FRESHERS: 10 Things to Remember During Freshers Week

Here are a few tips to keep in mind when you’re experiencing your first Freshers!

1. It’s ok to call home – Freshers can be very over whelming, for everyone, even if you’re a party animal it can take its toll on you. There’s cooking for yourself, meeting new people and doing your own laundry (sorry, not trying to scare you)….but just remember it’s ok to call home. Everybody gets a little home sick, and it takes some time to get used to being away. So if the people who can help you get through are the ones back at home, then do it.

2. Just be YOURSELF – It can be nervous meeting new people especially the people you’re going to be living with, but university is the best time to come into your own: whether that be what fashion interests you have, your music tastes or even what you enjoy to eat! There’s thousands of people in university so you’re bound to find people who have the same interests and like the same things, so don’t stress about it! The more you’re yourself the easier it’s going to be to make proper friends.

3. You don’t have to go to EVERYTHING – You may have bought that “Freshers ball” pre to coming to uni or maybe all your flat mates have the ticket, but it doesn’t mean you have to go. There’s seven days so don’t just follow the crowd, choose what you really want to do and don’t feel pressured (realistically seven days straight is expensive and exhausting).

4. Make the most of Taster Sessions – One they’re so much fun, two they’re totally free. Uni’s have so many societies, some are your usual sports try outs then you have other stuff like the Harry Potter and GOT societies which put on some really really cool things. Freshers week is your chance to experience things that you don’t normally go for, who knows who you could meet and what you could end up being good at!

5. You will need some alone time – From a personal point of view, I’m a very outgoing person but I also like to take some time to myself, especially during hectic times. It’s ok to just sit and chill in your room and its also nice to explore and find that coffee shop on your own. If you take a few hours out a day to have time to yourself it doesn’t mean you’re missing out, we can all get serious FOMO, but learning to be ok on your own for a bit doesn’t mean your antisocial.

6. Be cautious of what you’re drinking – This may sound obvious and I’m pretty sure your parents have told you a thousand times, to most people freshers week revolves around drinking and it’s just a reminder to be cautious and take a step back and remember your limits. Drinking is fun (do I love a good drink and party) but it’s also easy to get sucked in to thinking you can play all these drinking games and be completely fine and that you’re completely invincible. Just drink how much you feel comfortable with.

7. It might not be what you expect it to be….or it could be! – We’ve all seen the movies…mostly American ones and we all want our freshers to be like that seen on the screen, yet it doesn’t always turn out that way. But that’s fine, as long as you had a great time it doesn’t matter, we queued up for a club on the first night of freshers then decided we’d all rather just go back and chill. No body knows what to expect, just go with the flow and don’t try to force it, otherwise you’ll end up ruining it for yourself trying to make it something its not.

8. It’s the best time to test our your social skills – If you’re a bit of an introvert freshers week is the best time to brush up on your confidence skills and get talking! Don’t be shy, just be yourself and approach people. In the end most people you speak to in Freshers you won’t ever end up speaking to again, so just get out there and make some chit-chat!

9. Watch out for yourself – At the end of the day you’re in a new place with new people. You don’t know if they’re gonna walk you home or look after you when you’re drunk. So just make sure you know where you’re going and that you’re not putting yourself in danger. Different uni’s have different campus services so just make sure you’re familiar with contacts, and also the Welcome Team’s will be there to help you along!

10. Enjoy it! – Obviously the most important! There’s never going to be another time in your life where you can act more stupid or be as free as you can in freshers week! Have fun and embrace the beginning of University life, remembering to create a week that tailors to you!

 

FRESHERS: Easy to Follow, Easy to Make Recipes

Speaking from experience, we all know freshers week is more about the going out than staying at home and cooking BUT we have some great recipes that are fun to make and don’t take too long, all made from your average weekly shopping list!

We’ve calculated just how much it would cost for this weekly shop, baring in mind that many of these will last for more than just week and some will even last for months afterwards (depending on how regular you cook with them).

Your Weekly Ingredients:                                 Ingredients to Stock in Your Cupboard:

Chicken Breast 300g                                               Rice

Milk                                                                               Yeast

Bacon                                                                            Penne Pasta

Bread                                                                             Spaghetti Pasta

Mini Wraps                                                                  Strong White Flour

Passata                                                                          Dried Parsley

3 pack of Garlic                                                           Dried Basil

Mini Chorizo Snack Packet                                     Paprika

Salami                                                                           Chilli Powder

Pre- Grated Mozzarella Cheese

Parmesan

Single Cream

Sundried Tomatos in a Jar

Chick Peas

Kidney Beans

Spinach

4 pack of Avocado

3 pack of Onions

3 pack of Peppers

Closed Cup Mushrooms

Tomato and Chilli Sauce

Total Calculation (from Tesco Stores): £34.40

Minus the products that will do more than one serving: – £8.83

Your Weekly Shop: = £25.57

 

Breakfast:

American Style pancakes (Serves about 6 pancakes)

140grams of Flour, 100ml of Milk, 1tbsp Baking Powder, 1tsp Salt, 2 Eggs

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Sieve the Flour, Baking Powder & Salt together into a big mixing bowl.

Simply beat the eggs in a jug, then add the milk to the egg mixture.

Add the jug to the mixing bowl and whisk away.

Pre-heat a pan with olive oil on a medium heat.

For each pancake spoon out 3 tbsp’s of mixture onto the pan.

