4 friends in front of sunset

Best of: How to find your community in Lincoln

Coming to university is a great experience, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get lonely. A great way to overcome this is to find people with experiences or interests just like your own! Here are some of our best tips on how to find your community at university:

“Getting to know your flatmates and other people living in your accommodation can represent the starting point of your community.” – Daria Suciu, MChem Forensic Chemistry student from Romania

Your flatmates are a great place to start in finding a community! They can also help you expand your connections – in first year, others in your accommodation may be studying other courses to you, which gives you another group of people to reach out to through mixing circles. Community building begins at home!

A group of people all putting their hands together in the middle of a circle

“Sometimes, we invite other international friends to taste our Thai food and let them bring their home country food to share with us and we share our stories while having dinner. It is such a great way to form the community as an international student.” – Todsawat Mahatanakom, MSc International Business student from Thailand

Meals and other events are a great way to strengthen your connection to communities you may have just met. Something like a dinner party allows everyone to contribute and can be a great place to start conversation! You may be able to build stronger friendships and create a fun tradition for your group along the way.

Image of a cluttered table with notebooks, a laptop and a coffee mug with people surrounding it working

“I am a Vietnamese student so when I was in Vietnam, I joined a lot of groups for Vietnamese international students on Facebook, including the Lincoln Vietnamese Society group.” – Diem Quynh Dinh, BSc Economics and Finance student from Vietnam

As well as societies being a great place to build a community and get involved in university life, you can reach out before you join a society (or even start university) to begin building these connections! Doing things online to begin with can be a great way to overcome any anxieties you may have about joining new groups. The University of Lincoln has over a hundred societies, so there are plenty of groups you can join!

4 silhouettes of people jumping in the air against a sunset

“I find my community from my hobby, which is exercising. I really enjoy playing sport at the sport center, especially badminton. My friends and I always play it every weekend at sport center.” – Nawarat Khemawanna, MSc International Business student from Thailand

You can find a community and strengthen connections with shared hobbies! It’s a great way to both indulge in something you really enjoy and make time for being social. There are plenty of facilities in and around Lincoln – no matter what you enjoy, you’re sure to find something here that you can do with a group, whether that’s sports, going to the cinema or something else!

There are plenty of ways to find a community when you come to university. If you’re unsure where to start, take a look at the Student Union for events and information about groups!

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