Freshers’ Week

Ellen Darling

Each September in the UK， thousands of new students move to new cities to start their university life with ‘freshers week. I found out more about it.

1 New students starting their time at university are known as freshers and freshers week is a UK university tradition. Its an introductory week for the new students to find their way around and get to know what student life has to offer before courses start. The official purpose of freshers week is for all students to register for their course and organise their timetables as well as to help them settle in to their new accommodation. Theres also another purpose： its a great opportunity to really start to get involved in university life and have some fun. You will meet many people who you will probably never see again， but， who knows， you might even meet someone who becomes a friend for life. I talked to two freshers to find out about their experiences.

2 John， Sheffield University

‘The great thing about freshers week is you have a whole week before the start of your courses to move into your room and meet some friends. My mum and dad dropped me off with all my bags and when they left I felt a bit sad and lonely. I decided to leave my door open while I was unpacking and it didnt take long for Sarah to knock on the door and say hello. We got talking for a bit and had a cup of tea and then we decided to go out and explore the city. The next day we went along to registration together with a few other people wed met the night before. It was all so much easier because I wasnt doing things on my own. I had to queue for a long time with loads of other students， but finally I got through all the paperwork and made my choices about the courses I was going to study. Then I went over to the Student Union to see what was on offer there. The Student Union is great because you can buy cheap food and drink and they have lots of other facilities， such as a shop， a student advice centre， photocopiers， a laundry and a job-shop. In fact thats where I found out about jobs in the university restaurant. Im really glad I did because now I have some extra cash.

3 Gemma， Southampton University

‘Freshers week was so exciting. There were lots of things to go to in the evening and I met so many people. I went out every night， to discos， pubs， quizzes， karaoke nights and all the other things going on at the Student Union. I loved the freshers fair， which is where you can find out about all the student clubs and societies. I wanted to join everything， but in the end I joined the dance society， hillwalking society and surfing society. I probably should have joined just one or two clubs as now I find I dont have time to go to all their events. The highlight for me， though， was the freshers disco. I had a brilliant time. I suppose I went a bit crazy really and spent an awful lot of money！ I had to really economise for the rest of the term to make up for all the money I spent in freshers week.

4 Ellen： As for me， when I started university I was lucky enough to meet my friends Cath and Fran on the first night of freshers week. We went out to a pub together and it turned out that Cath was doing the same course as me and Fran was on the same corridor of the halls of residence. A whole crowd of us ended up sitting in Caths room， drinking her coffee， joking with each other and putting the world to rights until the early hours of the morning. Then in the second year we moved into a shared house together with a few other friends. Some of my fondest memories of university are of living the student life together with those friends. Who would have thought back then that over twenty years later I would still be friends with Cath and Fran … on Facebook！

Answers

Activity 1

1 G; 2 E; 3 J; 4 G; 5 J; 6 E;

Activity 2

1 accommodation; 2 purpose; 3 queue;

4 laundry; 5 cash; 6 hillwalking;

7 highlight; 8 halls of residence

Activity 3

1 e; 2 b; 3 c; 4 a; 5 d

Fun Corner

1 maths; 2 history; 3 business studies;

4 engineering; 5 geology; 6 physics;

7 philosophy

Activity 1

Who was it？

Answer the questions below with ‘J for John， ‘G for Gemma， or ‘E for Ellen.

Who …

1 joined too many clubs？

2 moved in with people from freshers week？

3 was a bit lonely at first？

4 spent too much money？

5 found a job at the Union？

6 stayed up late in someones room， the first night？

Activity 2

Find the word or phrase that means the same as those below.

1 a place to live （paragraph 1）

2 reason （paragraph 1）

3 stand in a line and wait your turn （paragraph 2）

4 the place where you wash clothes （paragraph 2）

5 money （paragraph 2）

6 hiking or trekking in the mountains （paragraph 3）

7 best part of an experience （paragraph 3）

8 student rooms （paragraph 4， 3 words）

Activity 3

Match the phrasal verbs from the text with their meaning.

1 drop （somebody） off

2 end up

3 find out about

4 make up for （something）

5 settle in

a. compensate

b. conclude; finish; result

c. discover something

d. establish yourself somewhere; make yourself comfortable

e. take somebody to a place， usually by car， and leave them there

Fun Corner

Here are some ana、grams of univer-sity subjects. Can you rearrange the letters to find the subject？

1 sthma                    5 ogeygol

2 rosthiy                  6 ysipsch

3 sisbnesu diustes   7 syohhlipop

4 neregngiien