UKM Student Natalie shares her advice for this year’s freshers.

Starting university can be a daunting concept. Being away from home for the first time, away from your parents, from your friends, in a new place. But that’s just the fun of it!

You can do and be whoever you want in this new place, and the first step to this is making sure you get involved in all that Welcome Week has to offer.

During Welcome Week make sure you go to you school’s induction events, explore the campus and discover all the societies you can join at the Freshers Fair.

The other side of Welcome Week is the social events and making friends. So here’s my list of things you should pack for freshers.

1 – Face-paint

Whether you use this for a themed night or for a corridor party, face-paint is an absolute must for Welcome Week, and indeed the rest of your university partying career. Looking ahead to the rest of the year, Halloween tends to be a big night, so if you’ve got some leftover, be sure to keep it for that.

2 – Fancy dress

While we’re on the note of nights out, a lot of them involve fancy dress. Whether you want to be a fairy, Harry Potter, or a tiger, come as what you like, but sticking an old school uniform in your bag probably won’t go amiss!

3 – Your favourite pick-me-up

Welcome Week is almost certainly going to involve a few late nights (even if you’re not a night owl). Finding things out and meeting new people is going take it out of you.

If you’ve got a favourite breakfast or pick-me-up to get you going in the morning (or maybe early afternoon) make sure you bring some with you or stock up when you arrive. I can’t even begin to tell you how much bacon and bread I bought during my first year!

4 – A dressing gown

This might seem like a strange recommendation, and if you don’t want to take me up on it, at least make sure you have a hoodie or something comfortable to pull on over your pyjamas when the person upstairs sets off the fire alarm at 4am making toast. You could be outside for a while, and let’s face it, no matter what time of year it is, baby, it’s cold outside!

5 – Photos of friends and family

Photos of friends and family are an important item to have all year round, but especially during the first few weeks. It’s completely natural to feel homesick over the first couple of weeks, but with trinkets from home around you, you’ll hopefully start to feel more comfortable in no time.

So there we go, a few important essentials to bring with you when you move in to your new place. Hopefully these items will make your first few weeks as manageable and hassle free as possible, and you’ll be settled in in no time!

Image credits
Author: Jeremy Keith
Title: Bacon butty
Source: Flickr
Link: https://flic.kr/p/chxbeL
License: CC BY 2.0