The first week of university is jam-packed. You have to adapt to living away from home, absorb a mass of information about starting life at university and attempt to make as many friends as possible. Amongst all this chaos is Freshers’ Week. My Freshers’ Week was full of a lot of high points but also some lows. At times, I felt like I had to get involved with everything but there was no pressure to go to any events. Going to every single event would be impossible, and the ones that I did go to were great! So overall, my Freshers’ Week was a fun and exciting experience that helped me transition into student life. 

College events

The first week consists of individual college events designed for students to get to know the people they’ll be living with for the rest of the year. Alcuin college had a constant stream of events going on. Events included breakfast in the morning, day activities, an evening event and finally a night of clubbing. This meant it was virtually impossible to get bored or find nothing of interest. There were things such as coffee mornings, Mario Kart tournaments and bar crawls. One of the best events I went to was the animal themed night at the campus bar, The Courtyard. The whole flat got to know each other and take cheesy photos under the Alcuin balloons.

We also had a chance to get to know our STYCs (second and third year contacts). They were responsible for taking care of us in the first week and shepherding us around from event to event. The Great British Bake off screening was lots of fun, mainly because of the free cake and the cosy atmosphere in Alcuin common room. The screening didn’t exactly go to plan because of an issue with the speakers. This was another opportunity that allowed me to connect better with my flatmates and we still laugh about it now.

University events

After the first week of college exclusive events, there were a variety of university wide activities. I went to a comedy night, a pub crawl and a festival. The comedy night was a lot of fun and featured four comedians. Some, like Joel Dommett, more well known than others but all of them were really funny. I was able to simply sit back and watch the show. This meant it was one of the most relaxing university events I attended and a lot less active. The Freshers’ Festival was also really enjoyable. Although I didn’t know all the acts performing, it was still fun because a lot of them played well known music that everyone knew and could sing along to. We could also move between the main stage, the smaller acoustic stage and the silent disco in Central Hall, which was a lot of fun. 

Freshers’ Fair

Another important event I attended in Freshers’ Week was the Freshers’ Fair. This is where you can discover all of the different societies in the University. Some were admittedly strange, like the Danny Devito society, but there was definitely something for everyone. I remember how shocking it was to see the variety of different societies, ranging from subject based societies, political groups, sports clubs, film societies, book societies, animal societies and everything in between. Another great thing about the Freshers’ Fair was the amount of free stuff you can get. In the first building we went into, we found a stall giving away folders, Alcuin pens and more stationery. From there it only got more exciting when we got food and drink, canvas bags, sweets and more. But the definite highlight was the free pizza from Domino’s.