Everything I learnt from Sussex Freshers’ Week

My Freshers’ Week at the University of Sussex has been a eye-opening experience. There has been new faces, a new campus to get used to and, most importantly, new places to drink. Freshers’ is a trial by fire and you will get burned. I’ve made some great choices this week and some terrible ones.

Here are the things I learnt during my first week as a fresher.

You forget everyone’s name

Everybody is desperately trying to make friends. Chances are however you’re going to wake up tomorrow morning and not know the name of the guy you had that great chat with about your love for Zac Efron at 2am. You will lose count of the number of times you’re asked “What’s your name?”, “What are you studying?” and “Where are you living?”. What’s the point? The person you’re telling is too drunk to care what modules you’ve picked. This is a normal part of Freshers’ I found.

Brighton is really cheap for students, if you know what you’re doing

Brighton gets a bad wrap for being super expensive and it was something I was a bit worried about. I found, however, you need to understand how to play the game. Almost every bar and club will have student offers on drinks on various nights of the week. Check at the bar if they have any deals on whilst you’re there, you could save so much dosh. Why buy a pint of Peroni in a club for £4.80 when they have a student deal on a pint of Amstel for £2?

Get advice from your fellow student, not a promoter.

2nd and 3rd years can look after you

Don’t go to the first event that you hear about from a promoter or your friends. If you want to get advice on which events to go to, ask someone in their second year! Club nights are never as good as their advert on Facebook says. A “free bbq” that you never actually see is never a good reason to go to a club.

Campus is bigger than you thought

On an open day, you’ll be shown straight to the buildings that relate to the course you want to study. When you arrive on your first week, it will feel like those buildings have been replaced by a hundred other buildings. It is pretty easy to get lost around Sussex.

Mixing alcohol and cooking is a recipe for disaster

Don’t ever come back to your flat at 4am and try to cook something that uses either the oven or the hob. You’ll forget to turn it off. Boil the kettle, have a pot noodle. No one is Jamie Oliver after a Jagerbomb.

Expect at least one thing to go missing or get broken. 

Everyone has that friend that can’t go out without something going wrong. I have a flat mate who dropped and smashed her phone. On her third night she left her bag in a club. If you don’t trust yourself to keep it safe, give it to a trustworthy companion, or buy a lanyard and wear it around your neck. There’s nothing worse than arriving at your front door at 4.30 AM and realising that you can’t get to your bed.

You must plan your shopping trip on campus carefully

The Co-Op on campus is a nightmare. Hordes of students queuing up to buy overpriced essentials (one of the greatest crimes of the 21st century – putting up shop prices on a university campus). Don’t go shopping just after a lecture – that’s everyone’s idea on their way back to their flat.

Taking a night off doesn’t make you a prude

Too many nights out I think…

I know that during Freshers’, everyone wants to be seen as the life of the party, but you will hit a wall. It’s okay to have one night where you just have a couple of pints at East Slope bar instead of heading into town every night until 4am. People may be pissy but they’ll forget about it, and a night off just means going extra hard another day.

Don’t ever turn down free food

One of the most important lessons I learnt. I realised how much bills add up when you’re away from home and eating out every night is anything but sustainable. They say there is no such thing as a free lunch, but if there is I will make the most of it whenever I can.