So you’ve just got accepted into your uni, you’ve sorted out which halls, or house you’ll be living in and you’ve brought everything you could think to pack with you.
You think you’ve got over the hurdle of sorting uni out, but guess what, there’s more to do… But don’t worry, this part can be considered the fun part, you get to actually move in, not just get dropped to uni and sort your accommodation keys out.
Moving in & making it your own
Once you’ve unpacked and moved into the new accommodation you’re now tasked with sorting everything out and finding what works for you. Setting up your desk, your plants, your bed, bathroom, getting first dibs on the best cupboards in the shared kitchen, there’s plenty to do!
The best part about this is that for most people this is the first time living away from home, so despite that strange “now what?” feeling after you’ve been left to your own devices you get to live your way!
Getting all of your things up to uni can be a hassle, like lugging everything on the train can be a massive pain, why not borrow a car for a day or two to get your stuff up there. Veygo’s temporary car insurance can make moving that much easier!
Shopping
Once you’ve got the gaff set up, the next thing you’ll have to do is shopping, this falls into two categories; food and home. Obviously you’ll need to do a food shop as you have to eat something at some point. But also, it’s inevitable, you’ll have missed something off your list, or realised you could do with a specific item to improve your set up.. it’s nearly guaranteed as you wont know exactly what your accommodation will be like.
Now for those of you who consider yourself a master tactician, before your parents go, you’ll get them to take you food shopping, and hopefully the guilt of you leaving you will make them pay for your first “big shop”. This is where you take advantage and get all the items your student budget won’t allow you to get!
Two things are crucial when you get your first shop in, make sure you plan what you’re buying, not only will this make sure that you have enough food in the fridge, but it’s also a great way to make sure you’re not over spending.. Despite all of them tempting clubcard offers!
The home shop is something that is definitely more fun than the food shop, and again, depending on how long your parents have stuck around for, then it could be a good idea to take them with you to help out buying those last couple of things you need. For this, you get to do the infamous Ikea trip, meaning that hour-long walk around looking at anything and everything you don’t need until you eventually find something you could actually do with having.
Get a parking permit
If you do happen to drive to uni and plan to have your car there, then getting a parking permit is a great idea to keep your car close. They’re usually quite affordable and means you don’t have to drive down every side street in the country just to find a free parking space.
However, if you aren’t bringing your car don’t forget to SORN your car, this will help prevent you getting any extra charges on your car if you have no intention of using it whilst at university.
Finally, if you don’t bring your car to uni, it may be a good idea to cancel your insurance anyways, so that when you go home, you can just borrow a parents car and use some trusty Veygo temporary insurance so you can drive about as and when you need to.
Get to know your housemates
You’re going to be living with these people for the next year so it’s a good idea to get to know them! It’s pretty simple, smile, ask questions, and just don’t be afraid to speak to everyone. All the people you meet are in the same boat and looking to make friends so don’t worry!
Housemates are the best place to start making friends as you’re living with them and it’s likely they’re the first people you’re going to meet. The quicker you get to know your housemates the better off you’ll be.
Getting to know them can be really simple, you can ask them if they want to go out and explore the town and campus, organise flat nights-in early on, and even a night out with just your flat (what better way to overshare than drinking games!).
Once you’ve become solid with them, it’s time to start exploring, get about and see what’s out there!
Explore the campus
This is an important one, because it’s very likely you’re new to the area and will need to get your bearings right. There’s a few things on the priority list.
- Find your lecture halls and seminar rooms, although it feels like there’s ample time for this, just get it out the way, because once you’ve got that ticket off then you can do any other exploring.
- It’s a good idea to find your Student Union, by doing this you get to hit two birds with one stone, finding the SU and it’s likely to be holding some kind of fair for freshers. This will help you to find any clubs or societies that you’ll be interested in (a great way to make friends and get yourself about.) and it’s likely to be a useful hub for information around uni.
- The local town, this isn’t super important, but this should hopefully provide you with a place to go explore on the quiet days and if you ever need anything. Also it’s typically here you’re going to find all the nightclubs and places to explore for freshers events (also a great way to find friends, or get to know current housemates on a new, messy level!)
Getting yourself together
Once you’ve finally done most of the above, it’ll be time to actually start thinking about the learning side of things, after all you are there to get your degree.. By this point you’ll probably have received/collected enough information that you can start getting organised.
It’s time to get your timetable together, find out your exact lecture theatres, and what buildings your seminars will be in. Doing this just gives you the head start on finding your buildings and helps you to know what times you’ll need to be leaving in the mornings, just creating less stress for yourself.
It’s also a good idea to try and get ahead of any reading you can, most universities will give you a required reading list ahead of time so that you can go out there and find the books you’ll be needing to get through, throughout the year, so whenever you find yourself with some downtime in freshers, it can give you something to do.