Conquering Freshers Week fears: your guide to making friends and settling in

Amidst the chaos, confusion and intense box packing involved with moving to university, your mind becomes full of thoughts and what-ifs. Whilst enrolling on your new course and starting higher education is daunting enough alone, one of my biggest personal fears when starting university was whether I would make new friends. Moving away from home comforts and the bubble of your school community is harder than it seems. However, there are various ways to make your life easier and get yourself out there when beginning your university life.

Your friends from your course will become the source of your university survival

My first piece of advice involves the process of moving in itself, and sounds a bit trivial in hindsight, but it works a treat. Even if you are a naturally shy person, I recommend always keeping your accommodation door open. As all your relatives will have told you, you are not alone when you are moving into your new university home, and every one of your new housemates is in the same boat. Move-in day is filled with people going up and down the stairs with boxes and bags, so keeping your door open means you can catch your new housemates very casually to introduce yourself, without the dreaded walking around and knocking on doors. I also recommend packing some tasty treats or fun games to share around and play with your flatmates. You will immediately start conversations when you bring a new cake or chocolates into your barren fresher’s kitchen. I assure you now that the silly conversations about the stress of moving to university will be the beginning of some of your closest friendships.

Now, for the real deal, and what you are paying for, your course. Although you might be hungover, and hallucinating from a lack of sleep, make sure you go to your course introduction sessions. On my first days of university, I forced myself to the lecture halls to attend my course introduction sessions, as well as a very competitive history quiz and a welcome BBQ meet-up. The prospect of attending a lecture hall for the first time, whilst only having three hours of sleep the night before, is a perfect conversation starter. Your friends from your course will become the source of your university survival, from gossiping about reading, to the next big essay. You will really appreciate the importance of having academic pals in the same way as your friends from school. Before you know it, the person you sat next to in your welcome course events will be the best friend you struggle through exam season with.

I cannot recommend enough the importance of joining societies and spreading your wings

I have to admit that I was at first reluctant to join university societies. There was something about attending a bar crawl or entering the mysterious world of circling that really scared me. However, I cannot recommend enough the importance of joining societies and spreading your wings in your university sphere. In the first week of university, my friends and I went to the first Warwick Cocktail Society event of the year, and I made some of my best friends. I am now somehow becoming the President moving into my third year. Whilst the exec members of these huge societies feel like elusive figures, they were also freshers once and are always willing to answer any questions and make you feel included. If you need any inspiration, from sports to culture societies, or some of Warwick’s more niche clubs, a trip to the Welcome Week Freshers Fair is a good place to start your societies journey. This is also a perfect opportunity to collect some flyers to decorate your accommodation notice board.

When written down, these activities may seem rather daunting, but even if you aren’t the most confident of people, you will find your crowd if you get yourself out there. Conversation, and the realisation that everyone is feeling the same way, will make you feel uplifted in starting your university journey, and before you know it, Warwick will become your second home.