Flashback to Freshers: what I would do differently

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As I arrive at the end of my first year of university, I cannot help but reminisce upon the good, the bad, and the (vodka generated) ugly. Whilst Newcastle has provided me with an incredible first year, there have definitely been highs and lows. No experience can be perfect, and upon reflection, here are things I would do differently, given the time again:

I wouldn’t have bought a Fresher’s Week wristband.

No matter how great the Union says they are, or how much pressure you feel from other new kids who bought theirs way back in August, the wristband is simply not worth the sixty-odd pounds you shell out for it. Yes, there are some cool daytime activities, but if you’re doing Fresher’s Week correctly you’ll be too hungover anyway, and you’ll definitely have more fun if you go out with your new mates to different places. Basshunter’s 30-minute stint in Tiger Tiger wasn’t worth the hype, believe me.

I would have managed money better in the first semester

Nothing can quite describe how spend-happy a new student becomes after the first instalment of their student loan arrives. Another feeling which is just as incomparable but in a much more depressing sense is the first time you hit the overdraft, which happened far too early on in my case. The slightly crushing sense of failure and the feeling that a “proper adult” wouldn’t be so useless with money, coupled with the bizarre meals one must eat in order to survive (in my case balls of mozzarella, 43 pence from Aldi) is almost indescribable.

I would have been more realistic about my experience

It’s very easy when in Upper Sixth to glorify the idea of university in your mind. The idea of something better becomes the only antidote to the horrors of high school (which never lived up to the “High School Musical” hype); and therefore, once you arrive there can be an anticlimax. It’s so important to remember that not every moment can be perfect, and that the more you build up unrealistic expectations, the worse reality will feel.

I wouldn’t have signed a housing contract so quickly

Everyone wants to live in Jesmond in their second year, and while it’s true that competition can be fierce, entering into a contract in November simply isn’t necessary. I got lucky, and my housemates are great, but one of our housemates to be ended up leaving at Christmas, which wasn’t ideal. To lessen the risk of fall-outs, drop-outs and potentially dodgy housing contracts, wait until after the Christmas holidays. It will be worth it in the end.

I would have gone to more lectures

The brand new, never before experienced freedom of having no adults around to force you to work is fatal when it comes to motivation. The temptation of day time TV won far too many times over attending lectures and seminars, which left me kicking myself when it came to revision.

I would have beaten the pressure to go out

Sure, going out every night seems like a great idea. Everyone knows that the uni experience is incomplete without a few drunken nights, but I was shocked at the amount of pressure to hit the clubs every night of the week. Shaming people for not wanting to do what you want to is never nice, and I wish I had ignored the haters and only gone out when I wanted to. I would’ve enjoyed myself more, and could’ve finished more Netflix categories. Win Win.

I would’ve been braver and joined more societies

Heading to meetings alone in the first few weeks was far too terrifying a prospect for me to join clubs. Although I joined a couple, I know I missed out on making friends outside my course and accommodation by chickening out of joining more. A further regret is not sticking to societies; the lure of half price drinks at Revs and cool trips wasn’t motivation enough for me (lazy as I am) to attend regular meetings for several societies, now I wish I had stuck with them.

Members of the shooting society