h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My first day at Glasgow University was memorable for several reasons. The realisation, for instance, that there is a place where the just-out-of-bed-look is acceptable, where purple velvet flares can be worn with clogs, where goths gain the right to sneer at the attire of others and where deodorant has not yet been socially integrated.

Yes, university is the parallel universe where, for four years of your life, the terms 'dress-sense' and 'personal hygiene' will be ousted from your vocabulary and a constant mental battle shall be waged between attending lectures or drinking cheap beers at the student union. The shock of your first day will fade to insignificance in the coming weeks.

Beware the sci-fi club recruiters, the jogging club (seriously!), the wine societies and the lure of the gothic look and you can count your first day as a success.

I always feel permentently lost and don't know quite where I am or where I am supposed to be going.
This could be Metaphysical, bad planning or maybe I'm just dehydrated.

Anyway, I found it quite useful to spend some of my early days exploring both the campus and the area around the Halls of residence where I was staying. A good afternoon waster and you get to familiarise yourself with the town and any facilities (ie. Pubs ). On campus it's a good job to find out which lecture halls are where and where the student support office is - that's where you have to go and pay in your cheques and stuff.

Also see if you can locate a bus timetable - see which ones go where and *when*

Clive

Hold a get-to-know-you party for your corridor. Get your Mum to bake a couple of cakes before you leave, and buy a couple of bottles of both soft and mildly alchoholic drink (or not, according to the local rules) when you arrive.

About 8pm the first evening you will be sitting alone in your room wondering what the hell has hit you and if there is any kind of fun to be had. It may be the first night you have spent away from home, and certainly the first time you have started on an entire term of living away from home. Are all the evenings going to be like this? You could try the bar, but thats going to be loud, and if you are female then its going to be full of drunk males trying to chat you up. So if the bar is not your thing then you are a bit stuck. Its about this time that you suddenly feel very homesick.

The great secret is that all your neigbours will be sitting alone in their rooms wondering what the hell has hit them, just like you. So find your six or seven nearest neighbours and invite them over for a party. Nothing outrageous, no drinking games or other dumb stuff, just a chance to get to know each other and talk about things. Its amazing how well it works.

Paul.

Yup only if you are in my Hall I hope everyone doesn't spend their first evening alone and missing the fun of the party going on downstairs. I'm orgainising it, and I'll all despondent if no-one turns up

My first day at University was possibly the biggest disapointment of my life. After all those years of school working to get there, only to find out that uni is no more than school without uniforms. Since I went to a school which had least enforced uniform standards on Earth the disapointment was all the greater.

Strangely enough I went to Glasgow Uni the same as this conversations starter.

On starting this topic, I did not mean in any way to detract from the University of Glasgow. It is a respected and successful academic institution, and the previous contributor's comments are indded not the view of the majority.

Good grief I didn't mean to imply that you were being derogatory to Glasgow Uni. I was just pointing out that some people have a vastly different opinion of university.

Cheers man, I couldn't imagine not sitting at nine on a monday morning listening top the mindless drone of an English lecturer in the Joseph black.