Firstly – Congratulations on surviving the Hunger Games of the education system and you’ve reached your last hurdle before you’re set free into the adult world! It’s the start of a new adventure and we all know just how scary that can be; for most of you it means, it’s your first time moving away from your families, or you’ve moved to another country - not only that,  you more than likely have to move in with a bunch of complete strangers that you’re going to spend the entire next year living with (or if you really don’t get along, avoiding!).

There is also adjusting to a new time table, the academic challenges you’re going to face and so much more. But don’t worry too much, you have a student union full of amazing staff that will do everything they can to help you transition easily into this new life experience.

Here are some important tips that we in the Students Union have come up with to help you settle right into the university experience without a hitch!

1. Take part in as many freshers events as you can, this is the best time to get out there and meet the people you will be spending the next few years with so the more you’re about the more people you meet.

2. Don’t spend all of your money at once, unless you’re lucky enough to already have a job or get a job straight away, you don’t know how long what you have will need to last you, be smart with it!

3. Familiarise yourself with the area, know where your nearest tube stations, supermarkets, train stations, pubs etc are, once you’ve got this figured out get hold of citymapper, this will save you so much hassle trying to work the TFL website.

4. Invest in a student oyster card – they are so convenient and it’s a cheaper way of travelling around London. Also we recommend getting an NUS Extra card for discounts on food, shopping and much more! 

5. Make Skype an important part of your life, I’m not saying don’t socialise, but if you start to feel homesick or miss your friends at home you can just call them up, have a video chat and feel a hundred times better afterwards, (or ya no, just check up on how your pets are doing without you).

6. Organise your time, once you have your timetable for the semester start planning your time around that, your working hours, study hours, social life etc, sticking to this plan from early on will make your uni life so much easier in the long run.  

7. Use social media to find people on your course – surround yourself with like-minded people who you’re likely to get on with and follow UWLSU on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to keep up to date with the latest news and events!