Hey guys, my name’s Humeara and I’m going to be a second year English with Creative Writing
student at the University of Nottingham.
Just last year I was a fresher and I was so scared! There were so many things that I was
worried about, but when you start you realise that you were worrying over nothing really.
So today I’m going to talk to you about things that you’re probably worried about
but shouldn’t be.
First up is money and living on a student budget. Now, I live in catered accommodation,
so the initial cost can feel like quite a hit to your bank account. But you have to
think about the fact that your food is paid for and you don’t have to worry about things
like bills or internet. You get breakfast and dinner when you live in catered accommodation,
and then you get money on your card for lunch as well. So you really don’t have to worry
about money in that sense.
All you have to spend the rest of your loan on is going out, having fun, buying books
and stuff like that. But the things is, I think, after the initial freshers week
where you spend tons on going out, it’s a lot easier to start budgeting and you’ll
start your course and you’ll know about how much you need to spend on books.
I need to spend quite a lot on books because I do English, but you’ll kind of get to grips
with how and when you need to spend your money.
Okay so I just got a text from my friend who lives in non-catered halls, and she says that
her main tip for saving money while living in non-catered halls is to always buy the
own brand versions of food because they’re so much cheaper. And to only buy what you
know you can eat or freeze, because the worst way to waste money is on stuff that you don’t
even get a chance to eat before it goes off.
Transport is really easy in Nottingham as well when it comes to spending because the
bus only costs £1.50 for a student. There's also free hopper buses from campus to campus.
You get student discounts on pretty much anything if you download the “UNiDAYS” app,
so make sure you do that to save you some money as well.
Also, if you do find you’re struggling then there is always the option to find a part-time job.
A lot of my friends found part-time jobs while at uni and it is possible, but your priority
should always be to concentrate on your studies. However, if you are looking for something
to sort of earn you a little bit of money, the Uni of Nottingham can help with that.
You can go to the Students' Union and enquire about any jobs going at the uni.
Next is the worry of meeting new people and having to make friends all over again.
I was super worried about this because, I don’t know, I guess everyone is. But honestly this
was probably the most stupid worry that I had.
When you get to uni there’s a really nice sort of vibe where everyone’s in the same boat as you,
and I know you will have heard this so many times already and you’ll probably be sick of hearing it,
but it’s true. Everyone is really nice. Everyone is really open to making friends with different people,
and everyone’s really accepting of different personalities.
There are so many different things that you can do to find friends and make friends.
There are so many different societies. When I first got to uni I went to the Harry Potter society.
It’s just so nice, you can find loads of different like-minded people,
and there’ll be loads of different people in your hall as well.
And obviously there are the people that are gonna be on your course.
I think my main advice would just be not to close yourself off to people.
Don’t just stick with the people that you see on the first day and think
“right these are my friends for the rest of uni time now.”
Next is balancing your work and social life. You have to kind of find the balance for you,
and you have to understand that no one is going to judge you if you don’t want
to go out that much. It’s really up to you and it’s whatever works with you.
It’s a case of getting to know your course and getting to know your timetable and learning
sort of how much work you’ve got.
Over the course of the first term, your work will probably be a little bit less demanding,
and then as you get towards the end of the first term, and then the second term, it becomes
a lot more demanding and you probably will find yourself going out less and less, and
probably seeing your friends less and less. But that’s okay. No one’s going to
judge you for that. Regardless of what, you will still have a great time at uni. Even
if it’s a case of taking two hours out a day for lunch and a bit of a break and doing
that with your friends… that’s also something that you could do to balance your work and
social life. Social life doesn’t necessarily always have to mean going out to a club at night,
because not everyone is into that. Social life can even be joining a sports team.
You can sort of tailor your work and social life to suit you and your course and your needs.
Okay so here we have the classic thing that a lot of people are worried about, and that
is living away from home. You have to remember that in this day and age you have
Skype, and you can text all the time, and phone.
It is a lot easier than you think, and that might sound harsh, because you are moving
away from your family at the end of the day, but you do have everyone at uni who is
going through the same thing, and you’ll have your sort of “uni family” that will keep
you company and understand what you’re going through and help you to feel not so homesick.
Honestly, my advice though would be to try and immerse yourself as much as you can into
the uni community. Definitely get yourself super involved, because that way you’ll
keep yourself busy, you’ll be finding new friends, and I think that is super helpful
for people who are feeling a little bit homesick.
And also just make sure that you decorate your room. It sounds a bit stupid but that
actually helps a lot. If you’re sat in a bare room feeling like you’re in a prison cell,
then that’s not going to help you feel less homesick. The Uni of Nottingham
accommodation is really lovely, so take advantage of that. Decorate it with fairylights or pictures
of your family, flowers, anything, and it’ll make you feel so much more positive.
Okay the next one is, if you don’t drink will you feel left out and will you still fit in?
I don’t drink, so this was something I was super worried about.
This was probably what I was most worried about actually.
No, the answer is if you don’t drink you will not feel left out
and you will still fit in, of course.
At the end of the day if you say to someone “Nah, I don’t drink,”
or “I don’t fancy it” no one is going to say
“No come on, drink, drink, what a loser.” No one’s going to do that.
They'll all be like, “Oh, okay. Good for you.” You’ll never feel pressured.
You can still have fun without drinking. It really doesn’t matter whether or not you drink.
Okay and finally, do not let yourself get behind. Once you get behind it is literally
like you’re trying to swim and get above water. Like, always stay on top of your work,
I think that’s my biggest piece of advice because everything will be 25,000 times easier if you do that.
Okay and that’s it for this video. I really hope it helped in some ways. I really hope
that if you were worried about any of these things, I’ve put your mind at ease a little bit.
So good luck guys, and hopefully I’ll see you next term!