Hey freshers!

Congratulations on getting in to Lancaster, we’re looking forward to welcoming you here very soon! Myself (Islay, VP Campaigns and Communications), Ian (VP Education) and Matty (VP Union Development) have come together to answer some of the questions that you submitted online recently.

 

Top five things not to forget when coming to university

1. Food! Bring some of your favourite snacks along to give out to your new flatmates
2. Earplugs – you'll be going from living in a family home to sharing a flat with other people that will be up and about at different times; they’re perfect for naps too!
3. ID – you'll need this to collect your flat keys when you arrive, and you’ll of course need it if you want to visit our student club, the Sugarhouse!
4. Things that remind you of home; photos, food etc!
5. Tupperware – this is a random one but it’s great to store leftover dinners in to have for your lunch the next day

Make sure you check with your accommodation to see what it has in it before you arrive as you probably won’t need an iron and you definitely won’t need a washing machine!

What to do as a non drinker, how to socialise as a non-drinker, especially during freshers

Check out Ian’s blog post here to see what he recommends doing as a non drinker. Cooking is also a great social activity  that you can do together, and will make it cheaper too. Fajitas is a great recipe for sharing, as you can easily make it veggie, it’s easy to prepare and the ingredients aren’t too expensive. Each college will have non-drinking events during the week, and these will continue on throughout the year, so you won’t feel pressured into drinking if that’s not for you, or if you want a night off. Day trips are also a great way to get off campus and see somewhere new. We recommend going into Lancaster town centre, Manchester or the Lake District, which are all easy to get to via public transport.

 

How to get involved during freshers

The Freshers Fair is on Thursday during Freshers Week, you can check out the Facebook event here [LINK] to find out more. We have over 180 societies, which you can look through here before going, so you can see what you might be interested in joining. We also have an entire range of sports clubs, so there’s something for everyone! If that’s not for you, look out for your college JCR elections and the Students’ Union Part Time Officer elections around Christmas time as there are a range of roles available for both.

 

Do I need to buy a freshers ticket?

Please don’t buy anything that doesn’t come from your college! Check in your college Facebook group before buying anything, and don’t buy anything that doesn’t come from the university as there are a number of external companies with fake events that are trying to sell tickets to new students.

 

How do I do my laundry?

There are launderettes spread out around campus, that are just a short walk from the accommodation. They use a pre-paid card system with Circuit Landry and you can purchase your card in the launderette once you get here. If you want to know how to use the machines, Circuit have videos on their website that you can check out here.

 

How to buy food

We have a few places across campus to buy food from. We have two small supermarkets; our Students’ Union Shop, Central is by Pendle and Grizedale, and we have Spar which is by Bowland and Furness. As well as this we have a lot of places to buy pre-prepared fast food from, such as Go Burrito, Wok Inn, a Chinese takeaway and Sultans. Each college has a bar, and we also have a range of cafes and restaurants, which you can find out more about here.

All the major supermarkets deliver online too, so group up with a couple of flatmates and you can get your shopping delivered to your door!

Town has a couple of Asian supermarkets and a Polish supermarket, and we also have a Tesco Express, Sainsbury's Local and a large Sainsbury’s. You can get a bus from the town centre to a large ASDA or ALDI. On a Wednesday, there are Sainsbury’s busses from campus to Sainsbury’s, which are free if you spend £5 in Sainsbury’s.

 

Where to go for support

Each college has college advisor teams (CAT Teams), the Students’ Union has a whole advice team, which you can find out more about here. You can also check out the university’s wellbeing, counselling and mental health services here. Each flat will be assigned freshers reps to them and they act as a good first person to speak to, and they’ll point oyu in the right direction.

 

How to manage your time

Google Calendar and Wunderlist are great! You can export your timetable from Moodle to Google using the instructions here  and have it colour coded and organised so you’ll never miss a training session, worksheet or night out again!

 

How to manage money

Try to keep your savings and spending separate, and ‘pay yourself’ weekly or monthly from one account to the other so you can keep track of what you’re spending each month.

 

Thank you for watching, and look out for more #HowToStudent videos coming soon!