The Freshers Handbook (Part Two)

(6) The Snowy Season

So, the diet of takeaways and pot noodles has got a bit dull now. It’s been a month or so and your stomach is feeling a bit…soft. You don’t want to admit it but you could really do with an apple or two. Stop thinking about food though and just reflect for a moment. You’ve been away from home a couple of months now and although some people will go home every now and again for the odd weekend, a lot of people will not be able to visit home and family until the Christmas holidays. International students sometimes, more often than not, don’t get home at all.
         You might be feeling a bit lower than usual. The weather is grimmer, the money seems to be running a bit low and suddenly there are deadlines to be met. Unfortunately, some people don’t handle this as well as others. If you’ve got a partner and are finding it difficult to keep the relationship going, this can affect your choices; it’s hard to maintain the same life you had before University and a lot of things will have changed in your life over the last couple of months.
         Someone you know will have decided by this point that University life is not for them but try not to let it be you. At times work can seem difficult, money can appear tight and social life can become tired and complicated. There’s always help available. If you do start to feel the pressure of work, talk to one of your tutors. If money becomes an issue and even with a job you just can’t seem to plod-on, you might be able to apply for your University’s hardship fund. If your social life is falling apart—the lads back home are annoyed because your weekly beer and rugby session no longer happens or your best friend back home isn’t as excited about your new “best-friend” as you—remind your friends that at least you’re still keeping in touch, especially as Roger next door hasn’t even phoned home for a fortnight…
         You can always invite people from home to come party in your new neck of the woods. Make them know they’re always welcome to visit and don’t let the pressure of them missing you effect your choices. A lot of them will be in other University’s and if it sounds like they’re feeling a bit low, give them a call. It’s amazing what hearing a familiar voice can do for your state of mind.
         If someone you have become quite close to decides that they can’t stay any longer, don’t try and talk them out of leaving. Be rational and try and offer them the best solution or support, even if you desperately don’t want to see them go. The chance is they’ve probably been thinking about it for a good length of time and nothing you say will change their mind. They might just want to talk things through with someone. Don’t pressure them and if they do decide to leave, throw them a big party so they know that they’re always welcome back.
         But enough of that! The party season is steadily approaching and the festivities are bound to cheer up even the tightest of scrooges! Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, the fact that the holidays are fast-approaching and lectures are near-finished for the semester means that the fun and games can be rediscovered without the guilt of the missed lecture because of the hangover. There are lots of things to look forward to and even if it’s just a trip home to see family and friends, it’s amazing how much better you’ll feel after a good end-of-semester-pre-holiday party.
         Secret Santa might be an event held within your group of friends and a good excuse if the money is running a bit low to only part with one gifts worth of money. Make an event out of it; mix the names into a Christmas hat and don’t tell each other who you’ve got. Put a price limit on presents and have a flat party with food and drink to give out the gifts. Mince pies and squirty cream at the ready; get everyone dressed up and use it as an excuse to get everyone together before you go home. Whether you do joke presents or serious ones, it’s all good fun and an event to remember.
         These last few weeks flyby so fast and you will miss them when you look back, and whether your friends stay the same throughout University and you chose to live with them in your next year or you drift apart and see each other at the odd, random house party, every night spent will be different and worth remembering—even if it’s just staying up in the early hours of the morning to watch Labyrinth. Take nothing for granted and if anything has been worrying you or upsetting you, you can come back after the holidays with a fresh state of mind.
         If you’re relying on public transport to get you home, make sure you book it well in advanced. Mid-November is not too early to book the train journey back down to Kent or the cheap coach to Birmingham. There’s nothing worse than planning on going home and then being unable to get there. You might be able to get a lift with a driver if you can’t drive yourself, so it’s always worth asking around your friends for anyone whose driving in your direction and is willing to take you for a share in the petrol costs. It will probably be cheaper than a train!
         When you do get home, don’t forget your University friends—in about two weeks you’ll be back with them and they’ll feel a bit unloved if you don’t even send them a “Happy New Year” text.
It’s good to see everyone but people will have started to form separate groups and even though it’s like you never left, when catching up with your High School/College/Sixth Form pals, it’s obvious that people drift apart. Don’t feel bad. Everyone’s genuinely pleased to see each other and your friends have probably realised just how happy you are from all the Facebook pictures you’ve been tagged in!
         And oh for the bliss of home-cooked meals. Everyone always jokes about the “student eating” lifestyle of noodles, beans and chips. You’ll have never appreciated a brussel sprout in your life before, as much as you do when you get back to a proper meal. All covered in gravy…well, maybe not the sprout but it’s nice to get some meals inside of you that aren’t only microwaved or bought from the local chippy.
         Enjoy some good grub whilst it’s put on your plate and you don’t have to work out the cost of it!












