First year is the time to have fun. I shed a tear at the fact I can no longer use being a fresher as an excuse. I had a fantastic year though. Freshers is about enjoying yourself, experiencing new things and settling into the University style of living. It can be hectic, but as long as you go to lectures and put the suitable amount of effort in, stressing should be saved for third year.

I was extremely lucky with my lovely friends, who have exposed me to many new things. They presented me with new slang such as “chirpsing”, “craic”, and my favourite, “sudi”. They introduced me to food I didn’t really eat before like pesto pasta, rhubarb yoghurt, and chicken-flavoured noodles. I still have no idea what hotpot is even though it has been explained to me several times. Sorry Luke.

Living in Halls of Residence was an interesting experience. Pressing the button every forty-five minutes for the heating to come on was a nightmare. I was never going to remember to press it! I often found my fingers frozen to my keyboard after an hour or two of writing an essay, whilst actually watching Desperate Housewives. Plus, the kitchen was like a vortex. It would be sparkling clean, then dinner and pre-drinks would occur, and it would turn in to a rubbish dump. Glasses, plates, beer cans and playing cards splayed all over the place. It was a never-ending cycle of cleaning up.

For the majority of my time as a fresher, my face was not so fresh. A few big nights, (or many for some people), are necessary as a fresher. The first heavy night I endured was the Otley Run, sporting a rather fashionable toga and an ‘F’ on my forehead. I was not prepared. Having tequila shots with every drink in every pub turned my night into an uphill battle. I managed to lose my handbag, cut my knees falling over; and had to be let in by security after being locked outside my flat crying. I woke up to have only in my possession, a receipt for southern fried chicken and a beer mat that read, ‘A real winner seeks a long term relationship’. Drunk-me can be so cruel; it leaves me with nothing but calories and a dig at my single status. It goes without saying, I learnt my lesson.

I didn’t spend the whole year in a foggy state. Being a History student, reading – and I mean stacks of reading if you want to do well – is imperative. I spent a significant amount of daylight hours in the library. The library is helpful as it has great volumes of resources for you to wade your way through. However, the library can also be an adversary. Some of my friends have rightly dubbed a strange state of mind that takes over you in the silent space of the library. Your strained mind is warped into thinking that people, who in open daylight you would not glance twice at, are gorgeous beyond belief. Even under the fluorescent lights. Beware of ‘Library Goggles’.

As a fresher, you should do as many things as possible. Join a club, go to a bar you normally wouldn’t, or go on a trip. One event that stands out in my first year was the History trip to Amsterdam. Seeing Ann Frank’s house was very surreal and a cultural highlight. The rest of the trip seemed to consist of riding around on trams – sometimes the wrong way, eating McDonalds on our heated bathroom floor, dancing around our handbags in the middle of a pub; and my friend falling flat on her back right in front of the ‘I am Amsterdam’ sign. It was a memorable couple of days.

A lot can happen in one year. I might have made a mess of some situations, but in my opinion, that is an important part of the fresher experience. They didn’t prevent me from my academic responsibilities, and they made for some entertaining anecdotes in Hyde Park Pub on a Tuesday. I’m going to miss being a fresher, but I now have knowledge of my surroundings, my own house and great mates.

Laura Sedgwick, Second Year History student