Freshers week

Having spent most of the last year living away from home in new places with new people I wasn't worried about moving out and being away from home. In a way I felt I was at home because I was only two hours drive away and I knew the culture and language. But nonetheless, it's always hard meeting new people and settling into a new life.

Step one, moving in: I arrived on Sunday, the day after most people. I was very happy with my flat - my room is nice, the kitchen is spacious, there's a nice sitting area and it's on the ground floor with a decent view. Later that day I met my flat mates and we sat in the kitchen drinking tea - the last time all four of us would ever hang out together. They were all perfectly nice people but we just didn't really bond.

By the second night I still didn't really know anyone so I accepted the invitation of two of my flatmates to go out with them and some friends. I'm glad I went because it did allow me to meet some different people who I might have got on with but, ultimately, it just didn't work out. Don't worry, things got better after that.

Later in the week I went to the freshers' societies and sports fayres where I signed up to the mailing list of around twenty different clubs. Many societies were doing taster sessions that week so I started going to those alongside library tours, academic tasters and welcome talks. I met one girl at the library tour who I'm still friends with now. I met a guy at the badminton taster who I added on Snapchat and never saw again. In particular, the thing that helped me was that I started going to activities in the evenings which was great because it meant I met other people who were interested in things other than clubbing. I went to table tennis, Scottish dance, Scouts, gardening, tennis, the economics society and the book club to name a few and I really enjoyed them, meeting new people at each. Even if we didn't remain friends, it was just nice to learn a few names and to have people to smile at in the corridors or sit with in lectures. In fact the event where I met the two friends I'm now closest to was a board games event that I only went to because a friend from school suggested we meet there - just goes to show that you should go to everything you can, just in case the right people happen to be there!

Over the weekend I also discovered the freshers events put on by the student halls of residence. On Saturday night I went to a ceilidh which was really fun and I met a lovely group of international people. There were free pancakes and I went next door to the bar with them afterwards - once again, a group of people who didn't want to go out clubbing on a Saturday night. We arranged to meet again the following night for a ghost tour. I finally started to feel like I fitted in and I realised that there are actually quite a lot of people who don't just want to drink.

So that was my freshers week. It started out a little rough but we got there in the end. My advice would be to try everything you can - you're not gonna make friends by sitting in your room feeling sorry for yourself. Some people get lucky and get on really well with their flatmates but if you don't then it's not the end of the world. If you don't want to drink then look for alternative evening events, chances are there is something else on and you're more likely to meet like-minded people. Don't give up if you don't find "your people" in the first week - there are thousands of students in one small area, there is someone here for everyone and freshers isn't gonna make or break your university career.

#freshers #university