A Rat's 1st Year of Uni 🌎

Sorry?! Freshers stands for Freebies Really (be) Expected So Hand Everyone, Regularly, Stuff. Why do they be charging £2 for pizza? 😭
💀😭😭

Welcome to my university blog!
Follow along for updates on my life
and

Tuesday 23/09/25
MY FIRST DAY OF UNI

^literally me around campus
Let me begin with the fact that 9-5 days are NO joke guys, I actually have such a banging headache, but I cannot believe I have just started uni!!!
Commuting sucked, no surprise there, but I’m so grateful the weather was nice.
Met my batch mates, and we are quite close already since there’s only 40 of us in total (and a lot of them didn’t show up), which I actually really like having a small year size because I get overstimulated so easily with so many students round campus lol. Everyone is so sweet and friendly, we ate lunch together (me with my packed lunch sandwich… I don’t have the money to eat out everyday on top of bus and train fares lol 😭) and explored some freshers stands, but it’s such a scam literally nothing was actually free.
Did some usual induction-y stuff, ice breakers to get to know the lecturers and peers, a workshop with the new masters students, and of course, got a little lost together as we tried to navigate buildings between sessions. Tbh, I did the classic new kid goes into the WRONG room (I sat there in the masters of social work classroom so confidently, only realised when I couldn’t find my name on the sign-in sheet and luckily escaped and was still on time for my first intro session - BUT this was not my fault as two other people I met did the same thing as me, they literally put arrow signs for us and it pointed into the open door of the wrong room).
The cutest friend from college met up with me and bought me a Greggs eclair (these are top tier) as a treat for the train journey home.
I decided not to take the laptop/notebook etc tomorrow, heck a bag at all because I doubt I’ll need it during the rest of this welcome week and it’s such a hassle to lug around (watch me need it now). Lunch is provided tomorrow (yay free food), and I’m excited to see my new friends again (they all live in student accom)! I meet my advisor tomorrow too, and I’ve registered my interest to be an academic rep for my course. I also collect my ID card tomorrow (you have to pay for the lanyard, luckily I can use my brother’s old one - guys I swear I am not stingy, but I didn’t take out a maintenance loan and most of uni stuff is financed from my own pocket so these small costs really add up waaa), and I hope to snag a free matcha if the queue isn’t the length of the road (my first time trying matcha - will I think it tastes like grass? I’ll keep you posted)

Tuesday 23/09/25
MY FIRST DAY OF UNI

^literally me around campus
Let me begin with the fact that 9-5 days are NO joke guys, I actually have such a banging headache, but I cannot believe I have just started uni!!!
Commuting sucked, no surprise there, but I’m so grateful the weather was nice.
Met my batch mates, and we are quite close already since there’s only 40 of us in total (and a lot of them didn’t show up), which I actually really like having a small year size because I get overstimulated so easily with so many students round campus lol. Everyone is so sweet and friendly, we ate lunch together (me with my packed lunch sandwich… I don’t have the money to eat out everyday on top of bus and train fares lol 😭) and explored some freshers stands, but it’s such a scam literally nothing was actually free.
Did some usual induction-y stuff, ice breakers to get to know the lecturers and peers, a workshop with the new masters students, and of course, got a little lost together as we tried to navigate buildings between sessions. Tbh, I did the classic new kid goes into the WRONG room (I sat there in the masters of social work classroom so confidently, only realised when I couldn’t find my name on the sign-in sheet and luckily escaped and was still on time for my first intro session - BUT this was not my fault as two other people I met did the same thing as me, they literally put arrow signs for us and it pointed into the open door of the wrong room).
The cutest friend from college met up with me and bought me a Greggs eclair (these are top tier) as a treat for the train journey home.
I decided not to take the laptop/notebook etc tomorrow, heck a bag at all because I doubt I’ll need it during the rest of this welcome week and it’s such a hassle to lug around (watch me need it now). Lunch is provided tomorrow (yay free food), and I’m excited to see my new friends again (they all live in student accom)! I meet my advisor tomorrow too, and I’ve registered my interest to be an academic rep for my course. I also collect my ID card tomorrow (you have to pay for the lanyard, luckily I can use my brother’s old one - guys I swear I am not stingy, but I didn’t take out a maintenance loan and most of uni stuff is financed from my own pocket so these small costs really add up waaa), and I hope to snag a free matcha if the queue isn’t the length of the road (my first time trying matcha - will I think it tastes like grass? I’ll keep you posted)

