By Patricia Obawole
2nd year BU Student, LLB (Hons) Law
Freshers, the thing about these not-too-inconspicuous people is that you can spot them a mile of. They are the ones who have the brightest smiles and the most eager faces and the ones who politely refuse the freebies that the upper years are all-to-well familiar with.
I guess it’s funny how mannerisms of people can change when someone starts uni. It may not always be all-of-a-sudden, it can be a gradual change. Anyone who knows me, knows that I have created a list of university life lessons that I follow right down to the t. I guess I can spill a few beans for you guys.
My number one lesson has to be “if it is free, take it, no matter if you do not need it, want it or already have it!” like I said before, refusing freebies is an absolute no-no, it doesn’t matter if it is pens, sweets, or pizza, if it’s being handed out, take it. The best time to master this art is during the SUBU Freshers Fair where there is an unruly amount of free things literally being thrown at you. I remember walking out from my first one and being full from all the pizza that was handed and having a carrier bag full with drinks, a full pencil case, supermarket vouchers and a free swimming ticket at the local leisure centre! So, yes it may seem the modest thing to do by refusing, but please don’t!
The second life lesson is one that probably contradicts many peoples upbringing. “Don’t talk to strangers” said almost every family member and teacher to me, a rule which I did duly follow…but then I came to uni and that changed. Okay, I still don’t talk to the random person off the street but I do talk to just about anyone else in the university, this could even be the security guards! I guess I have kinda modified the whole “stranger danger” rule and just renamed it the “throwing yourself into the deep end and see what happens” rule. You never know, it may work for you too as well.
The third (I shan’t reveal too much, plus you have to make up your own) is before I wasn’t really fussed about discounts from stores. Yeah, if I could get something on sale it was good but I never went out of my way…but (yes you guessed it) then I came to uni and found out that using your student/NUS card you can get hundreds of discounts from just about anywhere- free food in McDonalds to 20% Peacocks, and even money off from Amazon. Now I am a ninja when it comes to discounts and I can just about smell the direction of a sale.
There you have it, my top three university life lessons. Like I said before, university can alter your mannerisms a bit, but most of the time it’s just the evolution process of moving to uni (you know the whole only the strong will survive kinda stuff) but don’t worry no matter if you choose to adopt them or not, I am sure that you will have a fantastic time.
Good luck!
