Are you a Lancaster University fresher? Here’s what current students think you should know

There’s no denying it, moving to a brand new city and starting your degree can be terrifying. But you’ve also got to remember, that when you start, there’s a whole load of people on campus who have already done it and lived to tell the tale, so it really can’t be all that bad.

But we still thought we’d help you out a bit to ease some of those freshers nerves, so we asked the second years and above what advice they would give the incoming first years, and here’s what they had to say.

‘Talk to people in your intro lectures, it’s a great way of making friends’

It’s your first day of classes. You don’t know a soul on your course. You walk in, sit down, and the person next to you introduces themselves. Please, be that person.

Who knows, you may have more classes, together, and you may have just made a friend for life.

‘Try new societies but don’t forget to balance your time with academia and mental health’

Going to Freshers’ Fair and signing up for every single society that looks interesting is great fun, and one way to make friends, but if your degree takes a slide as a result? That’s maybe not the best idea.

‘Get out there and involved in things that may feel ‘cringey’ – it’s worth it’

You want to try a hobby that you never would have dared try at home for fear of your friends laughing at you? You’re now the littlest fish in the biggest pond, and no one knows you.

It doesn’t matter that you’ve never, ever done yoga before, YogaSoc are still going to have you along happily.

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You could learn to love going to the gym, even if you’ve never been before. Maybe Magic and Circus is where you’ll meet your best friends. Embrace it.

‘Go to everything even if you don’t have someone to go with! It’s scary but worth it!’

And chances are, there will be someone else there who has also gone by themself, and you can team up and meet someone else new. It’s a win all round at that point!

‘Do not skip lectures! Recordings will not save you!’

Anyone who lived through the COVID-19 pandemic whilst being subjected to the education system has some semblance of reliance on recordings.

However, freshers have not had the joys of experiencing the audio quality of Lancaster University. For the pain of dragging yourself out of bed for a 9am lecture, it really is worth it for your degree.

‘Don’t feel pressure to drink! You can stay sober and still have plenty of fun’

Lancaster has a fantastic range of activities that don’t revolve around drinking in Freshers’ Week, so please, do not feel any pressure to lean towards alcohol if you do not want to!

‘Get a warm waterproof jacket, umbrellas are useless in the wind’

Alright you Southerners, this one is for you, listen up.

You’re coming up north, and that means the weather is about to get much, and unexpectedly, worse. Please, please, please. Bring a coat. It will rain at least three days a week. We don’t need to be sitting next to you, soggy and complaining, in all of our seminars.

‘Explore campus! It’s a beautiful place, with tons of cool stuff on the woodland walks’

Being a campus university just outside the city means that we can take advantage of the gorgeous rural landscape around us.

You can walk gown into Ellel and Galgate if you have a spare afternoon, spend some time along the canal in the city, or stretch your legs in between study sessions around the Woodland Walk, where, if you are very quiet, you are almost certain to see a rabbit.

‘Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. And washing clothes on a Sunday is chaos!’

Washing clothes on a Sunday, one could argue, is the one mistake that you shouldn’t make, unless you want to be stuck waiting around for Circuit Laundry into perpetuity.

‘Don’t panic, pack light and you’ll be fine’

And the final piece of advice, and perhaps the most important one. Lancaster’s term starts very late in comparison to many other universities in the country, so most of your friends from home will already have moved away, had their Freshers’ Weeks, and you’ll have heard the stories – good and bad – and be either super chill, packing madly or in absolute panic mode.

There is no need to be. You’ve got time, there’s nothing you can do to speed up time until you get there, so sit back, enjoy your last few days at home, and get ready for the best few years of your life.

Want to write articles like this? The Lancaster Tab is currently looking for current and future Lancaster students to join our writing team! We’re holding an open meeting on Tuesday 8th October at 6.30pm in the Harpley Lounge (upstairs in Pendle Brew). Message us on our Instagram for more info.

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