Freshers’ week and first year can be the most exciting and overwhelming stage of university for obvious reasons. It’s a period of transition for many, involving meeting new people, changing classes and even moving accommodation. However, for something as time honoured as first year, first-hand accounts from other years are rarely accessible when most needed. While thousands of students pass through the same halls, one’s own experience feels like an anomaly, as few of us have the valuable advice and support of those who have come before.
Freshers’ week is not perfect for anybody, but it is a moment in time when there are choices at every turn. While your first year does not define, by any means, your university experience, it can feel like it does. You are able to make university life what you want it to be, doing the activities you want to do and finding new ones along the way. In conversation with second and third years, I was struck by the similarity between each of their experiences. While events differed, the feeling of excitement and overwhelm were clear.
There’s scope to expand and widen not only your academic knowledge, but also your knowledge about people and the city of Edinburgh. Second year medicine student, Dhairya claims “There was always something to do” referring to the plethora of activities accessible through the university app. However, almost unanimously, those interviewed used the words “anxiety” to describe fresher’s week, and even a new term that seems to be making the rounds: “hangxiety” (hangover anxiety).
One question put to interviewees was what the university could do to improve the experience it gives to its first years and the general student population. Most agreed that there is a need to invest deeper in the mental health services at the University. In 2022, the HUMEN project ranked the University of Edinburgh 61st for mental health support in UK universities, out of a total of eighty universities. There are however resources available to all students, such as same day counselling at the Health and Wellbeing Centre, should you need support.
When asked what advice she would give to her first-year self, sociology student Emma said she would join more societies and make friends through them. For one, this allows you to be surrounded by like-minded people, people who have a passion for, or a willingness to try the same things as you. It also broadens your friend base from just your accommodation. According to philosophy student Mathilde, “the best way to meet people is through outdoorsy activities, because it forces people to meet each other. Experiences create friendships”. Walking up Arthur’s seat, visiting Swanston Farm to see the highland cows, or spending the day at Portobello are almost guaranteed ways to make lasting memories and potentially deeper friendships.
The fear of missing out is something that surfaced repeatedly in discussion. It is, however, combatable, by making choices based on what you want to do and by committing to it rather than doing anything halfway. Spanish and French student Iseult claimed that “a week sometimes feels like a long time to have not made friends but it’s really not”. Everything feels more imminent, and time feels faster than it is. While it’s tempting to make as many friends as possible as fast as you can, Mathilde suggests the opposite approach: “focus on the people you like and that make you feel comfortable. They could end up being your best friends.”
Even if freshers’ week is the first week of your university experience, that does not make it the most important or mean that it has to be your favourite. The excitement of meeting new friends and trying new things makes it a unique moment, but most students look back on it wishing they had put less pressure on themselves to have everything figured out within the first seven days. With time, new friendships, interests and routines will develop according to your preferences, and now is the time to explore the new independence that university offers.
“Grassmarket at Night, Edinburgh” by terbeck is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.