This day is also commonly known as “Move-In-Day”, or “D-Day” if you’re really nervous about it. This also tends to be the day that students dread the most – perhaps second only to the first day of induction or lectures. This day only really applies to students who move into halls, as opposed to commuting from home, because from experience you move in about a week or so before you start your first lectures.
I moved into my halls on September 17th 2012, my first induction was on the 24th and my lectures properly started on October 1st, so we had two weeks to settle in before we had any real lectures – and a whole week before we actually met our lecturers and found out about our course for the first time! Other places do things a little differently, but this post is focusing on what happens the day you move into halls.
A particularly contentious issue always seems to be whether parents go with you and how long they stay for. Truth is, there’s no right or wrong answer, and if people laugh at you because your parents stay for a while, that’s their problem – not yours. If they’re immature enough to care about something like that, they’re probably not mature enough to be at university. Having a good relationship with your family is never a bad thing.
I left quite early in the morning, because I didn’t want to be too late arriving. I said goodbye to my family – it was really difficult, and I cried at first in the car, but eventually that was replaced by excitement. It was a two hour drive from home to uni, and my Mom drove me up there, with all my stuff in the back of the car – we have a people carrier, so we managed to fit everything in, but if you’re taking a lot of stuff and only have a small car, I think you can rent out vans or bigger cars for a day – always worth keeping it in mind.
Don’t worry if your whole family want to come, or if none of your family can make it and you have to make your own way by bus or train (although good luck hiking all your stuff about by train – try and get it sent up to you by car or post later on if you can’t take it up in a car). At the end of the day it should be your choice, but obviously sometimes family kick up a fuss and get their way, or there are commitments they really can’t handle, and you may feel pressured into letting your whole family come and wave you off. Don’t get too stressed – when we moved in, there were some new students where it seemed like it wasn’t just parents and brothers and sisters – it was grandparents and aunties and uncles and cousins and goodness-knows-how-many-other relations coming to wave them off. Others turned up with just immediate family, others – like me – were with just one parent and some even arrived on their own. There’s no right or wrong way of doing it.
As for how long the family members stay, it helps to remember that it’s a big event for them too – yes, it’s your day, and that needs to be remembered, but it’s a big shift in the family dynamic, especially if you’re the first in your family to go to university. Your parents will probably have issues when it comes to leaving, because it’s like relinquishing their son or daughter into the big wide world – understandable, but also annoying when all you want to do is settle in! For me, Mom helped me get all my stuff out of the car and into my room, and then she left, to do a bit of shopping before going home – more because we knew both of us would end up in tears and find it harder to say goodbye the longer we put it off. It’s difficult, but usually parents are pretty good at knowing when the suitable time to leave is.
If your parents aren’t so blessed with tact and want to stick around for hours/days/weeks, there comes a time when you have to put your foot down and gently but firmly explain that you want to settle in and get to know your new flatmates, and you can’t do that with your parents hanging around (obviously you can, but it might be difficult, but it’s always easiest to say you can’t do it with them around). In some cases, if you’re travelling from a distance, parents have to stay overnight – but if possible, have them stay in a hotel rather than in your flat/room, because the first night is when you get to know each other and go out as a group for the first time.
Sometimes your parents will want to take you shopping for your first full shop, and don’t turn it down – hey, free food! – but also, when your flatmates inevitably get together when you’ve all arrived and decide to go shopping, as we all did, don’t hide away in your room. We all went on a trip to Sainsbury’s and ALDI, and we also wandered around the town for ages, and although we didn’t buy very much at all, we got our bearings with regards to the town and also we made friends pretty quickly. It’s really good for getting to know each other – in the first few days, do as much as you can in a group with your flatmates. There’s no guarantees that they’ll be your best friends, or even that you won’t drift apart during the year and realise you’re not similar, but it’s better than being alone for the first few days!
Then, in the evening, there’ll generally be some sort of party – there was for us. We had pre-drinks at our flat first, where we played Ring Of Fire and had a laugh, and then we all went out to the club. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of the nightclub in town that serves as the “student night”, but if you feel the same, don’t worry – I know quite a few people at uni who are yet to actually go there because it doesn’t interest them, and they don’t seem to have suffered for it. Similarly, don’t worry if you don’t drink, or aren’t a huge drinker – it’s perfectly possible to still have a good time during freshers’ week.
In the end we all got home at around three in the morning and I fell fast asleep, still with most of my stuff in boxes on my bedroom floor.
If you have any other questions about the first day of freshers – or starting uni in general – feel free to ask them in the comments box below!
the life of a moomin 