No matter what your age or maturity level, leaving home for
the first time and heading to university can be pretty daunting. Using my own
wealth of knowledge and experience from the last year, I have compiled a list
of 10 tips to surviving the first year of the rest of your life (no pressure or
anything) – Good Luck!
1)
Don’t Panic – Fairly basic, but definitely
something you’re going to want to keep in mind. There’s no need to stress about
anything, everyone’s in pretty much the same boat as you and if you ever feel
particularly overwhelmed, then there’ll be plenty of people about to help you
out; roommates, lecturers, 2nd & 3rd years just to
name a few and they’ll be much more approachable and happy to help than you’d
imagine.
2)
Work through the home sickness – Whether it
strikes you in the first week or not ‘til Christmas, you’re almost certainly
going to feel a little home sick at some point through your first term. The
best thing you can do is to just keep going. If it’s particularly bad, then
it’s actually better not to call home and see how everyone is; often this makes
it worse. Just go out or stay in with some of your mates and have fun, you’ll
forget your missing home in no time.
3)
Work hard, party harder – Whilst you may only
need to pass your first year, it’s still very important to do the work you’re
given. However, you shouldn’t let yourself feel swamped by it, so go out (or
stay in) and have fun!
4)
Talk to EVERYONE – In the first few weeks, it’s
worth talking to as many people as possible and going out with whoever’s going,
make friends with people you don’t normally talk to and just generally be
around people. Partly for company, partly because you never know – you might
make a great new friend! And even if you don’t, it’s no biggy; you’ll find some
on your course or at one of the many societies you join (and you should join
all the ones that interest you).
5)
Be yourself – A lot of people think that Uni is
a place to discover yourself and experiment, but you shouldn’t feel pressured
into doing anything you don’t want to or being someone you’re not. People
worthwhile knowing will respect you for being you.
6)
BUDGET – It’s very easy to get into debt at
University, so keeping track of your finances is essential and a spread sheet
on your laptop keeping track of your incomings and outgoings can be invaluable.
Remember that your student loan needs to last you about 3 months at a time, so
don’t blow it in the first 3 weeks, or you’ll start to struggle.
7)
Keep your room organised – Apparently, a tidy
room is a tidy mind (or some other old wives’ tale of some description), but
life’s just easier if you know where all your stuff is, so you should try to
keep your room clean and tidy. It’s particularly vital to know where all your
important documents are – health forms, finance letters, address books, lecture
work; you never know when you’ll need them.
8)
Explore – Don’t just go from room to lecture to
bar and back to your room again! Get to know the town or city you’re living in;
you may find a great little shop or pub or picnicking spot you would never have
known about otherwise.
9)
Keep in contact with home – After all, you’ll
have to go back eventually! When you do, don’t expect everything to feel like
it always did before; you, your friends and your family will have changed in
the time you’ve been gone, though that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
10)
Look after yourself (and your friends) – make
sure you eat well, drink enough (water, not just booze) and keep yourself and
your room clean and healthy; it’s hard to learn or party if you feel rubbish.
You should also try to look after your friends or else you could get quite
lonely quite quickly.
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