Joke Secret Santa Ideas
* A picture of someone the person fancies, signed by the person.
* A vibrator.
* A book on how to survive “Bird” or “Swine” flu.
* A really unlikely CD—get them Britney Spears if they like Nirvana, for example.
* A box of condoms with a note saying, “we’re trying to tell you something.”
* Some cutlery…maybe they’ll get the point and stop using yours.
* A mini student survival kit complete with; noodles, beans, condom, toothpaste, socks and toilet paper.





(7) The Short Long Month

It’s January and you’ve returned to a cold place that you still haven’t completely come to terms with but you secretly missed it, even though you told your family and friends you weren’t that arsed about getting back to University. That was to make them feel better; truth is you can’t wait to get back out partying with your flatmates and friends again. Unfortunately, the next couple of weeks are going to be some of the worst. It seems so early but it’s about this time that you need to find and secure somewhere to live in you second year, unless you’ve decided to move back into Halls or continue living at home.
         It’s a very difficult decision because these are people you’ve only just met. You might make mistakes and if you haven’t lived with whom you chose to find a house with before, they might surprise you. It seems cliché to say but most of the time you don’t know someone until you’ve lived with them. Even if you move in with people from the Halls you were put into, living in a house environment is completely different. Make sure you’re completely certain that you’re doing the right thing by moving in with certain people—it can be a very costly mistake, especially as you will now be dealing with a Landlord rather than University administration, who won’t be as compassionate with you, if you find yourself in an disagreeable situation.
         However, looking for a house is an exciting event. Make sure you look around and make appointments to see more than one. Ask any older students whether they know of any landlords who might not be as respectable as others. Your University’s Student Union should have lists of reputable student houses but still ask around and never agree to signing a contract until someone else has looked over it, even if it means you could potentially lose the house.
         Check to see how rent is paid: are you paying for the house or are contracts individual? It’s in your best interest to get your own contract. I learnt the hard way by signing a contract that meant if a housemate decided to leave, they weren’t responsible for making up the rent, the people still living there were. Unfortunately someone did move out and was unable to be replaced, which put the rest of us in a slightly poor situation for the rest of the year.
         Are bills included? This is the big wide world now and you have to pay for water, electricity, gas, TV licence, phone and Internet. If these aren’t included in your rent, someone is going to have to have them in their name—if someone doesn’t then pay up; you’re out of pocket. This is why it’s essential to make sure you can afford where you’re moving into and that you can trust those moving in with you.
         Student houses are never going to be luxurious. Don’t expect anything but the bare essentials—however, you shouldn’t be prepared to live in the pits either. You don’t want to spend the whole of your second year in a state of constant cold-like symptoms because the house is patterned in damp or the heating doesn’t work. There are a few questions that you should ask as you’re being shown around the potential house. Make sure to note any promises that landlords make or current students living there tell you about the place or their relationship as a tenant.

Ask and Consider
(1)          Is the front/back door secure and do the individual bedrooms have locks?
(2)          Does the heating work and how much does it cost to run?
(3)          Are bills included? —Especially consider Internet, as this is vital to students.
(4)          Is the house in a noisy street? —Sometimes you’ll just want peace.
(5)          Is electrical equipment (oven and boiler, for example) in working order?
(6)          How much is the deposit and are you likely to get it back?
(7)          Are the room’s different sizes and are there going to be arguments over who gets the smallest?
(8)          How close are the local shops and clubs?

