The first steps to making uni your home

It’s arguable that settling in and being comfortable is one of the most important parts of enjoying your life at uni. Your first few days can set you up for your first few weeks, so it’s worth making them count. For me, the friends I made during Freshers and everyone I’ve met because of them have remained my closest friends throughout the year.

So here, I give to you, my top tips for how to make the transition into uni life easier:

Make yourself at home

Everyone needs their comforts, and being without them can be quite unsettling. One of the most important things for me was making sure that my room looked how I wanted it to. Fairy lights, bunting and photos were all essential for me when decorating and making myself at home.

As a photo hoarder, I have a box of over 500 printed out photographs, which obviously couldn’t all be featured on my walls, but pictures of some of my most important memories could be put up to perk me up on a down day.

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Be confident – or feign it

Some people may be naturally confident, while others may feel shyer and more reluctant to talk to new people. To have the confidence to approach new people and make friends, you’ve got to believe in yourself – even the most confident people will be nervous too, it’s only natural. Everyone will be wanting to make new friends.

Besides, if you don’t feel that you’re a confident person, just fake it – if you act confident no one is going to know any different and it might just pay off.

Don’t be an island

An essential part of uni is being able to put yourself out there and meet new people. You have to be willing and open to meeting people in order to form friendships, so please don’t be an island and shut yourself off.

Flatmates are a great start to meeting new people, especially people you might not expect to be friends with. You’re going to be living with your flatmates for a year – maybe even longer if you choose to stay together in later years – so it’d be really helpful if you can get along!

The friends you make in your first few weeks can have such a big impact on your whole time at uni and may stay with you for the rest of your life, so creating yourself a support network from the beginning is a good idea.

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Be you

If you want to, you can completely reinvent yourself at the start of uni – not that you should want to though because you’re probably amazing! But, whatever you do, be who you want to be. There’s no point in giving in to the peer pressure if it’s not something you want to do.

Have fun!

While the main reason you’re at uni is to study, you’re also there to have fun and enjoy yourself – so please have fun. For the first few weeks try not to stress too much about revision, money, relationships, and the bigger side of life either. Everything will slot into place eventually. By having fun and enjoying your life you’ll find it far easier to settle in.

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