5 Things I wish I'd known Before Coming to Uni

As I started my second year, I began to wonder: “how different would’ve my experience in University been only if I had a few pointers before arriving here.” Keeping that in mind, I decided to emphasise on a few things I wish I’d known before coming to the UK to start my degree.

1. A simple hello goes a long way

The day before my induction, I was laid in bed stressing out about how I would make a friend in this environment, which was completely new to me. After all, all the friends I had back home were the ones I grew up with since I was 6 years old. To my surprise, it was even easier than counting from 1-10. All I had to do was say a simple hello and it gradually grew from there. After being here for almost two years, I feel as if these people are the ones I can rely on no matter what.

2.The amount of Asian grocery shops available around Huddersfield

The first thing my mum packed in my luggage was heaps of all sorts of Asian spices which I might need to cook. Upon arriving in Huddersfield, I discovered that not only are the re grocery shops with Asian spices in them but there are rather whole shops dedicated to the cuisine such as Dong Dong in town with all sorts of oriental vegetables and sauces; and Khadim in Birkby with all sorts of spices starting from turmeric to fenugreek even. Only if I’d known earlier I wouldn’t have wasted my luggage weight on them and would’ve rather bought all sorts of spices I need upon arriving here.

3. Assignments and Referencing

Assignments done in school and assignments done in university is like water and oil; two complete different things. Back in school, I never had to emphasise on referencing as much and used to base all my data on online websites and got good grades for it. But in university, referencing correctly is an integral part of writing a good assignment along with collecting your data from a range academic journal articles. I used to get my referencing format wrong in the beginning before knowing about summon. Later on, a senior friend of mine showed me the reference builder in summon in the university portal and it has helped me a great deal.

4. Meal prep should be your best friend

If everyone is being honest, university life can be quite hectic with all the assignments, extra-curricular activities and the social life, leaving little room to actually cooking and preparing wholesome meals throughout the day. At the same time, it is not such a great idea to live off of takeaway or instant ramen. If one can take out some time during the weekends to meal prep for the whole week it can do wonders. It allows you to have healthy food, saves a huge amount of time throughout the week and also gives you a mental satisfaction of somewhat being an actual adult.

5. Joining Societies

During fresher’s week, it is quite normal to feel like joining all the societies available which in my opinion is not a great idea. The best would be to have a walk around and join only the ones you resonate with the most. As time passes by keeping up appearances in all the societies will become time consuming and stressful so, it is better to just join the ones you really like and have a good balance of everything during the years spent in university.

Everybody’s experience in university varies. The best thing to do before arriving here is to keep an open mind and go with the flow. In no time these years will pass by and one will find themselves reminiscing about the years spent in university.