First things first, the basics. I study Journalism and Creative Writing BA (Hons) - joint honours. What this means is that my degree is a bachelor of the arts, and the joint honours bit means that I study two different subjects combined into one course. I go to the University of Chester in the North West of England.
ACCOMMODATION. Where I class as 'home' (as in, where I've lived for my whole life before uni and where my parents still live etc) is only a half an hour drive away from my university. That being said, I don't drive and it's over an hour on the train, so I applied for halls. I always knew that I wanted to live away from home to gain some independence and life experiences, so I had my heart set on these fancy "apartments" on the university campus. However, due to living so close to the uni originally, they turned me down. SAD FACE. This is definitely something to bear in mind when you are choosing your university/deciding where to live. So anyway, I only found this out the day before going on holiday for 2 weeks so I had literally a few hours to find somewhere to call home for the next year. I ended up in an 18-bedroom student house which is a 25 minute walk from campus (pain in the bum), with one kitchen and one living room. We all have en-suites. The house itself and everyone living there, all students, were fine but for me it was too far to walk every day (I'm lazy), and I felt very isolated living so far from campus, and living in such a massive house. For second year I am moving into a smaller house much closer to the university.
FRESHERS WEEK. I am not a massive going-out person so I was worried about how freshers week would pan out for me; however, it ended up being really fun and I had an absolute ball. In Chester where I go to uni there are only two clubs, so the night life isn't huge anyway - that being said it can be a really good night out, and our first night was a foam party. There was also a UV party during the week, as well as a DJ set from The Libertines. I found all the events to be well organised & well attended, and tickets were easy enough to get hold of. There was also the Freshers Fair, which is basically loads of organisations like the local dentist or local shops, getting together and giving you freebies. I literally only went because you got a free slice of Dominos. It wasn't great, and the queue was huge.
WORKLOAD. Most first years will tell you that the work load isn't massive, although it obviously depends from course to course. I was lucky in that I had no exams, so mine was all coursework which was individually assessed throughout the year. I found that I always had plenty of time to do the work, as long as I didn't forget about it, and none of it was so difficult that it made me want to quit. The tutors/lecturers were all really nice, and if there was a genuine reason for anyone needing a deadline they were normally happy to help. I sent many an email to my tutors throughout the year asking for help or advice with certain pieces of work and they would always get back to me telling me what I needed to do.
SPORTS/SOCIETIES. I didn't actually join a society and stick to it - I attempted to join the women's rugby team after meeting loads of the girls on a night out during freshers week, but I pulled a muscle in my neck during the first training session so that put me off for life. By then I thought it was probably too late to join another one, and with living so far away I thought it would have been a bit much; but I do regret this decision because my friends who have joined societies have really enjoyed it, and the social night on a Wednesday (which is always fancy dress) is so much fun. I've gegged in on a few.
FINANCE. I could rant about student finance for hours but I'm going to leave that for a separate post. However, I will state now that I receive the lowest amount of loan possible for a student living away from home. I have tried my best to budget this, but I did end up having to dip into my savings. Shops like Aldi are actually amazing for budgeting, because everything is super cheap and you can find pretty much everything you need. Everyone is different when it comes to what they spend money on, and if I'm honest most of mine probably went on taxis. Writing down what you spend seems to help, and while I wouldn't have wanted a part-time job this year, I'm on the look-out for one for my second year.
I hope this post has been useful to some of you, but like I said if there's any other bits and bobs you want to know please drop me an email!
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