These are the top 10 things you’re most likely to do as a Notts Fresher

Some of these are actual cannon events…

7 months ago

Freshers’ Week is finally amongst us, where you will be thrown in the deep end of uni life and experience a whole host of exciting things. From moving away from home and meeting so many incredible people, it will usually be the most crazy week of your university experience.

Despite the obvious fun of Freshers’ Week, it can be an anxiety-inducing experience. It’s totally okay if your Freshers’ experience isn’t the best time of your whole life, after all that’s a lot of expectation to live up to. It’s different for everyone and let’s be honest its only one week out of many.

What we can guarantee is that you will experience, every single one of these things during Freshers’. No matter how hard you try you simply cannot escape these canon events, so don’t worry if you’ve ever experienced any of these 10 things as you can bet that every other Notts fresher has as well.

1. Get totally ripped off for event wristbands

This often happens before you’ve even set foot in your new uni. Caused by the intense fear of missing out that clouds our best judgements, countless people are drawn into spending their hard-earned cash on wristbands promising all sorts of fresher fantasies such as free entries and exclusive club nights.

2. Fear of missing out

Fear of missing out or FOMO, is probably the most commonly shared experience in Freshers’ Week. When everyone you know is going out and making friends every day it can be very hard to say no to plans. My housemate has described it as “a gut-wrenching experience, only second to the sad bits in the Barbie movie.” My other housemate said “fairs, accurate.”

3. You will talk to people you’ll never talk to again

It comes naturally to some but to others, small talk can often feel like a plague to humanity, an impassable barrier guarding the worthwhile conversations that bring people together. Unfortunately for the latter of you, small talk is everywhere in freshers but in this case, it isn’t so bad. It’s so important to talk to everyone you can even if you never talk to those people ever again. Push yourself if you can, and talk to people that you might not initially think you’ll get on with, I promise it’ll be worth the effort when you inevitably find your people.

4. You won’t remember anyone’s names

With the barrage of small talk coming your way will also come the inability to remember anyone’s name or anything about them. The sheer number of people you’ll cross paths with means that it becomes a challenge to even remember names. Don’t worry about it and don’t feel guilty for asking again, it happens to everyone literally all the time.

You’ll also get asked the same questions over and over again, getting asked what you study and where you’re from incessantly around campus in the first few weeks and it can be a little infuriating. Just remember that it’s part of the process and everyone just wants to make friends.

5. Get drunk on your newfound freedom

You’d be greatly mistaken to think that alcohol is the only intoxicating thing about Freshers’. It’s certainly not everyone who experiences this but you’ll definitely meet a few people who have never had the freedom that they have at university. As you can imagine this leads to various things but to name the biggest, just generally overdoing it a bit on nights out. Although Freshers’ Week often can be a period of hedonism and excess, some will do well to remember that they have three years of the exact same freedom, so maybe best to spread out the nights spent in Queens Medical Centre?

6. Freshers’ Flu

Don’t even try to avoid it. In a bubble of thousands of 18/19-year-olds who don’t care about basic nutrition and the recommended weekly alcohol intake is it any wonder that everyone gets ill? Within a few days of Freshers’, most are encountered by the age-old choice: Power through illness and go out anyway or try and get well by staying in. Whichever road you take, I fear the outcome remains the same, an inevitable on-and-off cold that lasts until the Christmas holidays when you’re finally able to break the chain. No advice can save you from the inevitable but some painkillers will feel like a godsend at times.

7. Take the tram clubbing

The best part about clubbing early on in the year is definitely laughing at drunk people falling over every time the tram stops or watching show-offs trying to do pull-ups on the tram only to be confronted by the faceplant in front of everyone. Whichever of these you prefer is immaterial as they’ll both be rife as you take the tram to Nottingham City Centre for the first of many a night-time odyssey.

8. Get lost, multiple times

University Park is swamped with beautiful, but at times, inaccessible buildings. Whether it’s the labyrinthine corridors of the Trent building stopping you from being on time or the mountainous climb up Monica Partridge stairs as you sweat out the last of your hangover, you’re sure to get a bit lost at first. Don’t be too hard on yourself though, I know third-years who still have no idea where anything on campus is.

9. Spend all your money and have no clue where it went

A mix of newly economically free 18-year-olds and more socially encouraged drinking than ever experienced before will always end with a few people skirting dangerously close to their overdraft. I wouldn’t worry too much, no one will ever be worse than my anonymous housemate who was in the overdraft within three days.

10. Go to every single lecture

At the start of their university experience, everyone goes to all of their lectures, even the induction ones. Unfortunately, this doesn’t last as the majority quickly realise that 9am lectures are “not a vibe” and that catching a few more hours of that sweet, sweet beauty sleep is far more important. Can’t blame them, to be honest.