Here’s all the types of people you’ll meet at Exeter Uni during your first term

As you anticipate your new beginnings of venturing into the University of Exeter, your mind wonders to all sorts of questions as a fresher. “Will I make friends?”, “What if I don’t get on with my flatmates?”, “What if I get lost on my first day?” and, “How do I do my laundry?” It is perfectly normal to feel nervous and have all these burning questions about university life, as it is the people who you meet that will support you, annoy you, or make you question how they got into uni in the first place!

The people you meet come with a large variation to say the least. From the sporty, strong, athletic people who always seem to have a protein shake in hand, to the desperate, eager, feral club rats that cannot go a week without their Venom fix! Your first semester at uni will be a whirlwind of emotions as you settle into your new space and soak up the “Exetah” life. So, here’s a list of all the types of people you will (undoubtedly) meet in your first term at Exeter. You must have met these people already, or if not, you will definitely encounter them in your second term.

1. The “rah rah Exetah” stereotype

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Exeter is notoriously known for its “Rah” stereotype. Perhaps, you’re a fresher who has been searching up Exeter uni on Tik Tok, Youtube, Instagram etc. to prepare yourself for what Exeter life is like. No doubt you have seen comedic skits of the Exeter mannerisms of the vocal fry, wearing Signet rings and beginning each sentence with “rahhh”. By now, you have been to the Forum multiple times and seen the flood of Tom Trunks with Iets Frans gilets, accompanied with a Lost Mary in hand as they croak out, yet another, “Yahhh” and elongate each syllable that comes out of their mouth.

Unfortunately, these stereotypes are true and not a joke. Exeter students are infamous for their clichés and stand by their well-known image. We don’t know where it came from or how it began, but the “rah Exetah” people will always spawn and multiply out of nowhere. You might have eavesdropped on some conversations and mistaken their voices for someone who has been diagnosed with tuberculosis. If you have acquainted a “Rah Exetah” person, you will notice their habits and how they love to splash out on the best of the best! Whether that’s doing their food shopping at Waitrose or always showing up to pres with the finest chardonnay or prosecco. This person loves the best quality of things. You have most definitely met a Minty who thinks this tune is “dutty” from Surrey (but she insists she’s from London). Soon, you’ll probably adopt the “Exetah” look and will catch yourself slipping out an occasional “rahhhh where’s my baccy?” Exeter changes people.

2. The person with zero house skills

You’ve moved into your first-year uni halls, which has been thoroughly cleaned prior to your arrival. Your mum has supplied you with endless amounts of Scrub Daddies, Marigolds and anti-bac spray. You have acquired some cooking skills over the summer to prepare yourself for daily cooking. The first week is fine, the kitchen is still intact, and you haven’t set off any fire alarms just yet. As you grow closer to your fellow flatmates, you start to pick up on their habits, and you’ll definitely begin to notice a *certain* flatmate does not clean up after themselves, does not wash their dishes, and does not throw away their rubbish.

Sadly, not everyone is as tidy as you hope they would be. This person does not know how to clean or cook and has been living off Pot Noodles and Deliveroo for the whole of first term. The most cooking they have done is reheating their kebab from the night before and the most cleaning they have done is splashing a bit of water on their used spoon. It can become frustrating constantly cleaning up after this person, and others may become lenient to join the lazier way of life. It happens. Your bins will become a mountain of Domino’s pizza boxes and other, ungodly amounts of uneaten pasta before they learn the basics of hygiene.

3. The ‘vampire’

As you become more familiar with your fellow flatmates, you start to notice their routines and habits. Particularly, if they are an early bird who enjoys making the most of their mornings and having the whole day done by 12pm. Or, if they are a night owl, who prefers to start their day around 4pm and use their academic fuel to crack out 2000 words due at midnight. Everyone is different and enjoys using their time to what way suits them!

However, the category of the “vampire”, takes the usual ‘night owl’ to a whole other level. The “vampire” is the person you never see during the day and only at night. By the time you are settling into your bed, ready to watch your new favourite Netflix series, the “vampire”s’ day has just begun. This person has the most energy as soon as the sun sets, and the moon rises. You may have stumbled upon them after a Fever Monday, and drunkenly see them bright-eyed and bushy tailed as they are making their way down to the circuit laundry room. This person is always MIA during the day and is only alive at night. When you hear clanks of the frying pan, sizzling of bacon and commotion in the kitchen at 2am, you can guarantee it is this person. You’re not sure how they do it, but, hey, each to their own, I guess.

4. The ‘one hit wonder’

The “one hit wonder” is the person you only seen once and never again. They just vanish off the face of the earth. You begin to wonder, what happened to them? Are they still in uni? Are they doing okay? They become your version of the ‘Roman Empire’. You most likely met this person in Freshers’ Week, and asked each other: “What’s your name?”, “What course are you on?”, “What halls are you in?”. This person may have shown up to a flat party you were at, but they live in a completely different accommodation to you, or they may live in the same block as you, but you never seem to cross paths. Perhaps, the “one hit wonder” person to you is the person you met on a night out. You befriended them in the TP toilets, told each other that you love their outfit, exchanged Snapchats and never saw them again. Now, you just see their Snapchat stories from time-to-time and begin to wonder, where are they now?