These seem like obvious questions but it’s so easy to just forget about the important little things that could change how you feel over your second year. Don’t fall in love with the first house that you visit—do go and look at a few and remember, just because it looks good when you go to visit doesn’t mean it will be in the same condition when you get there. Consider the mood of the house—if the walls are painted dark, the chance is that in the winter it will feel sad living there. Consider the amount of rooms. Most student houses will have a minimum of three tenants but some will have six or more—if there’s only one bathroom in the house, what is fighting for mirror time going to be like?
         When you do find your house, give it a couple of days, sign your contract and celebrate with your new housemates. Talk to them about how you want to live cooperatively and consider rules that you might want to apply. For example: no making out against someone else’s bedroom door and no smoking below someone else’s window. They might seem like little things now but you’ll be pleased that you considered it this time next year.
         It’s also about this time that a lot of Universities will have final exams and coursework deadlines. These are not scary things—you’ve done them a million times and as long as you’ve finished that short creative piece of drama or that exam about starfish and octopi, you’ll probably get a good week off to have fun and recover.
University exams are not terrifying events—a lot of them will be open-book or have pre-released questions, which means you can go in knowing exactly what you’re going to write about and have a good idea of what needs to be included. It also means that you can discuss ideas with your classmates before you sit the exams. Everyone wants to do well and someone might have picked up on something about Queen Victoria’s empire that you’d never even considered.
         When your exams do come around, just remember not to jam your head with little bits of information—unless that’s how you best work—have some food before you go in and take a bottle of water, your student card and a couple of pens. And if ever in doubt remember that Frankie says Relax. If you do fail an exam, there will be opportunities to re-sit or you may be able to do an extended piece of writing instead.
         When you’ve finished, make the most of it. Head down to the local (yes, even if it was a morning exam…) and just have a chat with your classmates or start the night out from there.
I’d just like to point out here that I’m not promoting the drinking of alcohol in this guide at all, you can drink as much coke, orange juice or J20 as you wish, what I am suggesting is that you should just be as sociable as possible and make the most of the time. You’ll really, really want to go back there one day and even if you don’t see it now, you’ll miss the times you had in your first year (despite continuing to have amazing new ones after) and will never resent the time your housemate tried on your bra or squirted shaving cream on your door…it was all in good fun.




(9)          Slipping By

The next couple of months leading up to the Easter holidays seem to be the longest but looking back they do go just as fast as the rest of the year, there just doesn’t seem to be as many big events during this part of the year to focus on. I suppose one of the main days is February 14th—aka, Valentines Day/Pink Day/Day of tacky cards…I don’t have anything against this day of the year, really…
         But in all seriousness you will celebrate this day in one of two ways; either you’re swept away by a significant other or have a date and are forced to enjoy yourself with a member of the opposite sex (or same), or, you find yourself dragged out to a boycott party for the day and spend it watching DVDs and eating cheap pizza. Of course there’s one more option: you go out dressed in red (taken), orange (…) and green (come and get me!) with the intention to have a good night out or pull the girl with big boobs or the guy with the “cool Joe” t-shirt on. I’m not saying anything about the student psyche.
         No this period of time is the bit that sort of just floats around for most people. It’s not that nothing happens, not at all. There will be parties to attend, deadlines to meet and events to reminisce over.
Towards the end of February there seems to be a second bout of Freshers depression and I think it’s this that makes the time feel like it goes on so much longer. This is partly because most people are starting to feel the second instalment of the loan is running a bit low. The weather just doesn’t seem to want to improve and there’s generally a bit of a negative feeling across campus because people can’t do everything that they want to. Whether it’s just because you’re feeling a bit low, poor or tired, there’s so much you can do to improve your mood.
You—or your friends—don’t need to feel low during this season. There are loads of things that you can do with yourself without staying out in pubs till past midnight, dancing until your feet are blistered or shopping just for “something to do.”
         You don’t need to spend a fortune to have a good night. Whether you keep within the flat or invite friends from all around the University, you can have some really good nights in without spending more than a fiver! Everyone has a DVD player (use your laptop!) and a bed. I’ve known people to fit about six people in a single bed and another four on the floor, plus a couple of chairs, whilst eating their own bodyweight in sweets and watching Top Gear and the Mighty Boosh. And yes, the TV licence was paid for.
         Sometimes, just sitting in with a group of friends and chilling is just as good as going on a pub-crawl or throwing a flat party. It’s a good way to save some money, see people but at the same time not make yourself overtired or stressed. It’s also good for a bit of a detox, especially if you’ve been on the cider and spirits the last couple of months. It gives you time to talk to the people around you, without announcing anything embarrassing or falling over your own feet.
         You can even make an event out of a cheap night in. Set a theme or make rules as to what you can eat and drink. Make everyone bring a few films or chose a few games to play. You might not be kids anymore but nobody ever said you can’t act like one! Except maybe your mum and dad…Bring out the Buckaroo and turn your kitchen table into giant table tennis!

