If you’ve just joined us – welcome to BU! I hope you’re all enjoying the autumn sunshine, I know I am. How exciting that you’ve now embarked on your postgraduate journey. And for those of you thinking of joining us in January, or next September, here’s some advice to get you prepared well in advance.
Naturally, getting the academic side of things right is super important at this time, but I’d also recommend using your first few weeks at BU to get to know the place as well as possible. By understanding all the services and support that are available to you at BU, as well as what’s on offer in your local area and getting to know your course-mates better, you’ll maximise your enjoyment of your time at BU.
Check out the BU website and you’ll find lots of information about making the most of your time here. Some of the key areas to check out are SportBU, Student Support and Careers. Think about how you’ll get to uni each day; which modes of transport are available and are you choosing the best one? Could you take advantage of opportunities while you’re here to volunteer, learn a new language or help improve the student experience for others?
Most importantly, make sure you find out about what’s going on at BU in areas that matter the most to you. As an example, I learnt just last week that students are entitled to free bike servicing. As a keen cyclist and already having been at BU for a year, I’m slightly kicking myself for not finding out about this sooner! So I really recommend using these early days to explore your own areas of interest and work out how you can optimise your time at BU.
If you’re new to Bournemouth, this is a great time to get out and about and discover your new local area. Finding those favourite spots now will put you in good stead for having go-to places and activities in the more stressful times ahead! Check out my blog on life at BU for some pointers 
on local places to eat, drink and have fun.
Finally, while all these things are very important, it’s the people that make an experience, and this couldn’t be truer of the uni experience. Here at BU we have such a rich diversity of people from different places and walks of life. I’ve really enjoyed getting to know just a small number of these people this year, and am looking forward to meeting more new faces this year. As a part-time student, I feel unable to immerse myself as fully in the student community as I’d like to, but plan to make a big effort to get involved as much as possible this year. I hope to make use of the language conversation clubs as part of my journey of learning Italian, have joined the Bike User Group, and would like to attend more events such as the Festival of Learning.
By Lauren Bishop
