First day at Uni

I have a few questions for those of you who have done the freshers thing:

What did you actually do on your first day of university?
How did you avoid the inevitable awkwardness of moving in with a bunch of strangers?

Reply 1

james22

I believe the convention is to get so pissed you are incapable of feeling awkward.

Reply 2

Dan1909

First day I moved my stuff in, went for lunch with my family and my (then) girlfriend, then headed back to the halls, didn't really do much as only one other person had moved in, and he never left his room (when possible) for the entire year!

Second day I chatted with housemates as they moved in, then we all went down to the union bar in the evening.

Reply 3

Helmi

haha everyone will be just as nervous as you, promise! Chat to your flatmates and then at uni just talk with the people. On my first day of uni i was terribly hungover and i sat alone eating my chicken salad like a retard :biggrin:

Everyone is in the same situation so making friends is fairly easy.

My flatmates were well nice. Just remember during the first days, don't say no. If they suggest hanging out or something get involved. It's not awkward at all it will be fiineee :smile:

Reply 4

Iqbal007

Original post by carl_senior

The first few months are fine............because every student in the 1st year is in that awkward position, so it makes conversations so much easier. You can just chat to them and they'll talk back. Some are just afraid to make the first move for a conversation.

Reply 5

PammieHoney

This is exactly what I'm worried about too! As much as I am very confident awkwardness is the most horrible situation to be in! I just hope when I start, I have really cool flatmates

Reply 6

Helmi

Original post by PammieHoney

This is exactly what I'm worried about too! As much as I am very confident awkwardness is the most horrible situation to be in! I just hope when I start, I have really cool flatmates

Hhaah you prolly wont :biggrin:

my flatmates were absolute muppets but I love them to bits. There's always one or two who like to stay in their rooms/dont wanna get involved with the rest, don't be that person haha :biggrin:

Going out and doing stuff is so important during the first few weeks. That's when the groups will form.

It will all be alright :biggrin:

I was so nervous about my flatmates but at the end of it we started doing kitchen yoga, air drying after showers and failing at life together :P

Reply 7

Mr Smurf

1. Meet people on my course.

2. You dont avoid it. They are in the same situation as you so you try and befriend them.

Reply 8

willbee

You don't avoid the awkwardness, but if you acknowledge it, then it somehow seems a bit easier. It's very easy being a fresher at uni, it's exciting and everyone is in the same boat so they're all trying to please too. It isn't until after semester 1 that you get to know people as who they really are. In Semester 1 I had loads of friends because people thought I was funny, by the end of Semester 2 they realised it was just because I'm mean. :s-smilie:

But there isn't anything you can do to break the ice, really. I met a lad in my block and asked him how much a polar bear weighed. He'd heard it before and he said "not enough to break the ice" :frown:

Then he buggered off. It was the only experience I had in the whole of first semester though of someone being unfriendly on purpose. I don't think being a dick did him any favours either.

The only advice I can give you is to be nice to everyone. I wasn't, sadly, and it caused problems for me later in the year when I got labelled as a troublemaker. I don't think I am, but I recognised who was going to be the bully on my floor early on, and I made a real effort to make sure I wasn't going to be the bullied. I went through that **** in High School and as awful as it sounds I just decided that at uni it could be someone else's turn.

Be nice to everyone. Nobody deserves your nastiness, especially when you don't even know them. You will splinter off into friendship groups later in the year, so there is no reason to exclude anyone at the start.

Ofc, you'll probably be much nicer and more decent when you start uni, I'm not going to say anything to defend myself for the way I behaved in Freshers, because I was more than a bit of a moron in the way I treated a few people, but even if there is an atmosphere of bullying in your accommodation, don't do anything to add to it.

Yeah, just be nice and all will be good. I've just gone off on a ramble about my own regrets regarding Freshers', which actually has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of this thread. :tongue:

Reply 9

muffingg

Original post by carl_senior

A lot of time took me unpacking. Then they organised some getting to know each other games in the common room and found some really great people. Some of those I never talked to again after the first week, but a few became really good friends. Went to dinner with 3 other guys. Hanged around in the common room for some more time afterwards and got to know some more people...most of them went out, but I didn't use to go out back in the days, so stayed in my room and did some more unpacking before going to sleep.