Themes

Food
Have a soup night. It sounds silly but get everyone to bring a can of soup make sure you’ve got plenty of bread handy. Noodles also work, as well as beans and chips—they’re all cheap, pretty much the student diet anyway and can be cooked together. Basically, everyone eats the same thing cheaply.

You could pick a colour. Everyone can only eat red or green food for example—or get people to eat (and wear) their own individual colour. I’ve seen people cheat by adding blue food colouring into mashed-potatoes or into squash/alcohol so that they can eat something a little more appetising than that strange green ketchup that was around for a little while.

The pound challenge can bring up some strange food concoctions. Everyone who’s joining you can only spend a pound but has to bring as much food or drink as they can. Whether that’s a pack of Dime’s or a bottle of mayonnaise; you never know what you’re going to end up with.

Film and TV

Pick an actor or actress and only watch films that they appear in. Whether that’s Johnny Depp or Nicole Kidman, have a marathon and enjoy watching Jack Black make a fool of himself as he attempts to teach kids how to be a band.

Only watch spoof films or comedies. They’re bound to lift your spirits because a lot of them are so ridiculously bad. Or have a fright night and watch the Final Destination films one after the other. Remember, no hiding through your fingers is allowed. Anyone caught doing so has to shot the chilli sauce!

And then there’s the terrible challenge. The one that involves going out and finding the cheapest, never-even-heard-of-before-D-class movies. The ones that cost 99p and probably should never have been made. Throw them in a bag, pick them out one by one and enjoy.

Someone’s bound to have a series on his or her person. Whether it’s Friends or Sabrina the Teenage Witch, put them on from the start and see where you get too. I still haven’t thanked my hallmates for introducing me to various TV shows!

Activities

Depending on where you live and how you can get there, you could get a few people to go for a walk—beaches, mountains, country parks—anything just to get out of the flat for some fresh air. If someone drives, ask him or her if they’ll split petrol money. If there are busses, get a cheap day saver, or if you’re lucky enough to be local to some beautiful scenery, walk towards it and see where you end up! When you’re with friends, it’s amazing how far you’ll get. Just remember, you have to walk back again, so if it starts to get dark and your mate says, “I know where we’re going,” it might be a good idea to turn around and head back in the direction you started in!

Try out a new hobby that one of your friends participates in; whether that’s trying out the local climbing wall, joining a drama society or going for some local karaoke. It will give you something to do, allow you to be out with your friends and should be relatively cheap with you student card.

Find out whether there are any locally run events that need volunteers. You can usually work with friends and if it’s a night time venue with bands playing, once you’ve finished your shift, most companies will then let you stay to enjoy yourself as a thank you for helping out.

If all else fails, head to your local swimming pool, cinema, gym or café. Most of these places will give you discount and get you out of the flat.


It’s easy to find stuff to do and keeping busy is an essential way of keeping yourself happy and entertained. Sometimes, you will just want to lock yourself in your room, be left alone and play Assassins Creed all night. It’s okay to spend the whole day in bed reading magazines or watching DVDs and if you really must, throw things (usually wooden spoons or bags of flour) at your flatmates for your own wicked entertainment whilst someone films it. Just make sure you give them a bit of a warning first…