Tuesday 23/09/25
MY FIRST DAY OF UNI

^literally me around campus
Let me begin with the fact that 9-5 days are NO joke guys, I actually have such a banging headache, but I cannot believe I have just started uni!!!
Commuting sucked, no surprise there, but I’m so grateful the weather was nice.
Met my batch mates, and we are quite close already since there’s only 40 of us in total (and a lot of them didn’t show up), which I actually really like having a small year size because I get overstimulated so easily with so many students round campus lol. Everyone is so sweet and friendly, we ate lunch together (me with my packed lunch sandwich… I don’t have the money to eat out everyday on top of bus and train fares lol 😭) and explored some freshers stands, but it’s such a scam literally nothing was actually free.
Did some usual induction-y stuff, ice breakers to get to know the lecturers and peers, a workshop with the new masters students, and of course, got a little lost together as we tried to navigate buildings between sessions. Tbh, I did the classic new kid goes into the WRONG room (I sat there in the masters of social work classroom so confidently, only realised when I couldn’t find my name on the sign-in sheet and luckily escaped and was still on time for my first intro session - BUT this was not my fault as two other people I met did the same thing as me, they literally put arrow signs for us and it pointed into the open door of the wrong room).
The cutest friend from college met up with me and bought me a Greggs eclair (these are top tier) as a treat for the train journey home.
I decided not to take the laptop/notebook etc tomorrow, heck a bag at all because I doubt I’ll need it during the rest of this welcome week and it’s such a hassle to lug around (watch me need it now). Lunch is provided tomorrow (yay free food), and I’m excited to see my new friends again (they all live in student accom)! I meet my advisor tomorrow too, and I’ve registered my interest to be an academic rep for my course. I also collect my ID card tomorrow (you have to pay for the lanyard, luckily I can use my brother’s old one - guys I swear I am not stingy, but I didn’t take out a maintenance loan and most of uni stuff is financed from my own pocket so these small costs really add up waaa), and I hope to snag a free matcha if the queue isn’t the length of the road (my first time trying matcha - will I think it tastes like grass? I’ll keep you posted)

Tuesday 23/09/25
MY FIRST DAY OF UNI

^literally me around campus
Let me begin with the fact that 9-5 days are NO joke guys, I actually have such a banging headache, but I cannot believe I have just started uni!!!
Commuting sucked, no surprise there, but I’m so grateful the weather was nice.
Met my batch mates, and we are quite close already since there’s only 40 of us in total (and a lot of them didn’t show up), which I actually really like having a small year size because I get overstimulated so easily with so many students round campus lol. Everyone is so sweet and friendly, we ate lunch together (me with my packed lunch sandwich… I don’t have the money to eat out everyday on top of bus and train fares lol 😭) and explored some freshers stands, but it’s such a scam literally nothing was actually free.
Did some usual induction-y stuff, ice breakers to get to know the lecturers and peers, a workshop with the new masters students, and of course, got a little lost together as we tried to navigate buildings between sessions. Tbh, I did the classic new kid goes into the WRONG room (I sat there in the masters of social work classroom so confidently, only realised when I couldn’t find my name on the sign-in sheet and luckily escaped and was still on time for my first intro session - BUT this was not my fault as two other people I met did the same thing as me, they literally put arrow signs for us and it pointed into the open door of the wrong room).
The cutest friend from college met up with me and bought me a Greggs eclair (these are top tier) as a treat for the train journey home.
I decided not to take the laptop/notebook etc tomorrow, heck a bag at all because I doubt I’ll need it during the rest of this welcome week and it’s such a hassle to lug around (watch me need it now). Lunch is provided tomorrow (yay free food), and I’m excited to see my new friends again (they all live in student accom)! I meet my advisor tomorrow too, and I’ve registered my interest to be an academic rep for my course. I also collect my ID card tomorrow (you have to pay for the lanyard, luckily I can use my brother’s old one - guys I swear I am not stingy, but I didn’t take out a maintenance loan and most of uni stuff is financed from my own pocket so these small costs really add up waaa), and I hope to snag a free matcha if the queue isn’t the length of the road (my first time trying matcha - will I think it tastes like grass? I’ll keep you posted)

