Settling into your new University can be one of the most nerve-wracking, exciting and fun experiences you’ll have in your life. For most students, University is life defining with some even settling down in their University cities after graduating. Take a look at some of the tell-tale signs when you know you’re a student:
Taxi life
Whether you’re transporting several bags of food shopping so you don’t have to take up every seat on the bus, or you’ve finished getting ready at your place and need to head to the weekly student nights in town, prepare for most of your student loan to go on taxis.
Discounts, discounts, discounts
10% discount off everything will be your favourite words. Whether it’s money off essentials like course books, or a few quid off things you don’t need but can’t imagine your life without, you’ll never know anything more amazing than seeing ‘student discount added’ on a receipt.
Wear what you want
Before you head off to uni you’ll probably go on a shopping spree to find the best, coolest clothing you can find to wear to lectures, fresher’s parties and chilling with your flatmates.
But once you’re at uni, you’ll realise not only does nobody care what you wear, but you also tend to wear the same clothes over and over again anyway.
Poundshops are your new best friend
If there’s one place that every student quickly learns to visit for anything, it’s the Poundshop shops. Most student towns have them and they’re a godsend.
Joining a society is normal
When you think of University societies you’re probably imagining they’ll cover topics like dance, drama, the newspaper and basically a general appreciation of every academic subject the university has to offer. And while you’re partly right, those will be on offer, you’ll also discover societies that you never imagined existed.
The library is your best friend
If there’s one thing you’ll learn quickly at uni, it’s when the campus library opens and closes. Need to print something off before your first lecture? Or want to get the best computer in the place so you can sit there comfortably for hours typing the essay that’s due in less than 24 hours? For these reasons, and more (including leaving parties early so you can spend an hour in the library – it’ll happen at some point), you’ll find that you know more about the library’s opening hours then you will about the subject you’re studying.
You realise how much your parents did for you
From paying your own bills, learning how to use a washing machine and a cooker, to realising that there’s no such thing as the cleaning fairy and the toilet won’t clean itself, you’ll learn exactly how much you’ve managed to avoid doing while living at home.
Not that you won’t forget all this when you go home for the holidays, where your parents will drive you just as insane as they did before you left. You didn’t think they’d suddenly start being ok with you sleeping in and doing nothing. And then there’s them checking up on you when you’re out to make sure you’re ok.
You’ll be counting down the days till you go back to Uni!
