Making new friends at uni

You're settling into your new city, new home and new surroundings but it is a completely different world to the one you left behind. Those established friends who know everything worth knowing about you - the ones you spent almost every day for at least 7 years with - are discovering a whole new city of their own. Of course, they will always be your mates but right now you are going to need a few new ones for the 3 important, study-filled years that lie ahead of you. 

 

So what's the best way to make new friends? Sadly, there is no manual to making new friends and it is up to you whether you want a whole harem of friendly faces around you or just a few close, carefully chosen ones. But follow these steps and soon enough you will have filled the empty space left by your best friends from home being so far away.

Where to look?

The most obvious candidates to fill your friendship vacancy will be the people who you are living & studying with. Remember, you are all in exactly the same boat so there is no need to be shy - be sure to introduce yourself, ask questions and engage in conversation. Everyone will be nervous about meeting new people so don't forget they feeling the same emotions as you are. Why not keep your door on the latch for a little while rather than locking it? This shows your roomies that you are approachable and will encourage them to stop by and say hi.

 Common ground

An important basis of any new friendship is having something in common. This might be a favourite movie or band, you might have both come from the same town or visited the same holiday destination. Perhaps you both went to Glastonbury last year or saw Beyonce at the MEN arena? When chatting to somebody new, speak about these shared experiences or backgrounds to highlight how well you could potentially get on.

Dutch courage

If, like most students, you like the odd drink or two then this is a great way to bond with flatmates and classmates alike. In the interest of encouraging responsible drinking then you don't need to get paralytic, just a few drinks will lower inhibitions enough for you to let your guard down a bit. Of course, drinking games will get you all a little more plastered than a few beers or spritzers in the pub but are a great way to get to know your new friends. After a few rounds of Ring of Fire, I can almost guarantee you will all be best buddies. And if you are arranging a few drinks, how about making it fancy dress? It shows you are willing to have a laugh as well as making a night out that little more memorable. And with costumes, don't hold back - being a student is all about having fun, and an epic fancy dress outfit will earn you serious kudos with your peers. 

Food, glorious food.

If alcohol isn't your thing - and even if it is - don't forget the equally awesome bonding powers of some good food. If you like to cook or bake, now is the time to show off your skills and use them to bag a few friends. Everybody wants a housemate or friend who can serve up the perfect curry, prepare a hangover-conquering roast or whip up a batch of cupcakes. Set aside a night where you take it in turns to cook for each other, or if there is a chef in the house then you can all put money in each week and have a foodie night. If no-one wants to cook one night, go out and enjoy the restaurants and cafes your city has to offer. Big cities have an endless and vast array of places to choose from, whatever you fancy and to suit all budgets. Ordering pizza to eat with a movie is an easy and cheap way to spend an evening with mates. Whether you choose to dine in or out (or order takeout), these are all great bonding opportunities with your friends. If all else fails, make all your housemates a nice cuppa and you can bond over that instead.

Skip the drink... occasionally at least!

This may seem like a contradiction to what I said before - alcohol is genuinely a great way to make friends - but try skipping alcohol once in a while to something else instead. Be cultural and go to the theatre, a gig or a museum. Explore the city together, go shopping or stop for lunch. Sit down and watch a film in your living room, bedroom or at the cinema. If you really want to build a proper friendship then it should be about more than just downing shots together 3 or 4 nights a week. Real friendship is about getting to know someone properly, not just on nights out.

Societies & groups

So you went to Freshers Fair and you were bombarded by countless groups & societies all vying for you attention? Yes, it's a helluva lot to take in, but you need to work out which of these are relevant to you. They are a great way to meet like-minded individuals who share the same interests. Whether you like acting, theatre, sport, hip-hop or feel strongly about LGBT issues - there will be a society for you. Check your uni website for lists of all the societies out there. It is valuable to be part of the uni community, and you will be surrounded by friends in no time. 

Social Media helps!

Embrace modern technology and use Facebook and Twitter to discover various groups online for students at your uni. Societies will have their own websites, Facebook pages and twitter feeds. There will be a Facebook group for freshers starting at your university, and even studying your subject. Make sure you have a good browse online for these and you will be meeting a great group of people full of potential best friends. I have personally made a number of good friends who I met through a Facebook group, so I know it works!

Most importantly, just make sure you are having fun. Yes, uni life and all this studying can be hard work but enjoy free time with your flatmates & classmates, speak to them, get to know them and they will already be your friends!

AFS & Glide take over Sheffield Campus!

It was the University of Sheffield's turn to see an AFS and Glide sponsored take-over, which meant a dangerously early start for me and an hour train journey which was made marginally easier by sipping on a latte and reading my Kindle. It was an easy enough journey through some spectacular English countryside, so I wasn't complaining and it wasn't long until I arrived in sunny Sheffield!

I stepped out of the train station to be welcomed by this amazing fountain and clear blue skies above which was lucky, because today we would be handing out hundreds of free ice creams to promote our two amazing student companies! I took a stroll along the beautiful cobbled streets of the city to reach my destination, our base for the day was outside the Hicks Building at the University of Sheffield.

The ice cream van was in place ready to draw in the crowds, so the team could give the student residents of Sheffield some valuable information about both AFS and Glide, and a free ice cream too. With the sun beating down (it was hot work in our hoodies!), it didn't take long for a large queue to form and it stayed that way for a few hours. More importantly, we gave our info card out to over 1300 people as well as over 1300 free ice creams - until the truck ran dry, literally!

