Welcome Fresher’s!
Fresher’s Week can be a bit of a minefield, so I’ve asked some second years for any sage advice they have on it. With this inspiring wisdom, I have compiled a handy checklist of tips about RoHo to help you navigate these tricky waters:
1. ‘Ruby Wines’ in Englefield Green is your new favourite shop – make sure to stock up on cheap drink BEFORE realising at 9pm on the first night that you have none.
2. Don’t be too shy to go to society socials straight away, take the plunge!
3. Buy the SU Fresher’s Week wristband! It may be insanely expensive, but nobody wants to watch their friends queue jump while at the back of an unending line. FOMO aside, you won’t have to worry about booking tickets for events online. Plus, there’s literally nowhere else to go in Egham on a Friday night!
4. Do not publicise the fact that you have any of the following:
– Alcohol
– Food that is less bland than everyone else’s toast/pasta
– A Netflix subscription with two devices already on it.
5. A well-known rule is to keep your door open for the first few days. Although the thought of people traipsing in, caked in mud and rearranging your neat line of new Sharpies is horrific, you don’t want your new flat to think you’re a total recluse either.
6. On that note, start to get involved with your flat mates straight away. Even going to things like the SU Poster Sale on moving-in day counts as bonding experiences.
7. Speaking of bonding experiences, having sleepovers with your flat and course mates may not be the best idea… beer goggles can do a lot to the imagination, and awkward eye contact for the next year of lectures is enough to make anyone want to get themselves onto the Erasmus Scheme.
8. Don’t expose TOO much about yourself whilst playing drinking games, such as the deadly ‘never have I ever’… you might earn yourself a terrible nickname for the year.
9. Make sure you sign up to ANYTHING that takes your interest at the Fresher’s Fair- trying something new could at least lead to hilarious tryouts and a few good socials.
10. If nothing else, bring a pen, pesto, and vodka. Although some of this may seem rather obvious, it is (somewhat depressingly) all based on real Fresher’s Week experiences – see the Sharpie trauma at No.5.
