THE TOP 5 THINGS I LEARNED BEING A FRESHER

(photo featuring some stationary goodies I picked up at #BloggersFestival)

So in a weeks time i'll be heading back down to Bournemouth for my fourth and final year at university, it seems so strange that its been 3 years now since I was packing up to leave home for the first time. For the past year I've been on placement working full time, so it will be a bit of an adjustment going back to no alarm everyday at 7am and no bank account full of money I can spend. I am excited about becoming a student again and also going back to living with my friends but a little nervous about how much work I will have to do in my final year - no going out every night of the week like a fresher any more.

So I thought since i've been there and done it, I wanted to let any new students (or old) the top five things I learnt about being a fresher. I'm not saying that these are things that everyone will find out or learn, but I do think my freshers experience was very typical of a lot of students.

1. FRESHERS FLU IS INEVITABLE

Yes! All of you that think your indestructible and won't get ill from going out every night for weeks, it will happen! For the first 4 weeks at university I pretty much went out every night except a few nights in and then it hit me and I couldn't even get out of bed. After spending 48 hours in bed and a stern phone call from my Dad I realised that I really didn't need to be out every night or could I hack it. However, you probably will all go out every night so pack plenty of paracetamol, cold & flu tablets and vitamin C!

2. DON'T JUDGE YOUR NEW FLATMATES BEFORE MEETING THEM

If you're heading to university this year then you will have probably been on a Facebook page and put your flat number down to find your new living partners. I certainly did this and found 4 out of the 5 I would be living with, to be honest with you I probably did judge them before moving in as all you can see is pictures and the odd status. My flatmates ended up being brilliant and we all got on great, in second year I didn't live with them and so we drifted apart but i'd still speak to them and meet up with them.

3. PRANKS WILL HAPPEN

Within the first few days of living in my flat I realised this, three of my flat mates actually turned the whole living upside down after a night out - kind of weird to walk into when you're hungover/still drunk. From then on there was constant pranks being pulled and you had to always lock your door, for me this was a little weird as being an only child I never had to wary of pranks from other siblings. One of the worst was all the boys in our flat moved all the furniture into the hallway after us girls went on a night out - I don't advise this though as they got a fine for blocking the fire escape!

4. SPENDING SPLURGES WILL HAVE TO STOP

Much to my dismay I realised that being a student I could no longer go on massive shopping sprees or online shopping whenever I wanted. I spent the summer before I headed off to uni working full time and being able to shop all time and now I was looking for the best offers on smart price food in Asda! However, if you are careful with money you can occasionally treat yourself, just remember the end of each term will be tough when your waiting for your next student loan.

5. YOUR FIRST YEAR DOES COUNT IN SOME WAYS
I went into my first year at uni under the impression that my first year didn't really matter, to be honest I still tried and did reasonably well. However, I definitely didn't attend as many lectures as I should have done. If you were like me, although your first year grade doesn't matter towards your final grade it's the grade companies will see when your applying for placements. Although I managed to do well in my first year there was still a lot of others with better grades and meant I was probably overlooked for lots of placements. So I would advise at least trying in your first year but you can still have fun!

So these are some of the main things I learnt being a fresher and I hope it helps some of you, probably very nervous, freshers get through your first year. 

xo