Here’s exactly how to do second semester at Leeds University the right way

Freshers’ Week is one of the most anticipated, widely spoken-about and hyped up periods of your entire uni career. While it’s certainly a rollercoaster, people tend to forget all about its poor, neglected sibling, Refreshers Week.

In my humble opinion, the start of a new semester is just as exciting as the start of uni itself. Unlike in Freshers’ Week, campus doesn’t feel like a gigantic maze, you don’t have to awkwardly introduce yourself to new flatmates, and you’ve (hopefully) already gotten the hang of Leeds Harvard referencing.

Most importantly, it’s full of endless opportunities to make sure semester two is the time of your life. So here’s how to make sure you’re doing Leeds University semester two the right way.

Join a new society

Don’t worry if you skipped out on joining a society in first semester because you were bedridden with freshers’ flu. At the start of second semester, almost all societies will organise a second-semester “give it a go” for those who still want to join a new society halfway through the year.

If you’ve always wanted to try your hand at Warhammer, or rekindle your secondary school passion for netball, there’s no time like the present. You could find a new talent, make friends or life or even just discover a way to fill the gaps between your lectures and nights out.

Stay open to making new friends

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It’s never too late to expand your social circle. During Refreshers’ Week, lots of people fall into the trap of settling back into their pre-existing friendships from semester one and forgetting to invest time into forming new ones.

If you get chatting to the girl next to you in your new seminar group and hit it off, don’t hesitate to ask her if she’d want to go for a coffee afterwards. You never know where it might lead; as I write this, I’m currently sitting in the living room with two girls who I met through doing just that.

Switch things up

As exciting as uni is, the routine of cycling between lecture halls, Eddy B and Warehouse can easily get monotonous, especially during the darker months at the beginning of semester two.

Instead of going to the same pubs, club nights and study spots as you did in first semester, try something different. Leeds is a huge city full of countless cool places, and finding new favourites will keep things exciting.

Build healthy habits

In first semester, your diet, sleep schedule and general wellbeing often fall to the wayside in favour of drinking your bodyweight in VKs three nights a week and waking up when it’s already dark.

Second semester is your chance to start establishing healthy habits. It can be as small as waking up ten minutes earlier to make sure you have time to eat breakfast, or reading before bed instead of doomscrolling. By the end of the uni year, you’ll feel like a brand new person. 

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