Alternatively, the “one hit wonder” can apply to a flatmate. This flatmate (almost like the “vampire”) is never to be seen. Somehow, you can go for weeks or months without seeing them and when you do, it’s a shock to the system, and you forget they also live here. The “one hit wonder” flatmate differs from the “vampire”. Although the “vampire” only appears at night, the “one hit wonder” is only to be seen once in a blue moon! By the end of your first year, you most likely have seen this person a total of three times. Either way, the “one hit wonder” is usually never forgotten, but when they cross your mind, you do wonder where they vanished to.

5. The party animal

Now, at uni, it is hard to say “no” to a night out, especially if it’s the beloved TP Wednesday although a lot of us cannot hack more than two nights in a row or only settle for one night out a week. The ‘party animal’ is the person that you KNOW is already planning where they are going tonight. They have already scavenged the whole of Overheard for a last-minute ticket, they are already messaging the group chats about ‘who’s coming out tonight?’ and they most definitely will secure an afters in the smoking area somehow.

The “party animal”s’ version of days of the week are seen as: Fever Monday, Cheesy Tuesday, TP Wednesday, Dirty Beat Thursday, Sketch Friday, Cavern Saturday and, most likely, Vaults Sunday. They cannot resist the temptation of dancing the night away and making drunken mistakes. If none of your friends can handle another night out, you can ALWAYS rely on this person to provide you with a good night. They can never say ‘no’ to a drink and always seem to let loose, but never care about embarrassing themselves. They don’t fear hangxiety, hangxiety fears them!

6. The person you met in Freshers’ and hasn’t left your side since

At uni, you tend to form a close bond pretty quickly with the people you meet along the way due to homesickness, loneliness, and getting used to a new environment. In Freshers’, you are guaranteed to make friends almost immediately as everyone is in the same boat. Throughout your first term, you tend to grow closer to some more than others, which is perfectly natural. However, (speaking from experience) you tend to have that one friend you met in freshers and have been attached at the hip ever since!

Whether it is a flatmate, a course mate or someone you met on a whim, you and this person are constantly texting, constantly laughing and constantly together. You could spend the whole day with this person, but the second you leave each other’s side, you miss them straight away and can’t wait to see them again (even if they only live down the hall). Speaking as a third year, I have definitely made best friends from Freshers’ and cannot seem to shake them off ever since – wouldn’t know where I’d be without them!

7. The gym rat

The University of Exeter is known for its beloved sports and societies. The uni is flooded with rugby boys with mullets and their questionable initiations. In your first term, you are most likely to meet these sport-obsessed people. The ‘gym rat’ is the person you have met that is just a little too addicted to the gym.

Their weekly food shop consists of chicken, creatine, and protein powder. Their clothes are only for the gym or GymShark hoodies and tracksuits. If this person is on a night out, you can guarantee they are going to flex their muscles as a party trick to others who really aren’t interested or turn on their Apple Watch to check their steps after a TP Wednesday. And for those that are proper, extreme “gym rats”, they will most likely end up in PureGym after a night out and use all those Jägerbombs as a pre-workout to hit a new PR. Either way, you know this person is always at the gym or on a drinking ban as part of preparation for their next game/competition.

8. The academic weapon

At uni, it is important for us to be studious and work hard. But this person takes that to a whole new level. In first year, it is common for many to be more unserious and see it as “uni” rather than “university”. Most students are very likely to not attend their 9am lectures or seminars due to a hangover from the night before. But this person always manages to show up and is ready to learn.

Regardless of if they have been out the night before or not, they will show up for their lectures and seminars. Even if they went to bed at 4am, they will be there in the morning to make sure they are not behind on any kind of work. This is not necessarily a bad thing; you just applaud them for their consistency and commitment! However, the “academic weapon” may struggle to come out of this hardworking mindset and may treat pres as more of a business meeting rather than a time to relax as they discuss an upcoming essay they have or bring up a task you have not even started yet.

9. The social butterfly

Finally, the “social butterfly” is someone who is extremely extroverted and (as the name suggests) loves to socialise! If you are a nervous, shy fresher worried about not making any friends in your first term, you would be lucky to come across a “social butterfly”. If you are sat next to this person in a lecture or seminar, undoubtedly, by the end, you two will become besties. They will always approach you with a smile and a warm, welcoming hug which makes you feel so at ease – especially when your first term can be so daunting at times.

The “social butterfly” can be one of the best people you will meet at uni. They love to make more and more friends, which, in turn, allows you to make more friends as they will introduce you to other people. They are always up for social events, always up for a conversation and always have their calendar full of outings and events. This person may also become a BNOC (Big Name on Campus) due to their large pool of friendships: You and the “social butterfly” cannot make it from the Forum to Queens without being stopped every five seconds as they bump into a person they know. This person is recognized by everyone and anyone every time you are with them. You could be food shopping with this person, and they will see someone they know. Or, just having a coffee date with them and your conversation will be interrupted by a person coming over to say: “Hello”. At times, it may be annoying that your friend is so ‘popular’, but you can’t blame them. They are a ‘social butterfly’ after all.

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• Here’s a complete and definitive ranking of every Venom flavour on offer in TP
• There’s a new society on Exeter campus: Here’s everything you need to know about AngelSoc