(10) Easter

It’s a frightening thought but when I tell you that there’s very little time left to the year, I know for a fact that you won’t be ready for it to be over yet. This holiday is usually the longest and if you chose to go home, when you get back the time will just seem to go by without even stopping to say hello. Don’t worry just yet; there are still some brilliant times to be had before the year is over.
         It’s tough deciding whether to go home for this holiday and several things might affect your choice. Most first years will chose to go home, whether that’s because they’ve got a job, haven’t seen their family (especially the pet ferret, George) for a while, need a break away from University or just need feeding up, most people venture back to where they came from originally for this holiday. I’d say find out whether any of your flatmates will be staying before you make your choice. I only stayed a couple of days later than everyone else who was staying in my Halls but by the time I’d left, everyone else had gone and it felt pretty lonely, so I’d recommend, at least going home for a few days if not the whole holiday period.
         This doesn’t mean you should all just vanish off back to your own lives. It’s the chocolate season of course; whether you celebrate the holiday or not, it’s still an excuse to gauge yourself on chocolate and have a few going-home parties. It’s a good excuse to get the chocolate fountains rolling and the sugary cocktails flowing.
         And when you do get back home, you’ll be able to impress your family with the new recipes you’ve been working on (no, not a can of dog food…) for the last few weeks, as by now you must have got bored of noodles and beans; it’s okay to experiment! If you want to poor a can of backed beans onto your meat feast pizza, I’ll be the first to tell you to go for it! Maybe grating the cheese onto the noodles and putting the sweetcorn through looked gross but if you tell me it tasted good, I’ll believe you! And even though your attempt at using herbs in your pasta was well intended, maybe you should have held off the garlic and onions a little bit…
         If you’re not as experimental as me—I mean my flatmates—here are a few simple, cheap and tasty recipes you can try to impress your family and friends with. Also a few, not so conventional ideas that might be fun to try, with easily accessed ingredients, as well as “cheat food”…
         Recipes with a (V) are suitable for vegetarians.
Tomato Soup (V)
(“What do you mean it’s ‘not Heinz’?”)
400g Chopped tomatoes (fresh or canned)
300ml Milk (skimmed if your on a diet)
Dried oregano
Pepper

Blend the ingredients together into a saucepan and heat through. Very simple and hardly any preparation. Will only take about five minutes to heat through.

Mushy-Pea Soup (V)
(“Are you sure about this?”)
Vegetable stock (made to 300ml)
A can of mushy peas
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the stock into a saucepan and add the mushy peas when it starts to simmer. Add salt and pepper to taste. You can use cream in this recipe to give it a stronger texture.

Chicken Noodle Soup
(If you’re feeling a bit more adventurous…)
1 Skinless and boneless chicken breast
900ml Chicken stock
50g Rice noodles
1 Clove of garlic
2 Spring onions
2 tsp Soy sauce

Bring the stock to the boil in a saucepan and add the chicken breast and garlic. Partially cover and simmer for about 20 minutes on a medium heat. Remove the chicken but keep the stock. Shred the chicken with a fork. Add the chicken back into the stock with the spring onions and noodles. Simmer for about five minutes and serve. Pour a small amount of soy sauce onto the served soup.




Creamy Pasta
(Add some sandwich ham if you eat meat.)

225g Pasta shells
300ml Single cream
100g Soft cheese
50g Sandwich ham (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook the pasta in boiling water. Add a bit of salt and oil to flavour and stop it sticking. Heat the cream and cheese together over a low heat (this is when you add the ham for a meat version, just cut it into thin slices) and season with pepper. Add the pasta and stir until warm enough for serving.







Cheesy Mushroom and Wotsit Bake
(I kid you not!)
50g Margarine
250ml Fromage frais
175g Grated cheese
Large portion of mushrooms
A bag of Wotsits

Melt the margarine and fry the mushrooms on a low heat for about five minutes. Pour them into an ovenproof dish and pour over the fromage frais. Sprinkle with the cheese and wotsits. Bake in a preheated oven for about 15 minutes at 200’c. Serve with salad and chips; it tastes a lot better than it sounds!







Chicken Fried Rice
(It sounds like it shouldn’t work…)
1 Can of soup (chicken or vegetable)
Rice (about 300g, this makes a lot)
1 Can of tinned vegetable
1 Pack of wafer thin chicken

Make sure your rice is pre-cooked. Heat up a frying pan and add the rice. Pour over the soup and add the drained tin of vegetables. Shred up your chicken and add this next. Fry until cooked.

