You generally won't have academic subject lectures in the first week, which will be Fresher's or Induction Week. The uni will usually send out a timetable of events.

You'll probably have at least one session in a lecture theatre, which introduces you to the teaching staff, the campus etc. This type of 'Welcome' lecture is pretty standard. You may also have things like a guided tour of the library to show you things like where the bulk of your subject books/journals can be found, how to check books in/out, how to access ebooks/ejournals etc. Take a notebook and pen for this type of activity, as they'll be giving out useful info, but don't worry about a laptop. If you need to sign up to anything online and you can't get to a uni PC, you can always do this off campus, later in the day.

Freshers' Fair is just a matter of wandering around the various stalls, gathering handouts and freebies. I'd definitely recommend having a bag with spare room for carrying that lot about, although you may get a free bag with some of the handouts. A notebook and pen might also come in handy, but usually clubs and societies will have handouts with their contact details on them. Some clubs have a membership fee, but should let you sign up at a later date so you can decide whether you really want to join. At my current uni, all membership fees have to be paid online so you usually can't join anything other than the mailing list on the actual day.

You normally have to formally enrol or register at uni during your first week. You'll get an email or letter from the uni telling you where to go on campus, the date/time and what you need to take. For my enrolment, I had to take my offer letter and A Level certificates, so expect to carry things like that - you'll need a waterproof bag, big enough to get official A4 documents in it without being folded or damaged.

Bring enough money to buy coffee/lunch, or carry a packed lunch if you prefer. Nobody will mind you sitting in coffee, bar or restaurant areas if you bring your own food and drink.

Reply 29

Klix88

Original post by Alumna

Do you people even go to these things alone

so many people on here say, suck it up and go yourself

but if you don;t want to.. how do you find people to go with
highly sure some people go with friends/family siblings or cousins
they atleast have one person

i will not have anyone so how can i find someone :

There's no way that students would turn up to a Freshers' Fair with a relative or non-uni friend. This is the point at which you start to become independent from your family, so it would be seen as very strange. Plus you'll find that entry is usually restricted to uni students and there will be a way of excluding non-uni people. Otherwise you'd have members of the public steaming through the place, filling their pockets with freebies to which they're not entitled.

I went to the Freshers' Fair with a fellow student (we'd been introduced by a mutual friend) in the first year and on my own in the second year. Not sure I'd recommend going with someone else. TBH the other person was a bit of a nuisance on the first time round. We had different interests and ended up splitting up to go round the stalls anyway, just meeting for a coffee an hour later. Don't think I spent time with her after Induction Week. The second year solo experience was much more useful. I knew what clubs interested me and I could just get on with finding them.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 30

truechristian91

notebook or laptop, pencils and pens, and a drink. thats all you need for the first week, anything more is just silly. you can change that as you go if you want, but i never bothered with anything else.