Once weirdly unpacked and discarded, it’s that time: mate-finding. A word of warning - enjoy the first day of explaining 6 set points:

1. Who you are

2. Where you come from

3. What you are studying

4. Whether you took a gap year

5. If so, what you did and where you went

6. If not, listening attentively to the oddly similar tales of those who did

-because after 4 days of this identical small talk, you will be pig-sick with tiredness and boredom!

But then the initial openness and sense of noisy newness seems to die – and even quicker does the silence fall when you are in your cell…oops I mean your luxury hall room. This is where I can offer a very key piece of advice which I wish that I had been told: please, please, don’t go through fresher’s week thinking, despite common folklore, that it has to be the absolutely greatest week of your life at all moments. This is, quite simply, impossible all of the time. Practically there is so much boring administration to manage during the day times to get you sorted for the reason why you have actually come to uni…your course. This is often (and quite rightly so) forgotten when stories are regaled by former freshers and is often quite a stressful process certainly not aided by a constant hangover. Furthermore making some friends, who are actually your type of people, is a pretty difficult task to be worrying about in the midst of supposed bliss. Your corridor could be freaks. Mine certainly were, until I weeded out the sane ones. People who seem cool at first could turn out to be all sorts. My first closest ‘mate’ turned out to be a rather psychotic drug fiend – so it’s whatever floats your boat really. All the same though, everyone has a niche and you will find yours. Just don’t feel bad if it’s hard to isolate ‘your people’ from a mini population that seem to be on social ecstasy.