Freshers’ Week

By Ellen Darling （amended By Jon Porter）

Each September in the UK， thousands of new students move to new cities to start their university life with ‘freshers’ week’. I found out more about it.

1 New students starting their time at university are known as freshers and freshers’ week is a UK university tradition. It’s an introductory week for the new students to find their way around and get to know what student life has to offer before courses start. The official purpose of freshers’ week is for all students to register for their course and organise their timetables as well as to help them settle in to their new accommodation. There’s also another purpose： it’s a great opportunity to really start to get involved in university life and have some fun. You will meet many people who you will probably never see again， but， who knows， you might even meet someone who becomes a friend for life. I talked to two freshers to find out about their experiences.

2 John， Sheffield University

‘The great thing about freshers’ week is you have a whole week before the start of your courses to move into your room and meet some friends. My mum and dad dropped me off with all my bags and when they left I felt a bit sad and lonely. I decided to leave my door open while I was unpacking and it didn’t take long for Sarah to knock on the door and say hello. We got talking for a bit and had a cup of tea and then we decided to go out and explore the city. The next day we went along to registration together with a few other people we’d met the night before. It was all so much easier because I wasn’t doing things on my own. I had to queue for a long time with loads of other students， but finally I got through all the paperwork and made my choices about the courses I was going to study. Then I went over to the Student Union to see what was on offer there. The Student Union is great because you can buy cheap food and drink and they have lots of other facilities， such as a shop， a student advice centre， photocopiers， a laundry and a job-shop. In fact that’s where I found out about jobs in the university restaurant. I’m really glad I did because now I have some extra cash.’

3 Gemma， Southampton University

‘Freshers’ week was so exciting. There were lots of things to go to in the evening and I met so many people. I went out every night， to discos， pubs， quizzes， karaoke nights and all the other things going on at the Student Union. I loved the freshers’ fair， which is where you can find out about all the student clubs and societies. I wanted to join everything， but in the end I joined the dance society， hillwalking society and surfing society. I probably should have joined just one or two clubs as now I find I don’t have time to go to all their events. The highlight for me， though， was the freshers’ disco. I had a brilliant time. I suppose I went a bit crazy really and spent an awful lot of money！ I had to really economise for the rest of the term to make up for all the money I had spent in freshers’ week.’

4 As for me， when I started university I was lucky enough to meet my friends Cath and Fran on the first night of freshers’ week. We went out to a pub together and it turned out that Cath was doing the same course as me and Fran was on the same corridor of the halls of residence. A whole crowd of us ended up sitting in Cath’s room， drinking her coffee， joking with each other and putting the world to rights until the early hours of the morning. Then in the second year we moved into a shared house together with a few other friends. Some of my fondest memories of university are of living the student life together with those friends. Who would have thought back then that over twenty years later I would still be friends with Cath and Fran … on Facebook！