Students' and Parents' Experiences
The First Weeks
It is often said that University days are those during which you make the best friends of your life. On my first day In Sheffield I wouldn´t have believed this in a million years, but now I wholly agree. I had never really thought about just how big a step I was taking until me, my family and a car full of my belongings pulled up in front of Tapton Hall of Residence on my first day. Being led to my room by students assigned to assist me I glanced into a few bedrooms, symmetrical in their emptiness, all of the way down the corridor. Would I really be able to live here for a year? I asked myself. My parents helped me settle in and with things such as registration forms and then after, some goodbye tears, left. I paused for a minute in my room, my new home.
No sooner had my parents gone than there was a knock on my door. Four of the girls from my corridor had come to introduce themselves. They all seemed very friendly and I joined them in knocking on the remaining doors of our corridor to meet our new neighbours. We agreed to go out on our first night to `Pop Tarts´ at the Student Union and everyone let their hair down and really got to know one another. Before the end of the weekend my view had transformed. It felt like I´d known these people for ages. By Sunday people had begun to unpack and each room had its own colourful, homely and individual character. Intro Week was filled with union events and countless opportunities to meet people. The union nights ease you into the Sheffield nightlife with a different theme of music almost every night. There was also a sports fair where you had the opportunity to join almost any team you could think of, even Ultimate Frisbee! I myself was interested in the athletics. Events like this made me feel really part of it. In the week following was the Freshers´ Fair! This was unsurprisingly busy, but there were bargains aplenty from HMV goodie bags to meal and cinema vouchers. In the second week lectures also began. I made yet more friends from different halls, which gave me the opportunity to go up and visit them and check out the other halls´ social life. By this time I had no idea what I was worrying about when I first arrived in Sheffield. Everyone was so friendly and in the exact same situation as me. We were eased in gently at first and clearly explained what was expected of us. I quickly got settled into my new routine. I felt that from the first week on I made the right choice with Sheffield because even though it is a big city, it is not an intimidating one and you feel safe.
Nicola Snape
English Language & Linguistics
First Year