Add Syrup, Honey, Fruits or Yogurt to make for the perfect morning breakfast (or brunch)

 

French Toast (Serves 4)

4 Slices of Bread, 1 Egg, 1/4 Cup of Milk (Vanilla & Cinnamon are Optional)

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Just beat the egg in a shallow dish, add in the milk and mix together.

Dip the bread in, making sure to cover each side evenly.

Cook the bread in a lightly greased non-stick pan on a medium heat until both sides are browned.

 

Avocado & Poached egg on Toast (Serves 1)

1 Slice of Bread, 1/2 of Avocado, 1 Egg

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Boil a small pan of water.

Once the pan starts to bubble, crack the egg into the middle of the water.

The egg shouldn’t take too long to poach about 30 seconds- 1 minute.

Whilst the water is on boil, toast the bread and mash the avocado so it’s easy to spread.

Spread the Avocado, add on the egg and there you go!

 

Main Dishes:

Fajitas (Serves 1)

1 Chicken Breast, Paprika, 1 Chopped Pepper, 1/2 Onion, Chilli Powder, 2 Mini Wraps & Sour Cream

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Dice the onions and chop the pepper into thin strips.

Dice the chicken into small pieces and put in a mixing bowl, add equal amounts of paprika and chilli powder until the chicken is sufficiently covered, along with a little bit of oil.

Heat a non-stick pan and put on a bit of olive oil before putting the onions in to brown.

Once the onion’s start to look cooked throw in the spicy covered chicken.

As the chicken starts to cook add in the strips of pepper (if it looks dry just top up with a bit of water).

Serve up in a wrap and a side of sour cream.

 

HomeMade Pizza(Serves 2)

300g Strong  White Flour, 1 tsp of Instant Yeast, 1 tsp Salt, 1 tbsp of Olive Oil, Passata, Basil, 1 Garlic Clove, (Spinach, Grated Mozzarella & Salami: All optional)

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For the base: Put the flour into a large bowl, then stir in the yeast and salt.

Make a hole in the middle of the mixture and pour in 200ml warm water and the olive oil.

Bring it together with a wooden spoon until you have a soft, fairly wet dough.

Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 mins until smooth. (It’s up to you if you’d like to leave the dough to rise but for a thin crust you don’t have to).

For the sauce: Mix the passata, basil and crushed garlic together.

On a floured surface, roll out the dough into the desired shapes using a rolling pin.

Don’t make it too thick because it will rise in the oven (our baking trays weren’t big enough so we always did 4 decent sized pizzas instead of 2).

Put onto a foiled sheet, to go in the oven otherwise it’ll stick to the tray.

Heat up the oven  220C/Gas Mark 8, smooth the sauce over the bases and top with whatever you’d like!

Cook until crisp, usually takes about 10 minutes.

Have fun with this one, I spent a whole week having pizza with different topics!

 

Bean & Chorizo Chilli( Serves 2)

100g Chorizo, 400g of Kidney Beans, 400g of Chickpeas both rinsed and drained, Tomato & Chilli Sauce,  Rice, Sour Cream.

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Slice up the chorizo and then dry-fry for a few mins in a non-stick frying pan until crisp.

Pour out any fat from the pan, then tip in the sauce (if the sauce isn’t hot enough you can always add in a bit of chilli powder) and beans with 100ml water.

Bring to a simmer, cover, then lower the heat and bubble for 10 mins.

Serve with rice and a side of sour cream.

 

Here are the links to three other deliciously simple recipes created by other talented bloggers: All the ingredients are on the top of this page so just follow the instructions and bon appetite!

Mushroom Risotto                     Spaghetti  Carbonara                  Chicken Mozzarella Pasta

Get the Recipe                              Get the Recipe                                 Get the Recipe

 

 

FRESHERS: Your Ultimate Packing Playlist!

We’ve got a two hour playlist chosen for you by those at The Young Collective. It’s a diverse mix of killer tunes: all to keep you motivated through that important day of packing in preparation for university! There’s some golden oldies, some classics and some to just get you up and dancing! So enjoy! It’s the first step in your new university life & we wish you all the luck!  

1. Pack up -Eliza Doolittle
2. All Star – Smash Mouth
3. I Love College – Asher Roth
4. It’s My Life – Bon Jovi
5. New Shoes – Paolo Nutini
6. Walking On Sunshine – Katrine & The Waves
7. We Are Young – Fun
8. All Night Long – Lionel Richie
9. Send My Love ( To Your New Lover) – Adele
10. 9 To 5 – Dolly Parton
11. Together In Electric Dreams – The Human League
12. Good Life – Kanye West
13. Feeling Good – Michael Buble
14. Dancing Queen – ABBA
15. Rhythm is a Dancer – Snap!
16. Just Dance – Lady Gaga
17. King – Years & Years
18. Don’t Stop Believin’ – Journey
19. Go Your Own Way – Fleetwood Mac
20. Show Me Love – Robin S.
21. 1 Thing – Amerie
22. Feel Good Inc – Gorillaz
23. Like a Boss – Lonely Island
24. Midnight City – M83
25. On Top of the World – Imagine Dragons
26. Girls Just Want to Have Fun – Cyndi Lauper
27. Should I Stay or Should I Go – The Clash
28. What’s My Age Again? – Blink- 182
29. Irreplaceable – Beyonce
30. Wetsuit – The Vaccines
31. Happy – Pharrell WIlliams
32. House Party – Sam Hunt

Apple Music Link: TYC – PACKING

Keep an eye out the next two weeks for many more Fresher than fresh tips and advice!

TYC LOVE!