Everything you should probably do this term if you’re a fresher

Your month-long chill out filled with pigs in blankets is over. The comfort of the holidays has subsided and that tingly feeling you have in your stomach is not all the free food you’ve eaten – it’s reality kicking in. It’s no longer “new year, new me” but “new year, new debt, wearing all your clothes to bed and new increased chances of alcoholism”.

Okay, this is all a bit negative, but it can be difficult to get back into the swing of things after a break. Here are ten pieces of advice that I wish someone had told me when I was in first year.

Tell someone you’re struggling

This seems stupidly obvious, but I kept in how uneasy I felt about the whole ‘uni thing’ for a good few months. This ended badly in multiple mental break-downs, a tonne of binge drinking, and almost dropping out altogether. Oh, and I downloaded SkyBet – I’m sure it’s linked.

The binge drinker’s nirvana…

Make your new uni room homely

You don’t need to turn your flat into a shrine of your favourite artist, or to paint your entire room your favourite colour. That’s unrealistic. Not that I haven’t seen it happen…

Decorating your room can make that little difference

Make plans for when you’re back at uni

A shopping trip to Meadowhall, a pub night, a night out, even a trip to Cosco has potential to be cool. Anything. Having something to look forward to when your unsure of everything else makes a big difference.

Put effort into new friendships

Although it may feel weird and something you did in primary school, trying to strengthen friendships benefits you when coming back to uni after a break. You feel like your coming back to a group of people, instead of leaving one. You look forward to telling them the latest gossip and drinking their badly-made cups of tea.

Don’t be too hard on yourself

OK, so you’re finding the work load at uni harder to deal with than you expected or think you’re capable of. Well firstly, you are capable or else you wouldn’t have gotten into uni in the first place. But if it gets unbearable, there’s help all around you, like student support services.

Buy a heater

It might burn your house down, it may run up your bills a little if you leave it on all night, but getting out of bed for that 9am in Arctic conditions is the worst.

The relationship between a student and their portable heater is life-long x

Do some exercise

Doing exercise is probably one of the best tips. Whether it’s going for a run or joining a crappy gym, moving around and making your heart beat faster not only makes you look good, but you feel good after doing it. Experts even says it lowers levels of depression and anxiety and “boosts” your sex life. It’s a win-win.

Try to eat well

As cliché as it sounds, you really are what you eat. If you’re eating shit, there’s a good chance you’ll start to feel shit too. You don’t ned to become an Instagram food blogger and post ‘healthies’ of mush plastered with ‘#inspo’, but try to cut out food that’s clearly bad for you. Spend that extra 15 minutes or that extra two quid on something your body wants inside it.

Red cabbage really isn’t as evil as it looks. (And yes, the stick makes all the difference)

Do things you love to do

Doing a hobby or activity you enjoy makes you happy. Getting round to joining that rugby club or buying that canvas set can sometimes seem harder than it is. In the words of Nike, just do it.

Remember that everybody feels pretty uneasy or at least a bit overwhelmed when going back to uni. No matter how much someone seems to have their life together, there’s a good chance they don’t and have had the “oh shit…” thought at some point this week.

Happy second term!