Moving into university is a massive change to most people's lives: but settling down and having to adapt to this change makes this transition harder for lots of students who are moving into a new city and environment for the first time. Knowing about the things that aren't really spoken about in your first few weeks of settling in really helps to uncover the cliches and myths behind what to do and not to do, and how to make the most of your time in fresher's week.

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Let's start with the one everyone worries about: making friends. You'll probably hear people say "you'll meet your best friends in freshers' week", and honestly, for some people that's true. But for a lot of us, it wasn't. The friends who really stuck were the ones I met a few weeks in, once the chaos calmed down and I actually had the headspace to have a proper conversation with someone. If your flat doesn't instantly feel like family, that's completely normal. Say yes to the small stuff: a walk to get milk, a society taster session, sitting with someone new in a lecture. Friendships at uni tend to build in these tiny, day to day moments, and not in one dramatic function.

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Then there's homesickness, which has a funny way of catching you off guard. You might feel totally fine for the first few days, buzzing off with having all this independence, and then it hits you out of nowhere, maybe when you're doing the dishes or scrolling through old photos. It doesn't mean you've made the wrong choice or that you're not cut out for this. It just means you're human, and you've left behind people and routines that mattered to you. Ring home, keep a few little comforts from your old room, and give yourself permission to feel how you feel sometimes. It really will ease with time and it’s all part of the process.

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Welcome Week itself deserves an honest mention too, because nobody really prepares you for how tiring it is. It's not just late nights out, it's constant new faces, new information, new places to find your way around, all at once. Your brain is working overtime even when you're ‘just’ at a pub quiz. So it's genuinely okay to skip an event, have an early night, or spend an afternoon doing absolutely nothing. Pacing yourself isn't missing out: it's how you actually make it through the week in one piece, and it means you'll have more energy for what you really care about.

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One of the sneakiest parts of settling in is the ‘comparison’ trap. You'll scroll through everyone's freshers' photos looking the happiest they could ever be, surrounded by their new ‘best mates’, and think everyone else has cracked it while you're still figuring things out. Please believe me when I say nearly everyone will feel this way at some point. Social media shows the highlights of people’s lives: not the quiet, wobbly moments in between, which are the ones that everyone, without exception, goes through. You aren’t behind, or doing it wrong: you're just seeing the edited version of everyone else's story.

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If things do feel like more than the usual settling-in wobble, please know you don't have to deal with it alone. The Uni's Wellbeing Services and the Guild really know how to help anyone navigate through this: whether you want someone who'll listen, practical guidance, or just somewhere to talk things through with someone who isn't your flatmate. Reaching out isn't a last resort: it's a sensible first step, and it's what they're there for.

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Settling in isn't a straight line, and it's definitely not something you have to get right straight away. Be patient with yourself, take the small wins where you find them, and trust that this all genuinely gets easier.

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