Top Tips: Student Halls
Top Tips: Student Halls So by now you’ve already secured your place at Northumbria. You’re in, congratulations! Now is the time to start thinking about the exciting prospect of moving into one of our amazing halls of residence in September, which were voted second best accommodation in the UK by national newspaper, The Telegraph. Here are a few tips to keep stress to a minimum and help you settle in.
Use Uni Baggage to ship your stuff Uni Baggage are a low cost shipping service that collect and deliver student baggage across the UK and worldwide for an extremely admirable price. This service may be of particular use to you if you’re the type of person who has tried to pack their whole house into their suitcase and has excess baggage that needs to be moved. You may want to check out this service if you are coming to study from overseas – it will likely be cheaper than paying excess baggage charges on an airline. Check them out here for more information.
Like your halls’ Facebook page You can get to know who you will be living with in your halls before you’ve even packed by connecting with the halls Facebook page. Here you will have the chance to interact online with other freshers who are going to be living in the same halls as you, allowing you to pre-break the ice. By all means please don’t go into full creep mode, however looking at the profiles of others can give you an idea of any possible interests you may share and a good starting point for conversation when you finally meet! Try and find your flatmates using the student union page.
Turn your room into an inspiring environment This is your new personal space for sleeping, working, partying, and anything else you may get up too over the next year, so one of the first things you should do is make the space your own. Take some home comforts with you that will create a positive vibe in your room. This could possibly be your favourite lamp, ornament or picture frame etc. A small plant can also add some instant freshness to your room. There’s also a poster fair during freshers week where you can pick up something to suit your personality. Favourite rock band, supermodel, cartoon character, or fluffy animal, they’ve got you covered with a range of different designs.
Take an open minded approach You’re all in the same highly nervous boat, so stay positive and allow yourself the opportunity to socialise with others. Get involved with as many people as possible in your halls and spend time in communal areas where there’s a high chance of interacting with your fellow freshers. Try not to judge people too much; it may be that someone really wants to make friends and talk to you but they just can’t bring themselves to make the first move. Don’t leave anyone out – if you see someone alone, invite them to tag along out with you. They might be the most interesting person you meet all year!
Roomies It really pays to make an effort with your roommates; remember you’re stuck with them all year! You’re not going to make any friends hibernating away in your room, so get networking and start experiencing Newcastle with each other. If you have already moved in before others, helping your roommates to move themselves in can be a great icebreaker and start things off on the right foot. Keep your door open as a sign to others that you’re down for a chat, however remember to lock up when you’re not in.
Cooking
Food is most likely going to be your biggest cost all year. If you can manage to squeeze some into your bags it could be well worth bringing a few bits and bobs down with you to tide you through freshers. Don’t rely on takeaways! This will cost too much and is not sustainable – not to mention the extra pounds you will be guaranteed to put on. You don’t have to be able to produce Masterchef standard meals, but learning to cook some simple recipes (if you can’t already) will be invaluable throughout your time away from home. As for kitchen hygiene, try to wash up as soon as you have cooked. Nothing gets on peoples nerves more than when they’ve just came in from lectures starving and can’t make anything because of your pile of dishes. You may also want to establish some kitchen and fridge rules early on as unfortunately people can sometimes think anything without a name on it is there for the taking.