Everything I have learnt as a Sheffield fresher in 2018

Coming from a town just outside of Manchester was a lovely little upbringing, the suburban life treated me more than kindly. But I was excited to move into an actual city, a dreamy place where takeaways can reach you in much less than the usual 45 mins and the nearest club is a three minute walk.

Yes, I may have only been here three weeks but being a fresher in Sheffield has taught me a LOT…

Uber Eats and Deliveroo

Let's start with the basics, or at least with what seems like the basics to city residents, but to me was an absolute revelation. Sat from the comfort of my halls watching the map intently, as my rider got closer and closer with my food. I had barely sat down and stuck on a catch-up episode of The Circle and my food was here, and still warm?! Amazing. Thank you Nazir the driver and thank you Sheffield, just please don't ask me how many times I have ordered… (it's seven, I'm a mess)

Being extremely over prepared

If I could go back to three weeks ago and tell myself that I didn't need to buy absolutely everything and that we would probably end up sharing everything as a flat…I would. Maybe that way we wouldn't have ended up with 5 washing up liquids for a 5 person flat.

Mine is the mega pack of course

Yorkshire Tea

Being over prepared does have its perks however because as a flat, collectively we have 4 boxes of the one and only Yorkshire Tea. To be honest, in Sheffield if you have any other tea than the Yorkshire variety you may as well move back home to think about your life and your terrible, terrible decisions. Seriously, go.

We've even got southerner Sharn drinking it

Cooking is much harder than it looks

Shoutout to my grandma (love you Eileen) for making cooking lasagne look like the easiest thing in the world. It's not. In fact, nothing is. I really thought I would be alright at cooking, but it is three weeks in and I've eaten 15 packets of Supernoodles and the most adventurous thing I have cooked is curry from a jar. Even then I almost forgot the chicken. Not to even mention the fact that I really had to best intentions of using my smoothie maker but alas it remains untouched. I came to uni thinking I'd be batch cooking in Freshers' Week, it just doesn't happen. To be honest, I don't think any uni student is exactly a Jamie Oliver health dream anyway.

Who tf cooks an egg in the bloody oven?

West Street is the best street

It really and truly is. West Street is a truly diverse and versatile experience, but I can't lie to you. The reason you will find me on West Street is for a five pound round from Tiger Works. It is a beautiful and magical deal that gets you just that extra bit messy before carrying on to spend £7+ in Bierkeller just down the road…

West St. we love you!!

Corp Wednesdays

Blue pints, school uniform and a ruined pair of trainers is an absolute necessity of a freshers Wednesday night out. Corp's 'Skool Disco' was definitely an experience I won't be forgetting any time soon – tie on and old school shirt tied up, I was ready for a throwback evening to a school disco.

But this time I'd swapped the cordial and a packet of Space Raiders for numerous blue pints and sliding down the takeaway wall with cheesy chips on the way home. Whatever is in a blue pint is lethal man, lethal and I loved every second of it.

Millie (on the right) isn't a fresher… don't know if you can tell?

The Leadmill

How could I talk about Sheffield without talking about the legendary Leadmill. It is like the mothership calling you home when you know you should be prepping for a seminar or writing an essay but you can see that beautiful red light in the distance and you know it's time to go… whether it's the mix of classic tunes, Club Tropicana or the photo booth that tickles your fancy, The Leadmill is a bit of everyone in my experience.

Uni of vs. Hallam is real life

I know there are 'jokes' flying around all the time about Uni of Sheffield vs. Hallam so this wasn't a total surprise to me, but it still shocked me ever so slightly. I mean aside from the fact that (as a Hallam student) I have heard people use 'she deffo looks like a Uni Of' as a terrible insult but my lanyard for my student ID quite literally screams rivalry.

Forget last year's burgundy, this year Hallam gave me a very bright and very obvious rainbow lanyard with TEAM HALLAM printed on it… go figure. I mean I am not saying Hallam is better but we literally are.

Pres is always the best part of the night

Taking that selfie being the most important part, of course.

As a 20 year old woman I am rather familiar with the concept of pre-drinks, but at uni it has taken on a whole new meaning. At home, pres is what happens when you're necking a bottle of wine whilst doing your makeup – at uni it is a whole separate event. You get ready, makeup on and hair done, you choose your downfall/alcohol of choice, hook it under your arm and walk to someone else's flat (usually across the hall or upstairs) where there are even more people doing the same thing, playing crap techno music and drinking as fast as they can. This is often paired with a drinking game of some sorts, but not 'never have I ever…' because we want these people to keep inviting us for pres after all.

The North/Midlands/South debate is a touchy subject

And what do Sheffield do with touchy subjects? Put on a bar crawl about exactly that of course! Freshers week had many events but none that united groups of people quite like the the North vs. Midlands vs. South bar crawl. Whether you were a Northern Nancy, a Midlands Minger or a Southern Softie – you went out in full force to defend and represent your side. Why? No one knows.

I don't know why I never really gave it a thought back home but at uni I am screaming about the North/South divide whilst some Southerner called William (not Will) is claiming anything above Birmingham is the north (?!). Oh, and don't even get me started on the non-existent Midlands…

The abundance of fountains

What is it with Sheffield and it's love for fountains? You step off the train and are greeted with a beautiful stretch of water features. You walk 5 minutes into town and stumble across the peace gardens with it's range of fountains and families playing in them. Are they there to serve a reminder of a simpler, more child-like time? Or just to remind me how much I need the toilet on the walk home after a night out? Either way they are pretty remarkable and a great Sheffield feature.

You'll meet people and then literally never see them again…

Sheffield isn't that big of a city and so it baffles me that people I met in freshers week have never crossed my path since. Too drunk to remember or just the way things go? Probably both. I met so many people, took selfies, shared Snapchats and promised to go out with them soon, never to see them again. A heartbreaking tale at its core but one that is true for freshers all over the country. I hope the people I met are still just as messy and trading their 9ams in for VKs just as God intended it.

Shout out to Caitlin who I met in Bierkeller

So I'm sure there is lots more that Sheffield has to offer me as time goes on, but for now I can conclude that Sheffield is 'reyt' good and there is 'nowt' you can do to change my mind.