Surviving Freshers' Week

This is a task easier said than done.

Many challenges lay ahead of you on your long journey through your first week at a university overseas and in a city that no one in your group of friends knows at all.

Many people are under the impression that life comes with no guarantees. If ever there were evidence to the contrary, it is the fresher's week at university.

This week is practically guaranteed to be the most fun and the most expensive week of your life, the rest of your university career notwithstanding. You will meet countless new people (many of whom you will never see again after the first two weeks).

The purpose of the freshers' week is, officially, to get all the new students registered in their courses, allow everyone to get settled into their accommodation, to get timetables sorted out and to receive an (extremely boring) introductory talk from the chancellor of the university.

Of course, the main reason for most people to attend freshers' week is to have a really good time.

Unfortunately, you do have to go through with the registration and boring talks business, otherwise you may find yourself not listed in course timetables, without a union card (essential to student life) and quite possibly with no grant cheque. It's painless really.

It soon becomes clear at the end of registration that it was all worthwhile, when you are finally presented with the fruits of your labor -- your passport to student life, your raison d'etre -- the student union card.

This card will get you into many night-clubs cheaply, get you discounts at quite a few shops and fast food chains, and most importantly, will get you into the students' union.

The students' union is most likely where you will spend the majority of evenings in your fresher's week. It is characterized by having a hard-hitting, controversial and bang-up-to-date name.

Inside, you will discover a plethora of useful amenities, such as a ten-year-old photocopier furiously groaning away in a corner, and a shop selling nothing but Mars bars and king size Rizlas.

The unfeasibly large number of eating and drinking establishments present in most unions provides you with a small insight into the motivation of the common species studentus inebriatum.

Throughout freshers' week, though, remember the one golden rule: enjoy yourself. Don't go to the bookshop and buy all the books on the reading list with the intention of finishing them before lectures start.

True, you will have to get down to work once lectures start, but not during the freshers' week.

Coping With Work

Some students employ a strategy at university for coping with work that allows them maximum free time for sleeping until 'Neighbors' comes on, watching television at the students' union.

This technique, known as work avoidance was conceived shortly after history's first university took in its students, and has been diligently developed to its modern state of perfection by students across the ages.

It is worth noting that those students incorporating this tactic into their life at university are invariably those found sadly bereft of degree certificate after three years; such is the efficiency of the technique.

The approach to work at university is very different from that which you are used to at a school sixth form or a college.

Undoubtedly, the emphasis is much more upon self-motivation. You are expected to do a great deal of work outside lectures, without having to be asked to do so. Quite often, work will be given out by lecturers and not expected to be handed in for marking.

It is essential to realize from the start that the work still must be done it order to gain a thorough understanding of the subject being studied.

A place to live

Usually, when you are going to university or college for the first time, you will be given a lot of help with this.

You will almost certainly be sent, after your application has been accepted, a pack detailing all of the university's own accommodation and possibly also a list of university-approved accommodation for you to investigate.

Most people in their first year will want to live in university-owned halls or self-catering apartments.

The advantages of this are numerous, especially in your first year. Since you are living with hundreds of other students, many of them also in their first year, you will have a great opportunity to get to know others from a wide variety of subject backgrounds.

In most halls of residence, some meals (usually breakfast and evening meals on weekdays, and all three at weekends) are provided in with the rent, along with all heating and electricity costs.

This is a great help of course, because hall fees are usually paid in one lump sum at the beginning of each term, and so even if you are completely broke near the end of the term, you are guaranteed warmth and electricity and at least one nutritious (albeit utterly tasteless) meal each day.

University apartments are similar in concept to the halls, in that you have about a hundred or so students living together in the same building, split into small groups who share the same cooking and shower facilities, etc.

Living in a house for your first year is generally something to investigate only after attempts to find a place in halls or apartments have been unsuccessful.

It may not be possible to find a place in halls if, for example, you have got your place at university through the clearing system, as most places will already have been taken by those with definite offers.

There are distinct advantages, however, to this accommodation over the apartments and halls. You have a great deal more freedom in what you can do.

There are no porters prowling the corridors looking for trouble, and you're not rudely awakened at the unearthly hour of 10 a.m. by the cleaners two mornings of the week.

Naturally, this also means that you're likely to be knee-deep in chip wrappers, empty beer cans and uneaten three-week-old doner kebabs at the end of the term, as no one will ever clear up.

Finally, one of the best ways to meet like-minded people, to have fun and to broaden your horizons at the same time, is to join one of the many clubs and societies that all universities offer.

During the freshers' week, there will probably be held a thing called the 'freshers fair'. This is when all the clubs and societies set up stands in the union building, advertise their clubs and try to get you enrolled into them.

Don't miss this event, even if you do not intend to join anything. (Compiled from various sources)