Societies!

In my opinion, societies are the most important thing at university - besides the whole 'degree' thing of course...

When you're put into university accommodation, it's out of your control really who you live with. I'd say generally, it's those you live with who you tend to build your first bonds with. They're the first people you meet when you arrive and the people you tend to associate with most during Freshers' Week.

However, as your first week comes to a close you're faced with the amazing thing that is Freshers' Fair; go. Sign up to as many societies that take your fancy, make the most of every single freebie you can get your hands on!

Over the next couple of weeks, go to as many society events as possible and find your society. Most people will only settle with one or two societies in the end. At societies, you will meet people with much more similar interests to you - you'll share one interest over the actual society, but you'll find you have many more things in common too.

Personally, finding HP Muggle Society changed my university experience forever. Through the society,  I branched of the comfort of my own room and met so many people who are now some of my best friends. It allowed me to slowly infiltrate the floor above me (mwahaha) in my block (and I'd moved in there by the end of first term), and over the years it's increased my friendship circle massively.

HP Muggle Society 2014/2015

I’m so thankful for societies and for finally meeting people who like the same kind of things as me… I was getting so worried that I wouldn’t find anyone for ages, but I really hope we’ll all get on really well! We’ve got the sorting ceremony next Monday… I am excited. 

Societies also give you something to look forward to with their events, and by the end of the year, you may think about wanting to run for committee (something I'd definitely recommend!). Societies give you things to do outside of your lectures; they enriches your university experience in so many ways; they allow you to meet people you may not have necessarily met otherwise.

Katherine xox

Arriving at University & the madness that is Freshers' Week!

Nervous, excited, upset, happy? The different emotions flitting around your stomach just before you leave for university are like no other. You're probably about to be left in a strange city, surrounded by strangers, having left everything you've ever known behind. There may be emotional goodbyes and don't be worried about the tears because everyone is going to be in the same boat.

You may have found other people in your flat through social networks - we managed to find 11/12 of us beforehand, which was really lovely - or you may not have found anyone but what my main advice would be is to get out there and meet as many people as possible. Your flat/house are going to be the first people you meet, so go and get talking to them! There are most probably going to be awkward silences at first but everything will soon fall into place. You will find people who you click with eventually, so go out and meet as many people as possible...

So this is Freshers… day 1 is over with. Somehow I’ve got through it all without shedding a tear, although that may change if I think things over too much. It’s so lovely here – the accommodation is beautiful and the people are so lovely! Today’s been pretty mental. I woke up at 5:30, and then 6:00 when I couldn’t be bothered to go back to bed. :L But we drove up here, stopping at a farm house café in Newark for a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice & a slab of carrot cake! We got here, found our way to my block, unpacked a bit, Dad, Julie & Genevieve arrived, went out with them to some pub for a drink, came back, unpacked more and said bye bye! L I ventured into the kitchen to see the others who were there talking, then awkward silence, then talking. This continued until our trip to Cost Cutter – oh the joys. We returned, then walked up to some random Co-op on a walk we went on! We were all talking and getting on really well! :D This evening we all dressed up in our penguin onesies and the STYCs brought the top 2 flats down in our kitchen to play ‘Ring of Fire’ which was a bit bizarre. Luke rang me, and I went outside to see him and we walked down to Animal with his block! We sat on a bench and talked to people all night who were buzzing around (quite literally those who were dressed up as bees)! There was a girl called Charlotte from Luke’s flat, boys called Gino (he’s Mexican), Simon & James, a few random girls called Rafaela, Hannah, Emily & Lucy and Connor (who I’m friends with on Facebook because he’s doing maths)! I came back with them just after 12 and the others all returned about 10 minutes after I’d got back and made a hot chocolate. Now there’s lots of screaming and yelling coming from the kitchen (from the STYCs as well – ‘Can I lie on your bed?! I want to be a fresher!’). So yah… I’m curled up in my room, stuff everywhere, with a hot chocolate, which isn’t actually that hot because the microwave failed. Conclusion – we should get on okay in the day, but the evenings are a different matter at the moment… Why am I not a normal teenager? I just hope I’m not waking up to absolute madness in the kitchen tomorrow morning. 

So, that was my Day 1. My flat were brilliant, but I really struggled because I don't drink alcohol - clearly something that everyone else had in common. As the week went on, I receded  more (apart from Tuesday night, when I actually ventured out), stayed at home on Skype to my friends and family. One of my STYCs (second and third year contacts) suggested I went upstairs to join in with them because they weren't going out, yet I was too scared to go. Oh, how I regret this. Don't do what I did, don't hideaway because the first people you meet aren't exactly your kind of people - no matter how lovely they still are.

It doesn't feel like there's half the substance to this post that I wanted... Ah well.

Katherine

Packing for University.

You may have lived in the same house for over 18 years, so like me, you're going to have had gathered rather a lot of unnecessary clutter over the years. This makes deciding what to take away to university all the more tricky... Do you really need that t-shirt aged 12-13years? (Not going to lie, I found a few of these, and they did make it to York shamefully enough.)

When I was deciding what we needed to buy before I moved away, I scoured website after website for lists of things people recommended taking away. I found a massive list on The Student Room (I bookmarked it) here, and it's seriously been cut down since I last checked. At one point it was suggesting toastie makers, food processors and even 'traffic cone' make the list. Yeah, it was a bit extreme, but it's a rather helpful list so I'd definitely take note of that (except maybe coffee maker and rice cooker)! At the end of the day re. kitchen equipment, you know how good your culinary skills are and it'll be easy to judge how much equipment to bring dependent on that. Some people will cook full meals every night of the week, and others will live off take-aways, pot noodles and beans on toast!