Eggy Bread
(Not really show-off worthy, I suppose.)
Egg
Bread

Mix the egg together and dip the bread into it. Fry on each side. You can add cheese to make it slightly different.

Cheesecake
(Adaptable for your favourite biscuits!)
1 Packet of biscuits of your choice: Ginger nuts and bourbons are good.
150g Margarine
225g of mascapone (or an average-sized shop bought amount)
100g Sugar
Chocolate to decorate

This is the easiest pudding to make and it’s actually relatively good for you, especially if you buy low sugar and fat products. It can also get quite messy because you need to batter your biscuits into small crumbs and melt the margarine (you can do this in the microwave if you can’t be bothered to do it on a hob) and mix the two ingredients together. Press them firmly into a dish and allow to harden in a fridge. Mix the mascapone and sugar and spread on top of the biscuit base. Decorate with grated chocolate. Yummy!

So there you have it, a few recipes to astound your friends and family with. You’re bound to get the odd funny look—especially if you produce a watery looking green soup or add wotsits to mushrooms but that’s not the point. Life is about trying new things and if it does taste bad, give it a few bites, and then ask if anyone else would like to try some! You shouldn’t suffer alone. But once someone has tried your cheesecake, they taste anything and the fear of you not making another…well, they’ll tell you anything tastes good after that!








(10) Already?

Bloody hell! I told you, didn’t I? You’ve just got back from your short holiday and you’ve got so much to think about that you just don’t know where the time is going to come from to do it! You’ve only just got back to your room and you’re already considering how you need to pack it back up again. In fact, you might have even taken some stuff back over the Easter holiday, just so you didn’t have to worry about it now. How sensible of you!
         Just take a moment to consider everything that needs to be done over the next few weeks. You might have society balls to attend—or even your University summer ball—there will definitely be deadlines for coursework to be met and exams to be sat, party after party as Freshers week is re-enacted, friends will depart at different times as different courses will end earlier than others, your Halls will probably have a deadline for you to have moved out by which means you might need to arrange transport and if you’ve decided to stay in your new location for the summer, you’ll need to organise a way to move into your new house.
         Take a deep breath; you’re going to need it. Make a list of everything that you need to do and keep on top of it. These are the most important few weeks that you’ll spend during the year consecutively. Lots of things have the potential to go wrong—especially if you’re sitting exams. Sometimes, you won’t pass a module, it’s not the end of the world and it can be fixed. Remember, you’re paying the University for them to teach you—they want you to pass so that you continue to study.
If you do fail a module, there will be opportunities over the summer to rectify a failed course. Most University’s will only expect a 40% pass rate on each module you sit, but this doesn’t mean you can slack off! Do your best and it will reflect upon you in future modules over the next couple of years.
There’s nothing that I can tell you that will be a sure-proof dictation of what will happen over the next few weeks. All I can say is get everything done that needs to be done and then go with the flow.
         If you live in Halls, it’s vitally important to have fun these last few weeks. It might be the last time you spend with some of your flatmates. Whether it’s people you’ve become friends with throughout the building or people in your corridor, make sure that they know you’ve enjoyed the year and just chat about events that have happened over the last few months. When you think about how little time you’ve spent with these people but how close to them you now feel, you’ll realise that you’re not really ready to move out. I remember people saying that they wished they could just stay in the same rooms for the entirety of their course. I’d have been very happy at times to stay exactly where I was but also, there were times I wanted to rip people’s heads off. Some people are lucky and move in with people they work well with. I’m sorry if you ever felt as though you didn’t want to be with the people you lived with. I’m sure you tried to make the effort!
         Now, you just need to enjoy the last couple of weeks. If you smell a barbeque going, even if you’re a vegetarian, go down and sit with the group stuffing partially cooked sausages into their mouths. If it’s a lovely sunny day and a few people have decided to revise for exams out on that tiny patch of grass—not really big enough for you all—join in anyway, especially if you’re not a fan of the sun! Bring out the ice-lollies and ice-cold drinks. Whether alcoholic or not, it’ll just be pleasant to sit outside and enjoy some peaceful sun. Just imagine for how many years other students will have done exactly the same thing.
         And if you’re really adventurous, you could try what we did and have a water balloon war: not fight, war. Not only did we have about 600 of the vile little bombs, but also we soaked a good 200 of them in iced water before even considering using them. It got everyone involved and was a fun and memorable event. Just make sure, when surprising people, they have the chance to move their work out the way…it’s not so fun if someone’s got a laptop on their person…
         Rooms are starting to empty now that you’ve sat your last exam or handed in your last piece of coursework. It’s saddened you inside a little bit that the boy next door has decided not to stay for the Summer Ball and your side of the corridor really is feeling a little bit, bare…but there are still going to be people around and if you decided not to go to the Ball or your University’s event before because of the price or the people going, take a minute and reconsider.
A lot of the people who have stayed will have purposely done so for this event. There might be a well-known band playing, fairground rides, food, live music and entertainers; it really does all depend on your University. If you can afford it, try and go with a group of friends. The chance is that it will continue through to the next morning and you might not even make it home that day at all. Not that I’m condoning that kind of behaviour!
I hadn’t planned on going to my Summer Ball but I had a really good time, got to see the lead singer of Athlete practically fall off of the stage and managed to do it all sober. You’ll be surprised at how many familiar faces you’ll see wandering around. To be honest, it’s worth going just to see the different levels of just how dressed up some people get. I saw someone who must have honestly thought she was a princess walking around and a guy who could have been pulled straight from the cast of The Phantom of the Opera.
When it is time to say goodbye, it’ll happen in a different way for everyone. You might be the first to go, in some ways, that’s the hardest. Everyone will still be loitering around his or her room and you’ve probably been packing for the last couple of days. It’s your duty to say goodbye and not just to leave, however hard (or thankful for it!) it might be. You might be the last to go, which is probably just as hard really because you’ve had to watch everyone leave before you and say goodbye so many times—probably been roped into helping people pack up cars as they leave to… but it will happen and it will make you feel slightly sick.
So if your Mum catches you hugging your flatmate for an extended amount of time (even though it was completely platonic) and you know that you’re never going to awkwardly meet someone walking up and down the stairs to your corridor again (even though you always secretly hoped to see them) just take a minute to think about what living there has done for you.
Someone through a random administration decided where to put you and whom you would be living with. That one person decided your fate for this entire year—jeesh, I’m glad I don’t have that job—and you should probably stop to thank them for a moment, because if they hadn’t put you in that not en-suited Halls or up the same Hill as your new classmate, your life could be so, so different…













