What Freshers’ Week in Leicester teaches you

The fun of Freshers’ fortnight has finished, you’re slowly letting the reading and seminar work pile up next to the mountain of dirty plates in your room. Attempting to ignore those 9am’s and still go out on the sesh, you start to wonder about all those awkward encounters you had whilst drunk. Some you remember, others you hope are just dreams, and pray that they don’t eat in the GMS dining hall or have a similar time table to you. Imagine sitting across from that guy whose shoes you vommed on after he bought you some chips outside the O2 in a 9am seminar. Traumatic.

You learn a lot about yourself and others during Freshers’, some things you wish you hadn’t.

Nobody wears heels in Leicester

Ditching your trusted chunky black heels for the O2 was the best decision you’d made all year. What’s the point in wearing them? Your feet get swollen and you end up looking taller than half the guys in the club. Just wear your comfortable Converse.

You have a million numbers in your phonebook that you’ll never ring again

Let’s be honest, it’s rare to make true friends over Freshers’. You could try to call them acquaintances, but even that might be pushing your luck. You added them on Facebook after you found out that they live in the same town as you, but this is slowly followed by being unsure if you should wave at them on campus or keep your head down and avoid all eye contact. It’s usually the latter.

Ratcliffe Road is the best place to get off the bus if you need to vom 

Just trust me here.

Once Freshers’ has ended, adult life begins fully

Having to make dinner on the regular whilst keeping up with your social life, university work, daily squad trips to ASDA and still look like you have your shit together, starts to become pretty stressful.

And you realise how expensive cheese is

You start to notice adult things like the price of cheese and how expensive it is, how as a flat you basically live in filth until the cleaners come and have a gossip in your kitchen.

Alcohol isn’t always your friend

You start to realise how fat uni is making you. With the amount of carbs you’re eating (pasta for life), the cheap vodka bottles and the late night Domino’s orders you’ve made over freshers, you’re not quite fitting into your A Levels results night dress anymore. Expect comments. You’ll return home for Christmas 100 pounds heavier and looking “healthier”. In this case, university is definitely teaching you the lesson of weight gain.

However, you soon learn that alcohol is really the only way to socialise, let’s be honest.

You will be skint

The same things that are making you fat, as well as giving you a sudden confidence boost, are also making you poor. You avoid looking into your bank account out of fear of how much you’ve spent on vintage clothing and new trainers to be accepted by your new friends and flatmates, even if you do have to live off instant noodles and two week old mash afterwards.

Unfortunately unlike some students you can’t always be flashing the cash and buying Ciroc in Gucci loafers.

You’ll get fed up of people telling you ‘it’s only first year, it doesn’t count’

Yeah, we get it.

There’s no other experience like being a first year in Leicester. Those experiences will stay with you for life (if you can remember them), those awkward encounters, chanting on the party bus, and going into your 9am lecture the next day on zero sleep are all part of the package. Before you know it, you’ll be a bitter, grown up third year wanting to relive those crap moments. Enjoy getting off the bus on Ratcliffe road to vomit whilst you can.