Hi there guys. You might remember me from the other video that I did which is bringing tech
back to uni but today I’m going to be talking about first day experiences and what you’re
supposed to be expecting and, I don’t know, just what I went through.
So I’m not going to lie, the very first day is just mad because you don't know anything
that's going on, you’ve just gotta kinda roll with it. Obviously you kinda get like
that weird feeling that, y'know, you're leaving home for quite a long time and you
probably haven’t done that before.
I kinda think like one of the weirdest feelings is when the car's all packed up and then you
get in it and you just, you’re on your way to uni. Talking of packing as you can see I've
almost got all my stuff. Wait a second, what are those?
[Shane laughs] [Beep]
One of the funny things about the drive to uni is that you will notice other students
that are coming to uni because their cars will be loaded just like yours, full of all
your stuff.
One thing I'll always remember is like the drive onto campus because that's kinda where it hits
you, like right I’m actually here now. And then the second feeling I was like
right where do I go?
When you get onto the campus there will be loads of attendants and people around so if
you don't know where your hall is you can just ask them and they’ll show you where
it is or tell you how to get there, which is always useful coz you kinda want to get to
the hall you’re staying in.
I remember walking to my hall’s reception, and just kinda like getting in a queue because
everybody else was. But I soon realised that was because I needed the key to my room.
The first thing you do when you get to reception is you just kind of say your name, you get
given your uni card and the key to your room. And that’s the exciting bit coz that means
you have to stay now.
For me personally I didn't see the hall I was staying in before I actually came to Nottingham
so it was all new for me and I honestly didn't know what to expect from my room, so it was
kinda like, took a deep breath before I turned the key and opened the door.
It’s all clean and new but it’s a bit plain, so that’s why you need to kinda
personalise your own room to make it feel more like home. The first thing I would advise
to do is just set your room up exactly how you want it. For me I brought posters and all
that stuff like that just to make it more homely and feel, you know, feel more like home.
One of the scariest moments of the whole day was actually saying goodbye to my parents
because that was the moment when I knew I was by myself now, I’m all alone.
I'm here to do uni.
And once you've set up your room and you feel comfortable, I would say get out of your
comfort zone again, step out of your front door and at least go knock on your neighbour
and just say hello, because at the end of the day you’re going to be living next to
them for the whole year, you might as well get to know them.
And another thing I would say for you to do is that if you are going to stay in your room,
open it up and leave it open, so people walking by can just pop in and say hello. People on
your corridor or people in your flat, it obviously depends if you’re catered or self-catered.
I was catered so I was on a corridor, so I just kinda like walked around and I was just talking
to anybody I could see just to, you know just to kinda see if you have a rapport with anybody.
One thing I did with everybody is I just asked them what course they were doing because
I study Architecture: I’m gonna wanna try and find some other people that study Architecture.
Coming from a catered hall obviously dinnertime happens every night and this is the first
night so just sit with someone. You don't even have to know them. Another thing that
I did I went and sat in my bar in the evening because I knew that’s a place where people
would be and just kinda wanted to like make a friend. As long as you make a friend, it’s fine.
But honestly that first day of moving in, is mad. It’s crazy. So many things happen
so quick you’re kinda just like right I’m just going to have to deal with it, but it’s good.
I know it seems awkward it’s like all these
strange people but you’re going to be seeing most of these people every single day so it’s
important to try and you know socialise a bit with them.
The final thing I’m gonna say is go and join your hall page because that’s where
you’re going to find all the people that are in your hall and you can, I’m not going
to say Facebook stalk them, but you know what I mean just have a little look, "oh I know
your face from the page." But honestly you’re going to have a great first day. I hope you’ve
enjoyed this video. I hope it’s helped a little bit and it’s taken a little bit of
the awkwardness away. Alright peace.