(11) Afterthoughts

So, there you have it. Your first year of University is over and done with and in about a month’s time, you’ll know whether you’ve made it onto your second year or not. Even if you have failed the year, there are still options. You’ll be able to re-sit modules, re-sit the year or possibly start a new course, if you decide to stay on. The chance is you will do everything possible to stay. Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ve passed and everyone threats a little bit but those are your options if the worst comes to the worst.
         Even a few years down the road, this year will mean so much to you. You’ll suddenly remember events that seemed so pointless at the time but when you look back, are missed. The simplest word, the silliest of photos and the smallest of actions will remind you of something you did during this year of you life. You’ll finally understand the meaning of the expression “have the time of your life” and it’s worth every minute.
         There will have been moments when you thought, “Oh my God, what was I thinking,” when you woke up sleeping on your neighbours floor or found a traffic-cone in your bed. They’ll be times, when you came out of your room to find some kind of disgusting takeaway concoction, a pile of dirty laundry or possibly another human being and no, it won’t have always been due to your own actions.
         There will have been times that you just wanted to hide in your room for fear of seeing someone because you fell over drunkenly and accidentally pulled their trousers down. There just aren’t enough “sorry’s” in the world to make up for that. Or someone might have just got on the wrong side of your good nature and you thought it was best to avoid them for a while. Good job: they’ll never know and you’re still friends.
         Yes, there are so many moments that you’ll remember both regretfully and happily. Don’t ponder over the negative things (you’ll laugh about sleeping with E13 somewhere in your future) and make sure you don’t forget all the people you met and the times you spent out with them, even if it does mean “robbing” 500 photos off of the Internet. You’ll definitely appreciate them one day.
         Congratulations and I told you so!