It never gets better than being a fresher

Listen up freshers. Make the most of your time, because this is as good as it gets. The first year at university, as it turns out, is the best one. Its all downhill from there. Never again will you have mad flat parties with everyone in your block. Never again will you live around a load of students, your neighbours for the remainder of uni will contain a family – they don’t appreciate rowdy pre drinks.

First of all, it won’t ever be as exciting as that first mad week of freshers. The night after night of going out is a fond memory as you soon realise that you actually have to do work in the remaining years of your degree. Everyone who lives around you in first year is spread out in different houses for the next year, trying to organise a group pre drinks will be a logistical nightmare, in the end you give up and just agree to see each other when you’re out, which just isn’t the same.

After successfully scraping through first year, you actually have to go to your lectures and pay attention because the work becomes much harder, and, well, this is your degree. There’s no more skipping 9am lectures, dodging seminar work, or doing the bare minimum. The amount of time spent in the library increases, and the amount of time spent on having a social life, sadly, decreases.

When you live in a house for the first time, you realise that university halls were actually really easy. There were no bills to sort out between everyone, no working out the bin rota, and the university cleaners made your life much easier. Its not until you no longer have these “luxuries” that you realise how easy first year was.

Don’t get me wrong, university is still great, despite the increase in work. You still have mad nights out, and its still great fun living in a student house, but nothing will beat that fresher feeling.

12 people you’ll meet on a night out

Going on a night out is like going on an adventure down the yellow brick road. You meet all sorts of people that only ever seem to appear on nights out. Here’s a run down of some of these unique characters.

The One Who Is A Chunder Wonder – Seriously what time did you start drinking? Its 10 o’clock and you can’t even remember your own name. This person will most likely not even make it to 12, if they are lucky they might make it into the club for about 20 minutes before the bouncers chuck them out for being a mess.

The One Who Is A Taxi Try-Hard  – “Has anyone ordered a taxi yet?” Dude chill out, they aren’t going to run out of wheels.  This person goes on a night out just to organise people. The worst.

The Ones Who Outrageously Flirt – These people, in all honesty, are not interested in the night out at all and are just waiting to get it on as soon as possible. Just leave these two to their own thing, they don’t want to be disturbed really.

The One Who Is A Game Maker – This person always has a new stupid drinking game they read off BuzzFeed, that makes them believe they are the best thing since Cosmo in a can. They are besotted with the rules and become hideously power crazy. “YOU BROKE THE CIRCLE SEE THAT OFF”. They harbour no fear, beware playing Never Have I Ever, this person has zero limits.

The One Spiller – you know who you are.

The One Who is a Chatty Taxi Driver – nobody wants to be in the front of the taxi because the likelihood is that the driver is going to want to chat about absolute rubbish. This results in a weird and awkward conversation on the way to town, whilst you hope that every traffic light is green.

The One Who Chats to the Driver – unlucky son.

The One Who Cuts in the Queue – I was wrong about the organiser. These people are in fact the worst. We’ve been stood here in the cold for twenty minutes and then you turn up with your “Ladz” and push in. Jog on.

The One Bouncer That Makes Fun Of Your ID Photo – yes I am aware I look about 12, no need to point it out buddy. Just let me in please.

The One Who Thinks They Know You – This overly friendly character can be mistaken for someone who you thought you knew. In the cold light of day, whilst wondering who this Facebook friend request is from, you realise that you haven’t got a clue who this person is.

The One Who Barges – A dance floor is always crowded, thats just what happens, but there is always one person who feels the need to push everyone out the way so they have more room for their sick moves.

The One Who You Meet In The Toilet – This person is a complete stranger but treats you like you have been friends for years. You talk about irrelevant things and then go your separate ways back into the club.

BSc vs BA – which is better?

One thing I have learned after almost two years of university is that there is a huge amount of snobbery and that everyone gets very protective of their degrees (myself included). Everyone has worked hard to get to university and if anyone makes a slightly snide remark towards someone else’s degree, its usually met with a flimsy response along the lines of “Yeah..but..well more people are employed on average by my degree!”.

There is a particular rivalry between those who take BSc degrees and BA degrees. Those who study science degrees are certain that their degree is more worthwhile than those who study degrees of the arts, and vice versa. Who is right though, which is better? (I am aware as a History student I may be slightly biased)

Starting with the obvious, students of BSc degrees are probably going to land better paid jobs than those who study BAs. Also people who study BScs had higher entry grades into university and are on average slightly more intelligent. However this does not mean that their degree is harder. I totally agree that BSc degrees are difficult, plonk a maths equation in front of me and I will just run off in tears. But maths and science is all based on fact, the answer is either right or wrong (generally). For many BA degrees (mine included) correct answers are based around interpretations and making a strong argument, as well as finding facts. Learning facts can be drilled in to someone, but learning how to interpret and give meaning is much harder to learn.

Who has the better time at uni? Well I know that BSc students’ weeks are jammed with lectures, and that BA students do not have many at all (I have 6 hours a week), so you’d have to say that BA students have it easier and can go out more without the pain of having to wake up for a 9am lecture. However, this theory doesn’t always fit, as I know some people who do BSc degrees that have as little lectures as I do.

To save myself a raft of complaints, I better finish by being neutral. Everybody thinks their degree is the best, they wouldn’t have picked it otherwise. I don’t think it can ever be proven whether BAs or BScs are better, we just have to appreciate everybody’s degrees for what they are.

 

(But History is the best degree really, the rest of you suck)

 

Going back home is weird

Everyone has periods of home sickness, especially in their first year. As exciting as university is, every student misses the comforts of their home. Mum’s cooking? A clean house? Your washing being done for you? Everyone hates to admit it but we all miss home, no matter how much we love the freedom.

However after craving the home life for a whole semester, going home is just slightly weird. Yes its great to see your family again, and its also fun to catch up with your friends again, but after that initial excitement of seeing everyone again for the first time, you begin to realise that things have just changed a little bit. You’ll always miss your parents but after a few days of living with them again, you’ll remember why you love the freedom of university so much. At university you can leave the house whenever and don’t have to explain to anyone where you are going. You can eat food at anytime you want and not be tutted at. You can sleep in until 3pm and spend your day in the house in your pjs and nobody questions it. Living under the rules of your parents again is strange, and not something that you’ll ever get used to do.

Seeing friends from home is also a weird experience. With your very closest friends, nothing will change, and thats why you are best friends. However with those not-so-close friends, conversations are slightly strained and awkward. You end up having the same conversations over and over again until you eventually run out of things to talk about. Don’t get me started on “friends of your parents”. This ridiculous exchange with a person you barely know about is just strange and awkward, why do we even bother having the conversation? Its always the same; “Hows Uni?” “What do you study?” “What do you want to do afterwards?”. The worst small talk ever.

University is not only exciting because it shows you freedom, it also shows you how precious that freedom is. Going home will forever be a little bit strange.