Second and third years share their top tips on how to cope with Freshers’ Week

Freshers' is your first taste of uni life, with new people in a new place and a whole lot of alcohol. It's an experience that can define you… Or make you ill for the rest of the term (cue; the coughing breaks during lectures). It can be a time where you meet your best friends for life, or alternatively learn who to avoid for the rest of your life. Hear about the highs and lows from those who've been there, done that and wish they could do it all over again.

Jean-Luke, Computer Science

High: Being dressed in a camel costume the whole corridor had spent three hours making. It was a great team-building exercise.

Low: Basshunter played shit music and gave shit life advice on the first night. Telling freshers that they 'don't need to go to uni to be successful' isn't something they want to hear just before they start their degree…

Advice: Get enough sleep. Midday naps are the way to go.

Hannah, PPE

High: The whole fucking thing.

Low: I got cornered in Market Square by a 30 year old local and had to be rescued by a FREP.

Advice: If somebody is forcing you to drink don't feel pressured into doing it, otherwise you will chunder on yourself.

Natalie, Liberal Arts

Low: Having a guy tell me that 'we might as well get off cause it's freshers'. What a gentleman.

High: I came second in the dance show at our freshers' icebreaker gameshow and toppled offstage out of a mixture of excitement and alcohol.

Advice: Sleep is the answer. Nap at any chance you can get and you'll survive.

Kyle, Biomedical Sciences

Low: Not knowing the town at all, even though it's fairly hard to get lost in Durham.

High: There are so many social events to go to and so many new people. Get involved.

Advice: Try and stay safe- avoid the river after a night out. And do a pre-order with Asda for the essentials (like copious amounts of wine and Dettol wipes).

Kesia, Archaeology and Anthropology

Low: As fun as I found freshers' the worst point was the first night, lying in the corner of a room which wasn't the place I'd known or lived in since I was two. That's when the realisation hit that my parents were 200 miles away.

High: Klute.

Other than that getting to know the people on my corridor and realising I actually liked them was a high point for me. And you can't really go wrong with fancy dress for 7 days- there's no such thing as over the top.

Advice: Bring cake and a doorstop on the first day. Food is the best conversation starter and way to make friends. Make sure to be yourself, everyone's in the same boat!

Helen, English Lit

Low: I broke my hand at the start of freshers' week. Never a good idea.

High: We had an icebreaker gameshow one night in college where the seats filled up pretty quickly so we sat on ledges on the walls with our pints and danced, it was pretty good fun.

Advice: Bear in mind that whilst forcing your whole corridor to go to A&E with you is a great bonding exercise, it's also pretty painful. Take care of your limbs.

Alex, Modern Languages and Cultures

Low: Falling asleep in the corridor after a night out only to wake up in a sombrero and poncho the next day.

High: Meeting so many new people was probably my favourite part.

Advice: Even if you come to uni with school friends, give yourself some space from them and make some new (maybe better) ones. Don't, however, buy drinks for everyone you've met so far on the second night, it's expensive (save your student loan for later).

Charlotte, Biology

High: I met a lot of the people that I then became really good friends with in the first week.

Low: The induction talks at 9am were a killer after a night out, not great for a hangover.

Advice: Try and get involved, but don't feel like you have to do every  single freshers' event if you aren't feeling it.