If you missed the event, here is what you need to know about AFS & Glide:

Accommodation for Students is THE place to go if you are looking for student accommodation in the UK. It is free, easy to use and you can search different types of room & property on a whole range of different values like cost & location. We are a student-friendly company set up by two students, and our focus is ensuring the properties on our site are professional, suitable for students and meet our high standard. You can even find housemates on the site, so remember to use the site next time you need student accommodation!

Glide makes bills simple for both tenants and property businesses. Glide delivers one simple monthly bill for all utilities and services (energy, broadband etc) both for tenants in shared accommodation who want to pay only their share, and for businesses with a portfolio of rental properties who want to cut out admin. For student's, it means one monthly figure to pay for all your bills, you are only responsible for your payment so no need to chase your housemates or worry if they don't pay and you have access to a meter showing you what energy you've used, if you use less than you paid for then you get a nice little rebate at the end of the year. Check out the website for a quote today!

It was great to speak and see so many students and after a very busy day for everyone, it was time to head home - there were more amazing views on the train, and it was great to be back in Mancs having spreading the word!

Home sweet home...

Photo wall: inexpensive piece of art for your student room!

So you've made your student room a little more homely, but you haven't displayed any of those all important photo's of family & friends back home.

A great idea is to make a Family Tree photo wall! Not only does it make a bare wall, door or wardrobe look more inviting, but it reminds you of your loved ones and is an inexpensive piece of art. Family's come in all shapes and sizes, so you you add in extended family like Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and of course, the family pets.

And how about a 'Circle of Friends' photo wall too. I arranged my photo's into a circular shape on my wardrobe doors. And don't worry about cost, photo's are mega cheap to print these days - if you sign up to www.truprint.co.uk, you get your first 50 prints completely free. All you pay is postage of £1.49 anywhere in the UK.

So it cost just £1.49 to create two pieces of wall-art, with a few hand-drawn arrows added in for effect. It was great fun and I think they both look amazing... give it a go and brighten up your room even further.

Moving into your Student digs!

You have used www.accommodationforstudents.com to find the perfect pad for you and hurled all your belongings from home in to your new room, but it's all looking a little plain.... there are only a few utensils in the kitchen, lots of bare magnolia-white washed walls and pale woodwork on show. But don't worry, it's easy and (more importantly) not so expensive to kit out your home in a homely, attractive way.

Your main hub at home will probably be your bedroom, so let's start there. A massive part of any student room is the desk - it is where you will spending a lot of your free time studying towards that rather expensive degree you came for. The first thing you can do to jazz up your desk is add a lamp, the more colourful the better. My major rule of making your digs homely is to use colour as much as possible. This bright red lamp costs just £8 and accompanied by the retro phone for styling and a mirror for the all-important grooming, transforms a boring desk into an exciting one.

Uni is a lot of hard work, so you need some fun to help balance things out. If you have space on the side of your wardrobe, why not buy some cheap wrapping paper (of a pattern of your choice) and display some art work, inspirational sayings to spur you on or photo's of loved ones? I will be writing a new blog post this weekend all about a great way to display those photo's of loved ones at home!

Spare shelving is yet another great way to make your room look more attractive. You can showcase important sentimental items from home, display your perfumes/scents, add funky decorative items or even your toiletries! 

Many students will find a dowdy-looking noticeboard in their bedroom, and you can use the left over wrapping paper from earlier to spruce this up. Pin a wall calendar up to help you plan your year ahead (you can cross out the days as you go along) and add decorative signs or sayings around the edge to help inspire you to achieve your goals in your degree. I particularly like the 'Live Laugh Love' - one of my fave expressions - sign which cost just 2 quid - I even have it tattooed around my wrist.

Two very simple ways to make any room look a little more homely are a canvas photo or some bunting. Art doesn't have to be expensive, with canvas photo's costing from between £2 and £10. And you have so many designs to choose from. Why not order a personalised one online to help remember friends and family far away at home? Bunting is also cheap and looks great hanging across a wall - and you avoid using nails to hang it up which might lose you some deposit at the end of the year! This Union Jack bunting is both patriotic and stylish, and links in nicely with the London bus canvas.

Moving on to the kitchen/living room/diner, these can be barren looking places which put residents off from using them. But once again, colour is key! Buy brightly coloured items and to instantly make it more welcoming and friendly. There are some great, inexpensive and very colourful ranges out there in the shops.

As you will see on the above photos, a lime green drainer, purple chopping board and red oven glove make the kitchen look a little less bare and a lot warmer. A bright blue table cloth, clashing with the red plates & place mats improves the previously depressing kitchen table. Of course, this palette may not be to your taste - try sticking to one colour theme and accessorize the kitchen/diner out in just that! And to help save money, do you really need a toaster if you have a grill in the oven? A saucepan will boil your water just as quickly as a kettle. So if you are tight on cash, don't bother.

My final tip is cushions. They make any sofa more inviting, encouraging you to sit down and spend more time in the living space, chatting to your flatmates. Interaction with other people is a huge part of student life so the more time you spend in the communal areas, the better! These two cost just £8 for the pair, and can be used if one of your mates is crashing at yours for the night. 

All of the items on the blog today were purchased in Wilkinsons at the Arndale Shopping Centre, Manchester - however you will be able to find similar items elsewhere.

Happy styling peeps!