Tuesday, June 9, 2020

How To Survive Freshers Week as a Student

Surviving Freshers Week To be frank, during my first week at the university, I was so stressed by simply living in an unfamiliar city and seeing all the new faces that I nearly bought a ticket home. With actual presentations, essays and reports looming on the horizon, it could be daunting to stay social and make the most of your introductory week. If you are struggling or simply want to navigate freshers’ week with ease, the following advice could be a life-saver. 1. Know Your Environment Being a fresher usually means living in a new city or expanding your usual school commute to new places. Since you don’t have to worry about making proper references or proofreading your essays, it could be useful to use the free time to study the map and go on walks or bus trips around your new environment. If you have an opportunity, do it with other freshmen. This could be an invaluable bonding experience and the knowledge you gain could be extremely handy. If you come from a different country, gaining insight about the new culture could also prove beneficial. 2. Keep a Track of Time and Prioritise Activities Freshers’ week is one of the busiest times at any university. Investing in a decent notebook and planning ahead could be an appropriate method of navigating the events and challenges such as registering with the city authorities. Most universities issue detailed freshers week schedules, so grab one on campus or look it up online. By prioritising the most important events, you could avoid nearly all major stresses. It might also be wise to specifically dedicate time for resting to prevent early burnout and give yourself an opportunity to recuperate. Proper time management is also handy later on when writing dissertations and other assignments. 3. Take up Cooking This might seem obvious, but the number of students who plan to live on fast food, takeout or microwave meals would surprise you. If you’re unfamiliar with cooking, use the free time from freshers’ week to learn some basic recipes. Pasta, curry, rice and noodles are all staples of student life and, importantly, are fairly cheap. Even if you’re a master chef, it could be useful to visit the closest shops and supermarkets. Knowing where to get the ingredients when faced with a presentation deadline could be a life-saver. While simple, the above tips could significantly improve how your freshers’ week goes and leave a lasting impact on your studentship. Don’t get discouraged if something goes wrong! Just remember that being a student is a major step towards achieving your dreams.