Fighting the Freshers Fear

Approaching a new academic year makes me look back on my time at Warwick so far, especially first year. In terms of personal and social life, it’s the most important year at university and this brings with it a lot of pressure. Pressure to make friends, look your best, join societies and balance this all with keeping on top of work and going out every night during Freshers’ week.

You come to university full of expectations of Freshers’ week being the peak of a fun and fabulous year. So, what if it isn’t? What if the people on your course are average and you have nothing in common with your flat mates? What if you haven’t done the summer reading and struggle to enjoy your first few weeks with the weight of looming work on your shoulders? Fear not.

When I first came to Warwick, I was disorientated and couldn’t settle in right away. Your parents leave and instantly you’re liberated. But it’s not easy being placed in accommodation with people you’ve never met and having to go out every night, when actually you’re a bit of a grandma. Wandering around halls and having forced conversations isn’t great either and since this is the only thing to do on an isolated campus, life becomes very awkward.

At Warwick especially, enjoyment and entertainment don’t come to you, you have to learn how to make it. You can’t force it. If you are feeling this way and you can’t quite figure out what to do, relax. Don’t try and cover up your discomfort as I can safely say that you’re aimlessly floating among a sea of other worriers.

I highly doubt that anyone immediately feels as though this is where they belong; we’ve all come from different backgrounds and struggle to comprehend where our personalities fit into the Warwick bubble.

If I had to give one piece of advice to the new Freshers’, it would be to not compare your new life to your old one. Your friends aren’t going to be the same, you won’t be able to talk to them in the same way, and you’re not among people that know you inside out. Instead, embrace the opportunity you have been given to meet people who are from other sides of the world and have entirely different lifestyles.

University is the time to branch out of your comfort zone, and though a frightening prospect, it’s incredible. The forced conversations are the ones that you’ll laugh about down the line when you’ve found your social circle and the awkward acquaintances have become the closest of friends.

No matter how it may feel at the start, this truly will be one of the best years of your life thus far. My final words of wisdom are the following:

**Don’t stress about work –** it’ll all fall in to place with the help of your tutors and course mates.

**Manage your money well – **it’s easy to get carried away during Freshers’ week but remember that you want to be able to enjoy the rest of the year too!

**Societies, societies, societies –** as an in the-middle-of-nowhere university, Warwick prides itself on the great deal of activity and university life that comes in the form of societies and sports clubs.

While you should keep the previous rule in mind and avoid joining societies that you’re never going to participate in, from the cultural to the academic to the sporty, it’s likely that you’ll want to meet people with similar interests to you and being part of a society that you’re passionate about could become the best part of your university life.