NOTHING was freee??? are you kdiding? whats the point of freshers week if you dont get free sh*t..
how long is your commute? sucks you hve to pay everyday
also, did your uni give you the chance to live in accomodations or is it just easier to live at home or commute im curiosu
thats so cute a little eclair!! ahh now im hungry 😋
ugh i rlly wanna try matcha but half the people i talk to hate it and the other half love it theres gen no inbetween
no- not paying for lanyards is totally not stingy its ridiculoous they dont give it to u ofr free/...
im glad you met some new freinds thats so cute!!
good luck for the rest of the week and i hope you get your matcha!!!

YIKES bro thats one long ahh day u got there
aww its nice to hear everyone was friendly
wdym u didnt get free stuff like thats all i ever see abt freshers *FREE STUFF*. they rlly made it fee stuff instead
greggs eclairs are peak
matcha can be hit or miss, usually good from the place i go to (tsujiri) i hope u enjoy it!!

Great work on your first day! Sounds like a lot though!
Glad you noticed your rooming error quite quickly
Ive tried matcha, personally not a fan but my brother loves it and hes the pickiest eater lol

They be scamming you with the fake freebies 😑
Besides that and the long commute (& the 9-5), it sounds like you had an enjoyable first day!
40 sounds so nice, I cant imagine having a cohort that small, I'm glad you're getting on with them as well : )
Ooo some exciting stuff to look forward to, I agree with the small costs especially lanyards, why am I paying for my uni lanyard what other lanyard am i meant to use💀

Sorry I promise to catch up with everyone's GYGs ASAP
Preach Daisy, preach. Almost everything was ‘spin the wheel’ to win, with like 9/10 of the wheel as ‘pen’ or ‘sticker’ and 1/10 the good stuff. So I got a few stickers, but nowhere to stick them (I’m too scared they’ll damage my laptop/case).
The commute is about 90mins, usually longer because there’s always one delay or cancellation frustratingly. I take in total 4 buses and 2 trains (sometimes 3 trains), so I have something called a county card for the month atm, which normally works out cheaper
BUT I think actually I’ll instead get the free railcard my bank gives to students and use that to buy tickets etc everyday because that will work out cheaper, just more annoying and stressful. (holy yap I'm sorry)
I did have the choice to apply to accom, but seemed silly when I’m "easily" commutable, like it would just be expenses for no reason. Also none of my siblings moved out etc.
Same experience with matcha, I don’t count the one I had to be real matcha, I’m gonna hopefully try Blank Street when it opens near the station.
Thank you!!!
It’s all a scam sadly. I found 2 tsujiri’s kinda nearby to uni, please tell me your exact order !!
It is manageable though, just very chaotic! Your anecdotes about your brother always makes me laugh, he seems like such an odd person lol.
Ikr, did you manage to get any good stuff?
Hope your first day went well too! I’m sure you’re probably swamped already,
Literally, since when were unis this stingy…

