What comes to mind when you think of the term, ‘Freshers Week’? Some might picture raving teens who drink until they black out every night, go to bed at 3am and wake up the next day at noon, desperately dreary and hungover from the copious amounts of flat parties, clubbing, and shot-taking.
Although admittedly this was what I pictured for Freshers Week (though the concept of it didn’t seem wholly appealing), the welcome week to university was a completely different ball game amidst a global pandemic.
I arrived on the Friday of welcome week – I had my driver’s test a few days prior (which I passed, thankfully) and did not want to be the first one to arrive. Much to my luck, I ended up being pretty much the first to arrive. I met one other girl who is now my dear flatmate, as well as one shadowy, mysterious boy who stayed in his room with the door locked. To make matters worse, my female flatmate left to go to work all day, and the male flatmate ran away within an hour of meeting him, which meant that my first day was absolutely silent – slightly intimidating when you’re expecting to have a wild and exciting first night.
Despite the first day fiasco, two new flatmates were welcomed in the next morning, much to my relief! We also had another join us on the Sunday (the last day of moving in – we were anxiously scrambling to the window every time we saw a car draw up outside our block!) which brought our total number up to 5. We’re expecting a new flatmate in November, which will technically bring our flat to ‘full capacity’, which we are all very happy about! My flatmates and I get on so well, we all like to go out, we like to play games and spend time together, so the worry of having a quiet flat was quickly eliminated.
After that first weekend, we went to the surrounding areas of Coventry, Leamington Spa and Warwick, all of which we like for different reasons – Coventry has amazing food, Warwick is very historical, and Leamington Spa is charming. We’ve explored campus, though the size was overwhelming at first, given when I toured it earlier in the year it seemed tiny.
I didn’t realise I had reading to do for the first week which was a bit intense on the Sunday and Monday whilst everyone else had been given things to do throughout the week, but it was good to get back into studying. Over lockdown, one of the biggest things I missed (until I found paint by numbers) was having purpose to finish something and put all of my focus into, so I’m relieved to have that back!
We met some other people through the whatsapp group chats (an absolute blessing to have – if you’re starting uni in September, make sure you are on those once you’ve arrived) and met up with them outside and socially distanced of course! We went to the bar, to restaurants, played card and drinking games and got to know each other really well, a positive I can draw from this unprecedented situation. Being in the flat more than you usually would during Freshers is something that brought us all closer, which I definitely appreciate.
Overall, although we had a completely different experience from years before us, I’d say Freshers Week was still an enjoyable experience. I was slightly impatient to begin studying, but in retrospect, that week was vital to ground me and let me settle in, because moving to a new city by yourself can be overwhelming. Whatever your experience of Freshers Week, just soak up the atmosphere and take from it what you want. This year just goes to show that going out to foam parties every night and coming back absolutely sloshed does not have to constitute a good time!
