of University you will most likely end up on the floor of your University hall passed out. Unless you don’t intend on drinking at Uni, you will find it very difficult not to get hideously drunk in the first few weeks.  

5.  Get lost on campus

Some University campuses are surprisingly large and difficult to navigate. Unfortunately for you, most of your lectures are in completely different buildings which makes your entire first week feel like a training course in navigation. You will most likely get lost and end up strolling into a lecture half an hour late.  

6.  Post freshers week pictures on social media

Most freshers are having so much fun that they can’t resist sharing their experience with their social media pals. All sorts of drunken pictures will appear on your Facebook newsfeed and you will constantly be untagging yourself in inappropriate pictures. You have to prove that your University is better than everyone else’s, obviously.  

7.  Sleep through a lecture

You will probably pull a fair few all nighters in your first few weeks, which means you might fail to turn up to a lecture or two. Catching up on your sleep so that you have enough energy for the next night out is far more important than attending your lectures.  

8.  Get a little homesick

You would never admit it to your fellow housemates, but you feel a little homesick. It’s nothing to worry about, you are only human after all. University definitely lacks a lot of home comforts, and this is something that takes time to get used to.  

9.  Spend way too much money on freshers week

You will no doubt spend most of your first month’s budget on fresher’s week. There are so many fun events and brilliant nights out planned that you get FOMO and book them all, no matter how much it costs. Plus drinking ridiculous amounts of alcohol every night isn’t cheap.  

10.  Catch fresher’s flu

It’s nearly impossible not to catch freshers flu in your first few weeks of University. All the late nights, unhealthy food and parties can leave you feeling a little worse for wear. Despite feeling horrendous, you still manage not to miss a night out.   

Here are 5 top survival tips for University. Watch this 2014 video on how to survive Freshers' Week