Five ways to spot a Lincoln fresher … as a Lincoln fresher

Us freshers do things differently than the students, you wouldn’t catch a second or third year dead wearing their lanyard

6 months ago | UPDATED 5 months ago

Emily Foster

Guides
LINCOLN

Even as a fresher at the University of Lincoln, it’s still obvious that we freshers are doing things that make us stand out from the older years. Here are a few of those things I have noticed while walking around campus and while on my own nights out.

Lanyards all the time

I admit, I was one of the freshers who would wear her lanyard everywhere she went around campus. But you almost never see a non-fresher wear their lanyard, it is convenient sometimes especially when you are near your accommodation such as the Lincoln Courts, or when you are coming back from a night out as it does save you doing a scavenger hunt through pockets and bags for it. All the keys on the lanyard, student card, accommodation card etc, you can hear the jingle jangle from the other end of campus.

Getting dressed up for lectures and seminars

I know, we all want to look our best, especially us freshers (there was no need for the bow tie). But in reality, all that matters about our outfit is that it’s comfortable. There is no need to have organised a cute outfit for a one-hour lecture or seminar, instead of taking hours to design the perfect outfit for the day. Freshers could spend it doing reading for the lecture/seminar or laying in bed like I am sure most of us would want to do more especially when we have a 9am. Plus if you use Circuit Laundry, you don’t want to be using it over twice a week (it is pricey) so laid-back and casual clothing is so much better as you can re-wear a shirt or two.

Wearing heels on night outs

I know, it is very tempting to wear those cute heels on a night out, especially to a part/event at the hottest clubs around. But your ankles will not thank you in the slightest, especially if those heels have the heel the thickness of the average pencil. Blistered heels are the painful learning curve that quite a few freshers will have to endure in order to learn that trainers are 100 per cent the way to go, as no one wants to be walking back home with their shoes in their hands to the pain. Also being very drunk in heels is a recipe for disaster, especially when stairs are going to be involved in the walk home, no one wants to fall down or even up the stairs at 3am.

Going to McDonalds after a night out

I will admit, having chicken nuggets at 1am hits way different than chicken nuggets at 1pm and after a good few double vodkas down at the club, they taste like absolute heaven. But McDonalds is not always the cheapest option to go to especially at night, sometimes it is better to go straight back home and cook if you are not that intoxicated. Plus there are so many more options to go for food, especially before a night out because trust me you want to be able to remember the night. There is Hunters Kebab which is closer to most of the clubs in Lincoln as it is a short walk from almost every club in the town centre. It shuts in the early morning around 4am and most freshers probably walk past it unknown to the fact it is a rather nice place to fulfil the alcoholic munchies. There is also Pizza Corner which is slightly out of the way of the clubs but the price for pizza and kebabs there makes the walk totally worth it.

Drinking VK’s or other alcopops like hard alcohol

Amazingly this does happen, I have been there too as a baby lightweight. They are sometimes inexpensive and come in very nice flavours but it isn’t vodka, it is basically fruit juice. For the price of a VK at some clubs you could get a pint or larger or cider, and some really good cider I must add. If you are having pre-drinks, I could see the appeal of the good ol’ alcopop. Boasting about drinking multiple VKs and not feeling drunk is honestly such a fresher thing to do as they are literally four per cent. Still, to be fair most ciders you see people (especially freshers) drink are around that percentage.