Features / Bristol
How to beat the freshers week blues
There are few pauses that feel longer than waiting for your door to be knocked on.
It might not be the most dramatic horror story, or the typical drunken freshers’ tale that gets passed around on the 16 bus back to Stoke Bishop. But for some, freshers’ week is the loneliest week of their University lives. This is the story of people staying in their rooms as everyone else on their floor goes out, or of not knowing where to sit at the dinner table in catered halls and being a little bit nervous that they won’t have anyone to sit with.
I didn’t get off to the best start last year and considered dropping out. I eventually settled on moving halls as I didn’t want to give up on University quite that quickly. The thing that changed it all around for me was joining societies. Once they introduced me to new people, and after that once my course got started, I quickly fell deeply in love with Bristol. Within a month or so those initial weeks seemed like a distant memory, a hazy nightmare.
is needed now More than ever
I’ve spoken to a lot of people about this since, and I found out that many felt this way at the beginning. The key thing that everyone mentioned was that everyone else seemed to be having so much fun.
I had expectations of Freshers’ being the best week of my life. It turned out to be rather dull and lonely. If any of this feels familiar, please believe me that you are not alone. Fresher’s week doesn’t have to be the most amazing week of your life but if it’s not then that doesn’t mean it has to be the worst either. Just stick it out, join societies and find ways to bump into new people. Wait for it to get better. It will get better.
In the meantime, go and knock on someone’s door.
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