How To Survive Freshers Week

Mid to late September is just another few weeks at work for the majority of us, but for those select few it means one thing, freshers week. A week filled with cheap alcohol and making friends before the lectures start and the work begins. It can be extremely messy, so how do you survive 7 days of madness? 

It can be very easy to go overboard when you have so many £1 shots dancing around you being carried by attractive promo staff. You also have the feeling that you need to keep up with everyone else or 'prove' yourself to your new friends and it all seems fun until the next morning when you can't remember how you got home. 

I'm not saying don't enjoy yourself, freshers week is all about letting go and finding out how far you can go, you need to do it so that you know not to do it in the future. However as a graduate who participated in freshers every year for 3 years, I feel like it would be good for me to impart some wisdom to you. So here are my top tips for surviving freshers!

• Don't take drinks off strangers! (Stranger danger guys)
• Know when to stop. It's usually when the room starts moving more than you are.
• Go at your own pace. Just because your new friends are getting another drink, doesn't mean you have to.
• It's ok to take a day off. Don't feel like you have to go to every single event, some of them won't be worth it, trust me. 
• Have something to eat before bed, McDonalds will give you an extra free cheeseburger if you have an NUS card!
• Fill up a large pint glass of water and put it next to your bed for when you return home. Drinking a large glass of water will re-hydrate you and make that hangover a little more bearable. 
• Always have paracetamol in arms reach. When you're hungover you usually don't want to rise from the bed. 
• Get Netflix, it's a hangovers best friend. 
• Don't mix your drinks
• Jaeger is not your friend
• Neither is Sambuca
• Neither is large amounts of wine, can you say migrane from hell.

Freshers will be one of the most fun and exciting times of your life so make sure you are having fun but also drinking responsibly. There's nothing worse than waking up in hospital because you over did it (it happens more often than you realise) or not remembering your freshers at all. Make some memories but stay safe!