Saturday 04/10/25
MY FIRST WEEK OF UNI
(Sorry for belated update - I did not in fact need my laptop last week, phew, and the free food was cancelled . My advisor Is a little scary but very experienced, my ID photo super fuzzy, matcha tasted like….. milk.)
I'm not sure where to begin!
My course is so small we don’t even have lectures timetabled, everything is seminars, which I actually LOVE! So many interesting discussions and opportunities to ask questions, as well as being able to actually interact with the ‘teacher’ (feels so strange to call them by first name though).
I’m really enjoying the modules, my favourite so far being the health improvement unit because we discussed John Snow’s work on cholera and Jenner’s vaccine work, some of my favourite topics I’d forgotten from GCSE history. I’m getting used to the uni systems and how my assignments and assessments work, which amazing news guys - I have no more formal ‘exams’! EVER!!! A lot of written pieces, presentations, posters, projects etc to contribute to my grade, but I’m so pleased because I can show off my skills in these, whereas I struggle with exams, especially since they are so memorisation heavy (flashbacks to A-level chemistry).
I’ve managed to somehow befriend some great people, and joined a couple of societies, but it’s tough to get involved as many events run late so are sadly not commuter-friendly. Oh yes, commuting is terrible, as per usual. Delays, strikes, people in general that make me want to jump out the carriage, I’m always so drained when I get home (and running to immediately wash my hands). I always end up arriving to seminars with ONE minute to spare (trust me, I’ve tried to be earlier, never works out. Unless I want to be more than two hours early, which I really don’t since I don’t even have much work yet). Also, despite having a nice timetable, I have the most awkwardly timed seminars, like finishing at 5 mostly, which I don’t even want to get into, just know it’s likely the WORST time to finish, and the last bus that goes near my house is at 5 for some ridiculous reason. But anyway, I’m less stressed about commuting now because it’s out of my control, and just aghrghdehfl. I do save money though eating from home because of the timings since I'm rarely in over lunch time, but I WILL be taking advantage of the food spots round here, like a goal for this week is to get a burger.
I will get a burger.
I will.

Sorry I promise to catch up with everyone's GYGs ASAP
Preach Daisy, preach. Almost everything was ‘spin the wheel’ to win, with like 9/10 of the wheel as ‘pen’ or ‘sticker’ and 1/10 the good stuff. So I got a few stickers, but nowhere to stick them (I’m too scared they’ll damage my laptop/case).
The commute is about 90mins, usually longer because there’s always one delay or cancellation frustratingly. I take in total 4 buses and 2 trains (sometimes 3 trains), so I have something called a county card for the month atm, which normally works out cheaper
BUT I think actually I’ll instead get the free railcard my bank gives to students and use that to buy tickets etc everyday because that will work out cheaper, just more annoying and stressful. (holy yap I'm sorry)
I did have the choice to apply to accom, but seemed silly when I’m "easily" commutable, like it would just be expenses for no reason. Also none of my siblings moved out etc.
Same experience with matcha, I don’t count the one I had to be real matcha, I’m gonna hopefully try Blank Street when it opens near the station.
Thank you!!!
It’s all a scam sadly. I found 2 tsujiri’s kinda nearby to uni, please tell me your exact order !!
It is manageable though, just very chaotic! Your anecdotes about your brother always makes me laugh, he seems like such an odd person lol.
Ikr, did you manage to get any good stuff?
Hope your first day went well too! I’m sure you’re probably swamped already,
Literally, since when were unis this stingy…

