From the backseat of my parent’s car I saw the sign: UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX. Squeezed in between boxes and suitcases I could not get the grip that this would become my new home. After a pair of rewritten personal statements, a huge amount of exams, open days and an acceptance letter later – the day have suddenly arrived. The day you are off to University. The day when you’re life is changing; it doesn’t matter if you have a 20 minutes drive from home or like myself moving to a new city in a new country. Not only are you moving away from home; you’re moving away from everything that is familiar to you whether it’s culture, tradition, friends or family. People told me that at University you are going to have the time of your life and you’ll get friends for life. Although there is a time before that, there is a time when you arrive and you know no one. The time when you nervously meet your new flatmates, course mates or teammates for the first time. You are a blank page about to filled with knowledge, experiences, trips, people and everything that will become your time at University. Fresher’s Week is the week that kick-starts this enormous adventure that lies ahead – your next three years (or more) at University.

Fresher’s Week is like a tornado of social events, induction to your courses and team trials. You’re like a lost lamb trying to make sense of your new surrounding such as trying to locate the library or figure out where the university hid the launderette. As a fresher there will be several occasions where there will be people around you all the time and you’ll forget more names than you can remember. You will probably ask everyone at one point all of these three following questions:

* Their name?

* Where they are from?

* What course they are studying?

And most likely you’ll forget it as quickly as they’ll say it. Fresher’s might not be the week to improve your memory skills, although it might be the chance to try out a sport you’ve secretly wanted to try such as pole dancing, Quidditch or Rugby. This is the week that gives you the chance to try out a new version of yourself. A new version that perhaps ends up loving the new experiences. I tried Rugby for the first time at Sussex and now I absolutely love every minute of it. As every day in the first week went by, I gradually settled into life on campus. As the fireworks lit up the sky on Friday I realized that I am home; Sussex is now my home.

By Louise