5 Tips for Starting University

So, I know that a lot of you will be starting university soon whether it’s your first year or not, it’s always good to have some tips handy to help you out. I’ll be starting my second year of university in a couple of weeks and I am genuinely excited. As weird as it sounds, I miss the feeling of being stressed out of my mind, very odd I know. I hate it at the time, but when the period of stress goes, I miss it and want it to come back! The first year of university (especially the first month or so) are so scary because you’re on your own in this new institution and sometimes in a different city with those of you who move away from home. I hope you enjoy my tips that I think are pretty much universal for everyone? Enjoy, I hope you all have a lovely week and an amazing time at university, let me know how your first couple of weeks are at university and whether my tips helped you at all.

1/ Try not to be worried about making new friends. I know it seems super had and scary at first but trust me, a lot of people are feeling the same things. I never moved away and a lot of my friends had stayed in Manchester, but my building was a lot further away than everyone else’s and I didn’t know anybody doing my course or aware of anyone in my building. But as soon as my first seminar was starting, I spoke to a girl who was waiting for the same seminar and we hit it off right there and then. I know it’s hard sometimes to make friends with people or even plucking up the courage to speak to somebody but trust me, it is so much better just having that moment of strength and just saying hi. Most people will be in the same boat as you. I wish you all good luck in making friends in university.

2/ Learn to budget plan. This is an important step especially if you’re living away from home, you’ll have your student loan, money from your family and then if you work, your wages but even then, most of the people that I know still struggle having to pay for their accommodation, food expenses, books and then a social life. I still live at home but I pay rents and bills to help my parents out and I often do end up fairly skint. But I think the best way to tackle this is to be able to budget. There are proper people and websites that can help you with that sort of thing but I’m sure most of them will talk about planning meals out in advance and things like that.

3/ Don’t worry if you don’t bring a pen or paper into lectures. Most of the time during my lectures, the lecturers go through the PowerPoint slides so fast that you don’t get the chance to write down all the information. So, I do end up just taking pictures of the slides and the PowerPoint's are usually available to all students after the lecture ends. So, don’t worry if you forget to take a pen with you. I usually like having my notes all in one notebook instead of on PowerPoint slides thus, I end up writing the notes up at a later time.

4/ Learn how to cook. I cannot stress how important this is. It is such a basic lifestyle skill that we all need and learning how to cook during university when living away from home is incredibly important. As a first reason, why, you’ll be saving money buying raw ingredients and then cooking rather than buying ready meals or takeaways. Another reason, it is a lot healthier being able to cook from raw ingredients without the added rubbish that’s often put into takeaways and pre-made meals. Lastly, it’s just such a good feeling knowing that you can cook and it will benefit you so much in later life when you have your own apartment or home. It’s a nice relaxing hobby to have, a lot of people de-stress with cooking and baking, whether it is just a pasta or a five-course meal. Being able to cook is a basic skill that most people should obtain during university life.

5/ Get ahead of reading! This, I wish I did this first year, I wish I did this this year. I can’t relate but I’m sure it’s a lovely lovely feeling being ahead of reading and being aware of all the stuff that lecturers talk about. Good luck everyone! Stay safe and stay blessed my friends!