A-Z Freshers Guide – Part 1

Warwick Freshers of 2013-14, count yourselves very lucky.

When we came up to the glorious Warwick campus in previous years, with nothing surrounding it but a few trees and, um, Westwood, there was no such thing as a students’ A-Z guide. We were lost, hopeless lambs to the slaughter, thinking that having our VERY OWN club on campus would more than make up for the lack of exciting nightlife anywhere else and that Coventry would be the obvious choice to live off-campus rather than the long bus ride to Leamington Spa.

But here it is, our present to you. This guide, handily split into three parts, will give you everything you need to know about your new life as a student at Warwick, and hopefully won’t send you screaming to the undergraduate office to drop out, get transferred, anything but stay here for three years. It’s not that bad, promise!

A is for Altoria

A relative newcomer to the always exciting Leamington nightlife, students were briefly seduced by its VIP and luxurious smoking area. Then we realised we prefer £1 vodbulls to shisha, and not even an appearance by MIC’s bleach blond dwarf Jamie Laing could sway us.

Ball so hard

B is for Bluebell

The crème de la crème of student residence. Comes with a price (not just the mammoth monthly rate) – key cards used everywhere means that it’s not the best place to mingle, and definitely not the original student experience you imagined – can be a little on the dull side. If you do live there, just make sure predrinks are always hosted somewhere else!

A typical Bluebell ‘sesh’

C is for Coventry 

Our close neighbours, Varsity “rivals” and butt of many a joke from those of us at a “real uni”, doing degrees in something other than colouring in or, perish the thought, media studies. Even though it’s much closer to campus than Leaminton, savvy students will only venture there when it’s a Monday or Friday night and Kasbah beckons. A barbecue in the smoking area is definitely worth a night in Cov.

D is for Dayz at Skool…

…Otherwise known as SKOOL DAYZ (a very flimsy link, we know). Another chance to experience possibly the stickiest floor in the UK at The Copper Rooms, but this time you’ll be in school uniform dancing to some quality 90s tunes. ‘Fresh Prince of Bel Air’, ‘Saturday Night’ and anything by the Spice Girls are guaranteed to come on. Girls, don’t bother going all out in a tiny Ann Summers number – by the end of the night it’ll be covered in sweat and spilled booze anyway.

Sharing the love at Skool Dayz

E is for Evolve (In Memoriam)

THE R&B ROOM. THE POLES. GONE. Thankfully, some essential touches from Evolve remain: the first floor that was always covered in Jagermeister and Red Bull from about 11pm and, most importantly, the smoking area – the heart and soul of your Friday night in Leam. Any second or third years now calling it Neon (which sounds more like a 90s strip club) should be ashamed of themselves. This will always be Evolve to us.

RIP R&B room, you will be missed.

Stay tuned for Parts 2 and 3 later on this week!