Wednesday 24 September 2014

Outfit: #FRESHERBABES Liverpool. My Fresher Experience.

Photo Credit: Deni Vev
Jumpsuit: C/O Oh My Love* | Bracelet: Fashion Union (old) | Shoes: C/O F&F* (old) | Belt: River Island | Sunglasses: C/O Firmoo* (old)

With a new academic year starting, university fresher's weeks are well under way up and down the country. Oh My Love are currently touring some of the country's top student cities and today they have landed in Liverpool, so if you're around then look out for the Oh My Love #FRESHERBABES who are out and about in city centre giving out free student goodie bags (they will also be visiting Cardiff and Bristol on Thursday and Friday respectively)! As alumni of Liverpool John Moores University, Oh My Love asked if I would write a freshers guide for students who are new to the city. As I have already written a city guide recently (read it here), I decided to take a visit to Liverpool's main nightlife location, Concert Square, to shoot in my Oh My Love garms and reminisce upon my own freshers experience to share with you (I actually can't believe it has been four years since I was a fresher- way to make me feel old!).

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Moving to a new city can be scary for some, but the idea of living with people my own age and being able to sit in my own mess without my parents nagging me to tidy my room was bliss to me. Plus Liverpool is literally a twenty-five minute train journey from home so I could still do a weekly laundry run visit everyone at the weekend. In the weeks prior to moving out I posted my future flat number on my halls of residence's dedicated Facebook page (Opal Court represent) and was fortunate enough to track down all but one of the four people I was going to be living with for the next nine months, which eased the nerves of meeting them for the first time. That was until I was unpacking my final pair of socks, when the receptionist knocked on my door and told me that they had accidently placed me in to an all-male flat, meaning I had the choice of living with four smelly boys for a year (ew.) or moving all my things in to an all-girls flat (too bitchy?). Luckily, we managed to convince them to swap the one remaining flat mate who hadn't moved in yet for another girl.

Naturally, we decided the best way to bond would be showing each other our best dance moves over a jaegerbomb or three, and after a game of Ring of Fire with the flat next door we headed out with our student loans (that's what it's for, right?) to check out the Liverpool nightlife. Same for the next night. And the night after that. And probably the night after that, too. Needless to say, after a week of making utter fools of ourselves during drinking games and taking it in turns to share our oven-cook chicken nuggets and pizzas at 4AM, we were drunkenly telling each other how much we loved each other and what great flatmates we were going to be. Fast forward two weeks and we were at each other's necks over whose turn it was to take the over-flowing bin out, who had stolen whose milk and whose pot noodle was clogging up the sink. It's natural, guys; you'll get through it.

During the day time, after feasting on cheesy beans on toast and a couple of pints of water to take away the headache from the night before, we would spend a few hours exploring city centre together and checking out the fresher's fairs to see what the societies had to offer and of course, to take advantage of the freebies (free pizza vouchers for Dominos, which was just across the road from my accommodation? This student stuff was great). I didn't join any of the societies during my three years at University, although I kind of wish I had signed up for freestyle dance as I had just quit my hobby of fourteen years prior to my big move. I would urge anybody who is new to University to get involved in the clubs and societies; it's a great way to make new friends and I have only heard good things from people who have been a part of them.

Now, with the excitement of Fresher's Week, it's easy to forget what you are really there for; to study. I found the first day of my course significantly more daunting than my move-in day, starting with a stressful bus journey to my building which was conveniently (/endsarcasm) based a good fifteen minute ride away from city centre (this has since been rectified and the media faculty now has a shiny new building which is in walking distance). It really wasn't as scary as I thought it would be, however; I was on a pretty small course of around twenty students, and after a few sessions of those ice-breaker activities that we all hate know and love, we were close as ever, texting each other to ask when our deadlines were and hoping that everyone else was just as screwed for leaving it too late.

The best advice I can give to freshers is to just enjoy every minute of it because it really does fly by, especially your first year. Don't worry about making new friends, settling in to your course and finding your way around a huge new place. If you did it in high school, you sure as hell can do it here; it's just up to you to decide how much of your dignity you throw away and how fast. Also, it's fine if baked beans and super noodles are your thing, but it's really not that hard to make a spaghetti bolognese from scratch. It's not always going to be fun and games; not to scare you, but before you know it I can guarantee you will be crying in the library whilst staring at a blank word document which will soon be a 10,000 word dissertation, but it will all be worth it when you are wearing that cap & gown and you have a bunch of fancy letters after your name, a group of coursemates who are like family to share the moment with and a head full of amazing memories to take away with you. And if you have moved to Liverpool for university or you plan to, then be prepared to fall in love with the city and never want to leave. If you are new to Liverpool, don't forget that I wrote a quick city guide listing some of my favourite places to visit, which you can read here.

Are you a fresher this year? Where are you studying?

Frances x

12 comments:

  1. gorgeous jumpsuit...you look so elegant and put together...and tres chic!

    http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/

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  2. Jumpsuit is amazing hun. Can't believe it's freshers again. Mine was many years ago and I hated it! Glad to be in the working world, though the free dominos pizza was amazing. xx

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    1. Thanks lovely! Oh my god, I know, I couldn't believe it when I realised it has been four years since I started university! Yes, I'm certainly glad to be out of education but I do miss the good times! :) x

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  3. Replies
    1. They're gorgeous aren't they! I'm only just breaking them in though- Ouch! x

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  4. love this!

    check out my blog, if you have time?
    http://georgianicolaou.co.uk

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  5. Love your hair and outfit in this post xx

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  6. You bear a striking resemblance to Cheryl Cole! :)

    http://mskayace.blogspot.com.au/

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    Replies
    1. Oh stop! That's so far from true but thank you very much sweet, that's such a compliment! :) xx

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