The Official Durham Fresher's Thread 2014

Did you get chance to do much mechanics?

Hope I'm not late to the train here. I'm doing Biomed at Hild Bede!

Hello fellow Durham Freshers

Quick question. I'm not much of a drinker, and joining uni will no doubt involve alcohol and club parties to socialise and make friends. I don't really have id, only passport, but my (Asian) mother refuses to let me take it out, neither will she fork out money for a provisional. I don't really want to be the girl left in the halls with no friends because I couldn't go to Fresher parties.

So, basically, is it that big of a deal that I don't attend parties? And if it is, does anyone have any advice to my situation? :s

EDIT: I've considered getting a Citizen card, but apparently they're not widely accepted, although my information was sourced from 4 years ago.

Errmmm you'll need a photo ID for enrolment i.e. a passport and/or drivers license transcript to prove your identity and place of residence. So either way you'll have it with you during uni.

I mentioned I have a passport, but my mother won't allow me to take it out to parties (nor do I really want to get it lost). She plans to take it with her back home after enrolment.

You can apply for a provisional driving licence and use it as your ID.

As I've already stated in my first post, my parents won't allow me to do so.

Hello fellow Durham Freshers

Quick question. I'm not much of a drinker, and joining uni will no doubt involve alcohol and club parties to socialise and make friends. I don't really have id, only passport, but my (Asian) mother refuses to let me take it out, neither will she fork out money for a provisional. I don't really want to be the girl left in the halls with no friends because I couldn't go to Fresher parties.

So, basically, is it that big of a deal that I don't attend parties? And if it is, does anyone have any advice to my situation? :s

EDIT: I've considered getting a Citizen card, but apparently they're not widely accepted, although my information was sourced from 4 years ago.

Why not? You'll need one in the future, if it's cause of the money you could wait till you get your student finance and apply then. Only other ID I can think of is your actual student ID but dunno if most places would accept it.

You could get an NUS card or use your campus card, as they both have your photo on... though I'm not sure if places accept them as ID? Does anyone know if they are accepted forms of ID? I know I've used my NUS card to buy DVDs and stuff but I'm not sure if they would be stricter in bars etc.

So your mother is going to take your passport back home with her..?

How do you plan on going home after university/ getting out of the country to travel?


Just fork out the money for a provisional license, better to get it done sooner rather than later.

Yup, she is. Home is an hour away. I'd need their permission to travel out of country anyways.

I can't make purchases like that without parental consent.

Hello fellow Durham Freshers

Quick question. I'm not much of a drinker, and joining uni will no doubt involve alcohol and club parties to socialise and make friends. I don't really have id, only passport, but my (Asian) mother refuses to let me take it out, neither will she fork out money for a provisional. I don't really want to be the girl left in the halls with no friends because I couldn't go to Fresher parties.

So, basically, is it that big of a deal that I don't attend parties? And if it is, does anyone have any advice to my situation? :s

EDIT: I've considered getting a Citizen card, but apparently they're not widely accepted, although my information was sourced from 4 years ago.

At the end of your second year, once your results have come back you can make a free choice to switch between any of the three strands, you don't have to worry about this until way further down the line =P

Physics practicals are ok in first year, nothing like ISAs really, you will inevitably do the lab prep in 5 minutes at 1am the night before and still end up paired with someone less prepared/worse at practicals/more hungover and sleep deprived than yourself =)

Even though first year doesn't actually contribute to your degree its still important to do as well as you can, firstly as it does go on your transcript which you'll have to send to employers/summer project people when making applications. Secondly if you screw up one of your later years or get ill or something it helps to have proof you actually are good at Physics when the board of examiners considers your case.

All that said do commit as much time as you can to having fun, getting good at your degree is what the Easter holidays are for!

Yep :/ wow blimey yeh they have such tight grade boundaries on ISAs :/ yeh me too- but we got the grades to get on to it so we must deserve it, I'm just glad there wasn't an interview :P oh right, ah that's annoying they didn't offer A2 further maths :/
well after GCSEs I didn't know what I wanted to do at uni so picked a range of subjects- so I chose Physics, Maths, Geography and Politics- I dropped politics after AS and then kind of picked up Further Maths although I didn't do any exams in it, just studied FP1, most of FP2 and half of stats (stats was so boring wow) ... So yeh kinda complicated/ weird

I think your parents are being a bit unreasonable! I think the best thing to do is sit them down and have a proper talk about it. Explain that you are an adult now and that you're going to university, which is a huge challenge for most as it is. Explain how this would negatively impact your social life which would ultimately affect your studies as you couldn't do things such as go to 18 movies with friends! But most importantly, you need to make them trust you. Tell them that you are not a big drinker anyway (as you said originally), and you can be trusted not to go crazy.
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If you use your passport to enroll and then your mother takes it back with her then you may be able to use your campus card as ID for getting into clubs etc. I'd say that a lot of the time you may not be asked for ID if you look over 18.

Also, a lot of freshers events will be in your college premises and I imagine that ID will be less of a problem.

It's easier to make friends when you can actually speak to someone rather than trying to scream at them over ear-shattering dance music to be heard.