Monday 06/10/25
Chaos.
So for the first time since I’ve started uni, my train got cancelled (something I’m expecting to happen a lot more in future). Instead of being half an hour late, I decided to make full use of my county card while I have it until the end of this month and came off at a different station, where I could catch a bus the rest of the way and be on time (well, one minute early).
This was a crappy idea.
As I come out of this station I’ve never been to before, I see the bus stop I need to be at and both buses I could’ve got go past… even though they were five minutes early than their scheduled time.
Crap.
Literal crap. A bird took a nice poop on my head. Smack on the top. The bus stop is under the train tracks, so I didn’t expect this at all, and stupidly touched my head like ??? That was a heavy raindrop. I even thought did someone just chuck an egg at me? And there was BIRD POOP all over my hand. And the last bus I could get pulls up exactly then. I wrap my hand in a tissue like a bandage and get on and aimlessly scrub at my head with a wet wipe.
Frankly, I wanted to jump out the bus window, and had to keep filming my head and watching the video back to see how bad it was and try wipe it (everyone on the bus definitely thought I was crazy). By some miracle, I was TWO minutes early, ran to find the bathroom, scrubbed my head, scalded off my fingerprints, and made it to class.
So isn’t being pooped on meant to be good luck?
Maybe this was my good luck. I made it exactly on time, and the seminar was great. We unpicked Richard Doll and Bradford Hill’s 1950 case-control study into the link between cigarette smoking and lung cancer, one of the most important epidemiology investigations to ever be conducted.
But this is where my luck ran out.
My sister forgot she was supposed to pick me up. My train got delayed. The strawberry and white choc frappe I got to cheer myself up ended up tasting of milk. Everything recently, even that matcha, keeps tasting like milk.
The train was jam packed, the woman next to me blasted YouTube shorts. And then the bus. There are 2 that go to about a 20 min walk away from my house. I missed one by 2 minutes, so I got the other one that is much busier. Two of my college friends I hadn’t seen in ages were on it, so we had a great chat while I was flung about the aisle between them - for about two mintues. Begin the NIGHTMARE. A ton of people boarded, and the traffic was indescribable. Windows open, but it was hot, stinky, stop-start traffic, and I had to stand on the step at the back of the bus and hold on for dear life. I was shoved off the step into a poor woman, I literally went flying, it’s painful to even write this. I felt like I was put in a dumpster and shook around, my bones literally hurt when I got home. Which hooray, my brother was back from Switzerland, but that was two hours ago, and he decided to go in the shower right before I got back…
Anyway, I thought this… eventful day needed to be shared. Any good news? I will be making krispy cakes (this is all I can make guys😖) with some fancy choc my brother brought back. Other than that, nope, no good news. In fact, bad news, my phone is fairly new, with a full battery capacity, but it seems to keep dying insanely fast and the signal is terrible, like I’m fighting to find a bus and of course the “5G” or whatever won’t even work.
But yeah. Uni’s great! Live laugh love…

im glad ur enjoying ur classes! but that sucks about commuting- it sounds ROUGH
and get ur burger my child!!!! fly high with the burger!!!
hmm, i usually get the matcha bubble tea, sweetened with regular milk. my mum gets it with oat milk but im not a fan of it
ALSO my lucky girl, u have 2 near u help
i recently tried the tesco toasted marshmallow matcha n it was actually nice surprisingly

ngl this was written like the promising start of a YA novel
how does that even happen to u bro, first the train then the bird crap 😭that sucks ASS, but at least u had ur scarf right..?
thats good luck? would have never thought it
its good u at least enjoy ur lessons
i hate it when drinks taste like milk, maybe extra syrup would help
that sounds like one awful train journey u had there ml >.<
i hope ur feeling a tad bit better now?
yumm! i hope u enjoy them
cant get quality these days
i thhink actual uni is good but the stuff around seems not so good

