Things UCAS Forgot To Tell You About University - My List

I have seen the fantastic facebook group so decided to do my own just based on my time at university. (I sound such a tramp - don't tell my mother!)

• Lectures and seminars take up 5% of your time and thought, until exam time and third year! (then you will pulling more all-nighters in the library than in a club!)
• You will find any reason to not to go to a lecture or class a relevant one. (It's too early, it's too far, I won't learn anything anyway)
• You will be so wrapped up in the student bubble that you have NO idea what is going on in the 'real world' until your parents phone.
• No matter what your lecturers say - Wikipedia is the best source around. (just don't put it in your references list!)
• You will rather clean the bathroom, wash up and tidy your room than revise or finish your essay. (our house was always the cleanest over exam time!)

• The people you meet on freshers week will not be the friends you go through university with - you are likely to never talk to them again.
• Fresher's Flu lasts longer than freshers week - it's more like an ongoing thing; as soon as somebody in your house/flat/course gets it, everybody will.
• You question whether one of your flatmates actually exists because you never see them. (soo true in my first year!)
• Playing Sleeping Lions and having naps has never been so popular (well, since you were a toddler!)
• You rely on a 24hour Tesco just because it's always open and closer, rather than walking 5minutes to Aldi.
• Kitchen roll is a good substitute for a plate or bowl (and saves on the washing up)
• Getting post makes your day.
• Red Bull is an essential.
• Cereal is a great evening meal.
• Having two dinners has never been so acceptable.
• You will become on first name terms with the guys who work at the kebab or chip shop. (Hi Jay!)
• You become so tight that you actually go to a bar and ask 'can I have the cheapest alcoholic drink?'. Then buy it even if it's a drink you hate.

• You cannot afford food, but still somehow find enough money for a night out.
• You will never buy shot glasses, but steal them from different bars.
• Stealing loo paper from home or from night clubs is somehow the norm.
• You learn that souvenirs are not only brought back from holidays but from nights out. (My house acquired a wall full of posters, a road sign, a candle holder and a trolley over three years, don't ask me how!)
• You think dancing at a club counts as exercise
• You will have a drawer, space in your wardrobe, or in my case, a whole box, for fancy dress.
• Although you wore a school uniform since you were five and prayed for the day you could wear your 'own clothes' to class, you will wear a white shirt, dark skirt and school tie to a bar (more than once whilst at uni) and LOVE every second of it.
• You will become SO creative. Designing and making fancy dress outfits takes up more time than your degree.
• You never get to bed until after 2am, even if you have a lecture at 9.
• Facebook takes over your life. You spend ages flicking through people's photos from 5 years ago and stalking your ex. You will FB message or FB chat your housemates rather than walking to the next room, and will get fraped at least twice in a term!
• You forget about TV and rely on Iplayer and YouTube.
• You will start to appreciate the central heating and good food at home.
• You will be homesick but in the holidays you will miss your housemates tons.
• You can have a second family; your housemates.

There you go; that's my UCAS forgot list!

I loved the student lifestyle, and miss it terribly now I am in the real world. 

But is the student lifestyle for you? See my hub on moving out versus staying at home to help you decide.                 Is A Student Lifestyle Worth The Debt?

To help you live comfortably and safe whilst you are there, look at my other hubs on student living:

• Top Tips For Fresher's Week
• Safety In Halls and Digs
• Safety Whilst On Nights Out, At Parties, and Drinking.
• Student Budgeting and Money Management
• What To Take To University Part 1
• What To Take To University Part 2

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