As Freshers week 2021 begins, it is easy for older students to look back in envy at the excitement to come for first years. Those first few weeks go by in a whirlwind, fuelled by pesto pasta, orange VKs and pure vibes (but maybe that’s just me). To reminisce and offer some guidance to the new York students, we asked our Nouse team for some of their most memorable moments of those first few weeks.
As you step onto campus for the first time, put up your fairy lights and get ready for pre-drinks in the kitchen, perhaps keep some of these stories in mind. Consider us your helpful older sister, telling you what not to do on those first few nights out and giving you the top advice we learnt the hard way.
Matt: First impressions are just that – first impressions
When my friends and I talk about our first impressions of each other on the first day of freshers they all say that they thought I was an extroverted, uber-confident, outgoing, alcoholic. Now they all know the truth - this being that I can’t flirt with someone without the help of a dating app because of my crippling anxiety! The alcoholic part I can’t comment on.
Ed: Being locked out of your room isn’t the only problem with losing a keycard…
If you lose your room card on a night out, be careful of the revolving door in the Ron Cooke Hub. Managed to get stuck in this door and to this day I am not sure if it was the alcohol, or the speed of the door. Have a feeling it may have been the former.
Emma: If you’re on Campus East, beware of the hill
I fell down the hill from the Bus stop towards Constantine in the pouring rain and landed in a pool of mud. I then decided to stay there and look at the stars (that you couldn't see due to the rain clouds) because I was so drunk, but luckily my friends somehow managed to drag me to my block.
Lucy: Be careful of getting with strangers who do your course
It was my first night out in York, and I was making the most of the wild Kuda life. I ended up getting with a guy at the side of the dance floor before deciding I was not feeling it, and ran away into the night (and onto the 66). I thought I’d made an impressive exit. It wasn’t until the next day, when I was sitting in my first seminar and he walked in the door ready to sit two seats away from me the entire term, that I realised I may have girlbossed a bit too close to the sun.
Emily: The lake holds lots of secrets… and my watch
While there are lots of drunken memories from Freshers that I would love to forget, one that I can actually look back on fondly is when I decided to play frisbee with my watch around James college at midnight. After a particularly high throw, I stopped to answer my phone and my housemate stopped to vomit in a bush and the watch seemingly disappeared. Convinced it had gone in the lake, I went home devastated and it wasn’t until a week later, walking back from a lecture that I spotted it in the grass, very wet but working perfectly!
Marti: Flatmates might have secret identities...
We had a flatmate who was always quite secretive and quiet. When I first bumped into him in the kitchen, he introduced himself by one name. I asked for his Facebook username to add him to the flat group chat, and he told me that his name online was different for security reasons. Then, during isolation, his food package came addressed by another name, which we later found out was his real one!