Monday 06/10/25
Chaos.
So for the first time since I’ve started uni, my train got cancelled (something I’m expecting to happen a lot more in future). Instead of being half an hour late, I decided to make full use of my county card while I have it until the end of this month and came off at a different station, where I could catch a bus the rest of the way and be on time (well, one minute early).
This was a crappy idea.
As I come out of this station I’ve never been to before, I see the bus stop I need to be at and both buses I could’ve got go past… even though they were five minutes early than their scheduled time.
Crap.
Literal crap. A bird took a nice poop on my head. Smack on the top. The bus stop is under the train tracks, so I didn’t expect this at all, and stupidly touched my head like ??? That was a heavy raindrop. I even thought did someone just chuck an egg at me? And there was BIRD POOP all over my hand. And the last bus I could get pulls up exactly then. I wrap my hand in a tissue like a bandage and get on and aimlessly scrub at my head with a wet wipe.
Frankly, I wanted to jump out the bus window, and had to keep filming my head and watching the video back to see how bad it was and try wipe it (everyone on the bus definitely thought I was crazy). By some miracle, I was TWO minutes early, ran to find the bathroom, scrubbed my head, scalded off my fingerprints, and made it to class.
So isn’t being pooped on meant to be good luck?
Maybe this was my good luck. I made it exactly on time, and the seminar was great. We unpicked Richard Doll and Bradford Hill’s 1950 case-control study into the link between cigarette smoking and lung cancer, one of the most important epidemiology investigations to ever be conducted.
But this is where my luck ran out.
My sister forgot she was supposed to pick me up. My train got delayed. The strawberry and white choc frappe I got to cheer myself up ended up tasting of milk. Everything recently, even that matcha, keeps tasting like milk.
The train was jam packed, the woman next to me blasted YouTube shorts. And then the bus. There are 2 that go to about a 20 min walk away from my house. I missed one by 2 minutes, so I got the other one that is much busier. Two of my college friends I hadn’t seen in ages were on it, so we had a great chat while I was flung about the aisle between them - for about two mintues. Begin the NIGHTMARE. A ton of people boarded, and the traffic was indescribable. Windows open, but it was hot, stinky, stop-start traffic, and I had to stand on the step at the back of the bus and hold on for dear life. I was shoved off the step into a poor woman, I literally went flying, it’s painful to even write this. I felt like I was put in a dumpster and shook around, my bones literally hurt when I got home. Which hooray, my brother was back from Switzerland (my pfp is of an alpine chough he saw that I really like!), but that was two hours ago, and he decided to go in the shower right before I got back…
Anyway, I thought this… eventful day needed to be shared. Any good news? I will be making krispy cakes (this is all I can make guys😖) with some fancy choc my brother brought back. Other than that, nope, no good news. In fact, bad news, my phone is fairly new, with a full battery capacity, but it seems to keep dying insanely fast and the signal is terrible, like I’m fighting to find a bus and of course the “5G” or whatever won’t even work.
But yeah. Uni’s great! Live laugh love…
AaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAaa

It really sucks
Burger is planned for Thursday, I will crash out otherwise
I have written down your order for future reference, they are in the city centre so a bit awkward to get to but if I have time I can catch a bus there! I will try a matcha with oat milk maybe tomorrow or something and report back if I hate the oat milk
Yummy!? Didn't even know it existed. I'm getting excited for hot chocolate season now though hehe
Thank you thank you, I do love writing and yapping
Ikr that was NOT my day. I thankfully had on like a beige? cream coloured one so the stain kinda blended in?? imagine it was a dark colour (I'm sad because it was brand new, but the scarf was put in a hot wash as soon as I got home hope it survived)
He put quite a bit of syrup, maybe I didn't stir it well enough but it was hard to mix with the cream
A little better, but I didn't get the chance to make them today, hopefully tomorrow (I have a 9am start but that means I'll be free in the afternoon for once, usually I have an afternoon start and finish in the evening so my day is wasted)
Uni is great if you like your course, but it's just awkward commuting when the public transport is so sh1tty (and expensive) in this country
Also I really really keep trying to find a chance to catch up with your gyg I swear, maybe tomorrow, hope everything is going well though

Sorry I promise to catch up with everyone's GYGs ASAP
Preach Daisy, preach. Almost everything was ‘spin the wheel’ to win, with like 9/10 of the wheel as ‘pen’ or ‘sticker’ and 1/10 the good stuff. So I got a few stickers, but nowhere to stick them (I’m too scared they’ll damage my laptop/case).
The commute is about 90mins, usually longer because there’s always one delay or cancellation frustratingly. I take in total 4 buses and 2 trains (sometimes 3 trains), so I have something called a county card for the month atm, which normally works out cheaper
BUT I think actually I’ll instead get the free railcard my bank gives to students and use that to buy tickets etc everyday because that will work out cheaper, just more annoying and stressful. (holy yap I'm sorry)
I did have the choice to apply to accom, but seemed silly when I’m "easily" commutable, like it would just be expenses for no reason. Also none of my siblings moved out etc.
Same experience with matcha, I don’t count the one I had to be real matcha, I’m gonna hopefully try Blank Street when it opens near the station.
Thank you!!!
It’s all a scam sadly. I found 2 tsujiri’s kinda nearby to uni, please tell me your exact order !!
It is manageable though, just very chaotic! Your anecdotes about your brother always makes me laugh, he seems like such an odd person lol.
Ikr, did you manage to get any good stuff?
Hope your first day went well too! I’m sure you’re probably swamped already,
Literally, since when were unis this stingy…