Monthly Archives

All those who have been through university have experienced the dreaded first day at university. I remember it as if it were today itself, I arrived a bunch of nerves at a faculty where I did not know anyone and in a city that wasn’t mine… but that is another issue, we are not about talking about my war stories but to give the best advice to you about my experience on the first day at university. Surely you find yourself at a point that could be summarized thus: you have already enrolled and you have had to choose groups of subjects that you want to take part in, you had to choose between being an A1, A2, A3… And obviously here you had your first insecurity: how do I choose to go to one group or another without knowing anyone? Then you choose the group for the hours that suit you, and like this you create your academic schedule. Well, once you have passed this stage (and they taken a beautiful photo for your student card) the first day arrives.

LET’S GO STEP BY STEP: THE BEFORE

Step-by-step, seeking balance and letting myself go… like this is how you have to overcome the first day at university with these tips for university.

FACEBOOK GROUPS

Before see you the faces, search Facebook, surely there is a group created with all your future classmates, make the first friendships, give your phone number, create a class group and everything starts there. It is also very useful, you can already see that this group will be the main source of information among you (long before the uni mail) if the teacher is missing in class, if you have a test and you want to revise, if you are going out partying and putting up photos, if you organize the mid-course trip. And the best thing is that you’ll always have it with you.

THE FIRST TRIP

Thanks to this Facebook group you will be able know if there is anyone who lives near you and has to use the same transportation (train, subway, car…) it is the perfect opportunity to meet with them and make your first group, true friendships will come later.

ONCE ARRIVED: THE DURING

The first day of class always tends to be the one that you all are concentrated on: you listen to the professor and (oh miracle) you don’t miss a class, which translates into a mass of 100 students moving throughout the campus. Remember this image well; you will probably never again see so many of your classmates together. Why? We don’t want to upset you but it is during this period when students realize whether this degree is for them or not, so that of the 100 of you that begin, between 50 and 60 will graduate. But that does not mean that you’re going to be one of them. What do you have to do during these classes? Be very attentive to the teacher, he or she will surely explain their working method, how to hand in papers and tests that you will do, as well as the equivalent % within their subject. BE ATTENTIVE! We don’t want anyone to go to second-chance or, worse, fail the subject because there are no second-chance exams.

MORE TIPS FOR UNIVERSITY: THE AFTER

Go out of the university and arrange to meet with your classmates, go to have a drink at the campus bar and make friendships, you’ll see that little by little everything flows and hey, maybe without realizing you’ve directed yourself to the same class group with whom you have become as thick as thieves, it is fate.

THE ETERNAL QUESTION: HOW SHALL I DRESS?

First impressions count so what clothes you wear on the first day will say much about you; we advise you not to go in disguise, you don’t have to go dressed-up only because it is the first day. Be yourself, university is an important step, it is like starting from 0 at a new venue that is no longer the high school, with some new friends, and even (if you’re like me, big time) may have to live in this new city and that is scary. Here we go to TheLofttown as we know first-hand how you feel if you have to go to live in another city, we look after you in the best way and you can see it, all our residents are delighted with us, we are very nice people. We know what you need and give it to you at all times. We continue with our tips as we still have the most important left:

WITHOUT SHYNESS

We don’t want to see you shy, open yourself to others as you are, think that they do not know you at all and you do not have the familiarity that you are accustomed to have with your friends so patience, we promise that soon they will become the most indispensable part of the degree. Another of the tips that we give is that you join in, to all practical extent, all parties, dinners, lunches, birthday parties that are organised; these are those dinners where you’ll start to get familiarity with others and from where the best stories will come out that you will keep commenting on throughout the degree. Although we will miss you very much in our student residence Barcelona, we know that it is something that you need; so here goes another of the tips for university which will be useful for you, and this is said by someone saying it already happened to, and now (with some more years) remembers the first day at university as a precious memory full of dreams.

Starting university is something precious, so take a breath, relax and enjoy the day-to-day the maximum, later we want you to tell us everything.

Another little thing, living with friends is something that helps a lot when it comes to classes, organising the work, breaks… If you know of someone in your degree who needs to live in Barcelona we can help you, remember we have double rooms, you could live with him/her!, Think about it, the best way to get to know your classmates is to spend 24 hours together, believe me.

What you think of our blog? We believed it necessary to share with you these tips to overcome the dreaded first day at university, and to make you see that it is nothing like what you imagine. Take it easy guys, we will help you in everything that is in our hands and we are never going to turn our back on you; and it is for this reason that we want to ask you something: what do of you want us to talk about? We give you carte blanche to comment on the blog the issues you want us to deal with, you’re the boss.