The anxiety of starting university and freshers flu blues: Here's my advice for new students

It is an unsettling feeling when your parents drop you off for 'freshers week' and leave you in halls of residence with a group of strangers, who you are suddenly forced to share a kitchen with – and in some cases a bathroom too.

On my first day, my mum scrubbed my new room to within an inch of its life before she was satisfied it was clean enough for me to live in, while I put pictures up everywhere, desperate to add a bit of character to the beige walls.

Suddenly, I was released from the care of my mum and dad and left to fend for myself, which at first I was elated with as a newly-turned 18-year-old - but the reality quickly sank in when I had to lug bags of food home in the rain from the nearest supermarket – a half-hour walk away.

And don't even get me started on navigating the student accommodation washing machines, with which I quickly began to eat into my student loan by paying £2 for each wash, and learnt that taking my dirty clothes home was probably a better idea.

On my first night, I ate dinner with my new friends and after hours of socialising, made my way back to my new bedroom, where I soon felt the homesickness creep in.

But I picked myself up the next morning and forced myself out the door to get a grip with my new surroundings and learn where everything was on campus, from the nearest Costa to the library, where I went on to spend countless caffeine-fuelled hours when writing my dissertation in my third year.

In every sense of the word, I was overloaded with information during my first week of university in September of 2019, from attending introductory sessions for my new modules, to walking around the 'freshers fair', from which the only things I took away were enough free pens and tote bags to last a lifetime.

Throughout the seven days, I was introduced to hundreds of new faces and desperately tried to remember all the names to go with them, though quickly forgot.

Although I am confident when it comes to meeting new people, it is undeniably an anxiety-inducing experience to begin finding out who you fit in with among hundreds of strangers.

The route that most people took to make new friends was through nights out, and there were plenty of options when it came to that.

A 'freshers' event seemed to have been held at every club in Birmingham that week, each one as overpriced as the next.

The venues sold tickets for their event weeks in advance in some cases and were occasionally attended by 'celebrities', with Love Island's Tommy Fury making an appearance at Rosies on Broad Street during my freshers week.

When the events were sold out, students would even take to Facebook in a desperate attempt to get their hands on a ticket being sold for far more than it was worth.

A lot of these nights out also had motifs, most being 'neon'-themed - which in practice meant you wore your normal clothes but accessorised with a glow-stick bracelet.

The city clubbing scene had its charms but the late nights quickly caught up with me and my new friends when we were struck down with a bout of the infamous 'freshers flu', and soon I was feeling sorry for myself and filling my shopping trolley with Lemsip tablets and tissues to go with easy-cook pasta.

My words of advice to new students during freshers week? Throw yourself into the new experiences, try not to overthink things and most importantly – take your dirty washing home when you can!