Anyway, here are my top tips about things to bring to university:

1.  Photos/homely touches: when you arrive in your room, you will be faced with a blank canvas - an empty room in a strange city, miles away from home... I find it's the little things that remind me of home, and I believe they're so important when you first move away.
2. Pack the essentials so they're easily accessible: you're going to have a room filled with boxes of stuff and unpacking will not feel like your top priority when you have goodbyes to say, and the anticipation of meeting all your new flatmates. Make sure you've got the most important things somewhere you'll be able to find them.
3. Lamp: I know my university didn't provide one, but if you can't be bothered to get out of bed every night to switch your light off then a lamp it pretty essential.
4. Laundry Basket: yeah, no one likes dirty laundry all over the floor.
5. Hangers: another essential that may escape your brain.
6. Spare teaspoons: out of all the cutlery and crockery you will lose at university, I found teaspoons were always the ones that ran away the most.
7. A Facebook account: so this isn't exactly something physical, but if you don't have a Facebook account, I would thoroughly recommend setting one up. So many society events, socials and everything will be on Facebook - it makes it so much easier to stay in touch with everything that's happening, people to ask questions to and it will make life a lot easier.

(My room after Easter!)

I think that's about all I have to say for now - I'll let you know if I think of anything else! xxx

Results Day!

Results day can go one way or the other. You've been waiting so many months for the moment you step inside that hall, collect your envelope and find out whether or not all the hard work over the past two years has paid off...

However, many students will know whether they have succeeded in getting into their first choice of university beforehand through UCAS. On my A Level results day, I woke up at around 6am and there was no way I was getting back to sleep the way my stomach was curdling with nerves - to quote:

"Ergh, ergh, ergh! Why do this to me?! Why am I awake so early? I woke up at 6:10, and the thought of an hour and 50 minute wait until Track opens is scaring me so badly. I feel so sick, and tired. My stomach feels like I want to rip it out!"

To pass the time, I sat on my laptop talking to other students I'd met on Facebook groups who also wanted to get into York. It made me feel a lot better knowing that everybody else was just as nervous as I was! When Track finally loaded, a short while before 8am and I'd seen the 'conditional' offer turn to 'unconditional', I sat there in shock for a few moments, just trying to take in what had actually happened.

Mind you, when I opened the envelope full of my results I outright burst into tears on the spot with happiness!

"I was shaking so badly opening them, and Lizzie was next to me saying ‘oh my God, you’re shaking’ as I read my results. That moment, it’s the best feeling in the world. –cue tears-. Why is that always my first reaction to anything?! The tears started pouring out and Jackie saw me so she came over, gave me a hug, sat me down and said ‘Never, ever doubt yourself…’."

Everybody, take Jackie's advice. Now. 

It might not actually settle in for a while either:

"It still doesn’t all feel very real. It hasn’t really sunken in yet, the results anyway. I’ve fully accepted the brilliant news that I’m heading off to York for University! It’s still quite strange to think about – the idea of going away to University… the idea that we’ve walked into school together for the last ever time now." 

You may achieve the grades you need for your first choice, but you might also fall just short. Nevertheless, you should be incredibly proud of what you achieve and even if things are looking somewhat bleak at the time, they'll work out best in the end. I know a few people who didn't quite make the grades they'd hoped for, but every single one of them has achieved so much since, be it in a full-time job, or further education in a different direction.

Either way, here are my top tips for results day:

1. It sounds so very cliché, but get an early night the night before - have a good meal, take a bath, read a book! Undoubtably, you will be up early checking results and up late in the night celebrating too - that, or drowning your sorrows!
2. Remember that everyone will be biting their nails too; you will not be alone! Talk it through with others who are going through the same nerves and it will relax you.
3. Don't compare your results to everyone else's. If you've done your very best, then that's all you could have done and you should be incredibly proud of that. The only thing you're competing with is your expectations.
4. Be proud of how much your hard work has paid off - if you've worked hard, you will be rewarded! Ensure you celebrate with your friends and enjoy that massive weight that's been lifted from your shoulders!

I hope this has been vaguely interesting/helpful in some shape, way or form! All that's left for me to say about Results Day is GOOD LUCK! <3

Katherine xxx

Welcome! :)

Introduction!

I'm not a writer, and nor do I pretend to be. In fact, I'm a maths student so the phrase 'It's all Greek to me' is actually quite true when it comes to letters. Stringing them together to form actual sentences is hard enough, let alone them actually having to make sense to anyone other than myself.

However, I've just read Carrie Hope Fletcher's book. If you haven't read it yet, I would thoroughly recommend it to you; you can buy it here from Waterstones! Her words and advice ring so true to my ears and it's advice that I wish I'd have read 10 years ago before tackling my years as a teenager.

But she's inspired me to get writing myself. As I'm about to complete my undergraduate mathematics degree, I thought I'd try and write some measly advice for some of the lucky students who are about begin their big university journeys - moving away from home for the first time, having to learn to cook, clean and fend for themselves. It can be an incredibly difficult time in your life, but it's also one of the most amazing. Moving away to university was one of the best decisions I've ever made, and it's so important to make the most of every opportunity. Therefore, this is going to try and help new first years on their brand new adventures...

Lots of love,

Katherine xxx