All you need to know with Warwick 101

So the ‘wait’ is over. You now know which university you will be attending in September. You are probably excited to start and find out everything about us.

Join the official Facebook group and event
The first thing you should probably do after finding out you’re coming to Warwick is join the official Facebook group. In this group, you can meet people on your course and get added to group chats to help you get to know people before you arrive. It makes that first lecture a little less daunting if you’ve met a couple of course mates to sit with and navigate your way through the first few weeks.

There is also a Facebook event for Warwick Freshers 2018, which you can join to see all the official events on and around campus. This group and event page are the only ones run by Warwick Students’ Union (SU) and any others are not affiliated with the SU.

Warwick SU said: “Sadly, we experience problems with this situation [unofficial freshers’ groups] every year, as external promoters pretend that the events they’re running are part of the official Welcome Week (or ‘Freshers’) programme, and students are duped into parting with cash for events they often don’t end up going to!

“Official groups will never ask for your personal details (e.g. course, email address or phone number) when joining, and we advise students not to give this out!”

It makes that first lecture a little less daunting if you’ve met a couple of course mates to sit with

Societies
Warwick has more than 250 societies and the best place to find them is the Societies Fair. This year, the Societies Fair will be running on the Monday and Tuesday of Welcome Week (24 and 25 September) in the Sports Centre. At each stall, you can meet the exec and sign up to their mailing list. Each day will not feature the same societies. On Monday, you’ll get: Activities and Games, Campaigning, Music appreciation, Cultural societies, and Food and Drink. On Tuesday, you can find: Academic, Religious and Belief, Performance, Welfare, Charity and Action, and Film and Media societies. You can then buy membership on the SU’s website for those you want to join. There is an overall fee of £19 and then each society is either free or has a small fee.

Sports
The Sports Fair features towards the end of Welcome Week. This is just for one day, and is also the place where you can sign up for mailing lists and find out about taster sessions.  To join a club, you will need to purchase the club pass from Warwick Sport and pay £6 per sport.

Warwick has more than 250 societies and the best place to find them is the Societies Fair

Outlets on campus
There are plenty of places on campus to go for food and drink. On central campus, you can visit the SU which has the Terrace Bar, Curiositea, The Dirty Duck and the Bread Oven. The Terrace Bar and The Dirty Duck are places to go out for a drink. The latter is a pub, which also serves great, cheap food. Curiositea is a tea shop, located on the ground floor of the SU, and serves milkshakes, smoothies and fabulous cakes. The Bread Oven is our answer to subway and is open at lunchtime.

Circling
You may or may not have heard of circling. The only way you can really describe it is ‘intense pre-drinks’. It’s called circling because you all sit in a circle to drink ‘purple’ (also called ‘snakebite’ in some parts of the UK). It is a mixture of beer, cider and blackcurrant squash. During circle, you play drinking games which you may have already heard of such as ‘20+1’ or ‘One Fat Frog’. But you down pints. Various societies differ on intensity – some let you drink a lot but others let you drink as much as you like or not at all. Circling comes before POP which happens every Wednesday of term in the Copper Rooms.

The only way you can really describe it is ‘intense pre-drinks’

How to escape the bubble
You also may have heard that Warwick campus is like being stuck in a bubble. While it is true that Warwick can feel isolated, there is plenty to do in Coventry and Leamington. Coventry is home to the Cathedral and the Transport Museum, but also features Primark and other shops. Leamington has great restaurants and bars. For example, Basement Browns is a pizza restaurant near the top of the parade. It’s beautifully cheap and delicious. For the slightly warmer days, you can sit in Jephson Gardens or the Royal Pump Room Gardens. A short bus ride will take you into Warwick where you can spend the day at Warwick Castle.

Nights out off campus
There are plenty of nights out off-campus. In Coventry, you have Kasbah which has free face paint and burgers in the smoking area. On 10 November, Scouting for Girls will play there. Leamington has Smack, Neon and the Assembly. Smack is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Neon on Friday.