The event over 10,000 new Trent students have been waiting for all summer has been and gone – here’s how one fresher spent her week…
Despite the stereotype of freshers week, I managed to have a blast without various forms of alcohol in my system. This meant I was in the right mindset to enjoy various events throughout the week as well as being able to laugh at those who suffered a series of unfortunate hangovers.
Living a mile away from City Campus meant one thing: Google Maps. Lots and lots of Google Maps, draining my charge, not re-centring itself and making me walk the wrong way.
To make my navigational skills worse, everyone I knew failed to mention was that the buses in Nottingham don’t give change. So here I am, a lost student trying to catch the bus home at night, putting my last £2 into the slot, to which the driver snickered: “We don’t give change.” I was half outraged that I didn’t get my 30p change and half embarrassed for being so clueless. However, the next day I felt a little better about myself after finding out that various others have made similar, if not, more costly mistakes.
Public transport aside, my freshers week was pretty mellow. Generally, I spent the day at various induction sessions, meeting people from my course and getting to know the ins and outs of NTU.
When I wasn’t in class, I would try and explore the city, making many trips to the Victoria Centre to stare at all of the pretty clothes I can’t afford. I even got stopped outside of the railway station by ITV News to be asked about my views on vaccination on my way back from the Nottingham Climate Strike. During the evenings, I would hang out with my roommates and laugh about the horror stories of previous nights out.
There were two great freshers fairs on City Campus, one for sports and one for societies. I attended both. Granted, I only went to the sports one for the free Rock City t-shirts, but I was happy to see the vast number of sports NTSU has available for all kinds of students. I was most impressed by the stand which was recruiting members for a wheelchair basketball team, and felt proud to be at a uni which aspires to be as inclusive as possible.
The society fair had such a homely feel to it – each society was friendly and encouraging of all students, and by the time I left, I gave my email to at least seven societies. The Hindu Society were particularly talkative and had a selection of Indian sweets that only Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas’s wedding could rival.
I understand that this isn’t the typical freshers experience, however I still regard it as a week which would outshine most. Everyone that I have met over the last week, whether they went out every night or not, also enjoyed themselves immensely. This goes to show that our upcoming years at NTU will be some of the best and most rewarding times of our lives.
By Akchaya Prabhaharan