Freshers week. A single set of seven days which is often presented as the be all and end all of your university experience.
You turn up in Freshers week with your extension lead and the family photo that your mom insisted you take wondering how you are going to make your life-long friends. You cling on to the first person you meet on your course, desperate to ‘find your people.’
Now, I guess this is where I come in, the overbearing final year, to tell you how to make friends.
My first, and probably best, piece of advice is to make the most out of all the Freshers events that your university puts on, if only to grab all the freebies. These events can range from societies fairs to welcome celebrations, to club nights (if that is your thing). Attending any number of these will put you in a much better position to meet new people than you would be if you stayed in the comfort of your flat. The great thing about Freshers events is that you will meet people in the same boat as you, nervous newbies at university.
The second thing I would do is join lots of societies, or even simply go to the taster events they put on. I know people always say ‘join societies to make friends’, it is very much an over-used phrase and a bit of a cliché. Yet, whilst I hate to admit it, they are right. Joining a society that you are interested in not only provides you with a fun extra-curricular but offers the opportunity to meet like-minded people.
You also need to be open and ready to meet people, shutting yourself away in your new, unfamiliar room will neither help you make friends or make you feel good. Don’t forget that a lot of people will get homesick and will be just as nervous and scared as you are.
So far, I have given you my advice to find your new best friend, but now I want to focus on the bracketed aspect of the title. I am sure that every single one of you reading this feels an immense pressure to socialise and make friends for life – why wouldn’t you when the media tells you that this is what you must do in your first week? My advice would be, however, to simply take it slow and don’t go into university with the expectation that you will have found your group of friends by the end off Freshers for the entirety of your degree. Whilst it is true that you will meet lots of people in Freshers, and you may be quite friendly with them, do not be surprised if these friendships do not last. Most of them will morph into acquaintances whom you will awkwardly smile at in the corridor or have a quick chat to about their course at a social event. That being said, there is always the possibility you may stumble upon your future friends in Freshers.
It is easy to forget, however, that there isn’t a timer that is suddenly going to run out after Freshers week, and that you can continue to make new friends throughout your degree. I won’t lie to you; I didn’t exactly make a whole host of friends in Freshers. During my first year, let alone first week, of university I was plagued by social anxiety. Whilst, it would have been nice to have been able to meet my future bridesmaids in my first year, nothing has stopped me making new friends later in my degree. Over the past year alone, I have met so many amazing people that I probably wouldn’t have ever met in Freshers.
Essentially, although this article is meant to state the ways in which you can gain an abundance of friends in Freshers, my biggest advice would be to simply let them come to you. Through going to events you will meet people, but you will naturally meet others by joining a society that really interests you and chatting to people in your classes. And, if you are concerned about meeting or living with people who aren’t your cup of tea, just remember it isn’t forever and there are plenty of more potential friendships out there waiting for you.