So, you\u2019ve had your A-level results and had your place at ECS confirmed?<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve got the accommodation you wanted all sorted and secured (though don\u2019t worry unduly if you haven\u2019t, as mine took forever to sort out, wasn\u2019t at all what I wanted, and I still had the best time!)? And in 14 days time, you\u2019re going to be unleashed into the world of university for the first time?<\/p>\n
If all these are you, then you\u2019re a lucky, lucky person! I guarantee you are going to have an absolutely incredible time<\/strong>, but I also know that whilst you\u2019re doubtless extremely excited you\u2019re also probably a bit nervous too. Relax. So is everyone. I certainly was (and I know if it was me reading this, then I\u2019d be saying \u2013 \u201cbut just because you were nervous and had a good time it doesn\u2019t mean it will be the same for me!\u201d and ending up getting more nervous then I started…), but you really don\u2019t need to be. Everyone is looking to meet new people, try new things and are in exactly the same position as you. Relax.<\/p>\n So what are my top tips? A good first one would be to stop reading other people\u2019s top tips lists. Whilst there is a lot of good information out there, there\u2019s also a lot of rubbish too. Plus, the more you read about what other people do you\u2019ll just make yourself more nervous trying to remember what person x did in situation y, and won\u2019t end up remembering much at all. Besides, university is all about being yourself and doing the things you want to do, not just trying to fit in with people you don\u2019t agree with. The university community is so massive there will be plenty of people who share your interests\/views, and whether you find them on the first day, during Fresher\u2019s week or not even until a couple of years into your degree, it doesn\u2019t really matter. They are there somewhere, you just have to look.<\/p>\n Despite all that though, I would like to pass on the best piece of advice I ever heard, though feel free to follow tip number one and skip over this section! When you\u2019re back in your room in halls, always keep your door propped open. It means your flatmates can all tell easily that you\u2019re in and can come and stop by for a chat. It really will make you much more sociable and easier to get on with! Though don\u2019t forget to shut and lock your door when you go out again!!<\/p>\n Most of all, just make sure to have fun, get involved with as many things as you can, and ENJOY YOURSELF! Good luck, and see you all at Jumpstart!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" So, you\u2019ve had your A-level results and had your place at ECS confirmed? You\u2019ve got the accommodation you wanted all sorted and secured (though don\u2019t worry unduly if you haven\u2019t, as mine took forever to sort out, wasn\u2019t at all what I wanted, and I still had the best time!)? And in 14 days time, you\u2019re going to be unleashed …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":291,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[33311],"tags":[428645,52771,98634,26612,428282,428460],"class_list":["post-462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-southampton-university-life","tag-accommodation","tag-community","tag-ecs","tag-freshers-week","tag-jumpstart","tag-new-student","column","twocol"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3BSCk-7s","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/studentblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/studentblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/studentblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/studentblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/291"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/studentblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/studentblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1091,"href":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/studentblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462\/revisions\/1091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/studentblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/studentblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/studentblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}