My experience settling in at Falmouth

This article was written by Marine & Natural History Photography BA(Hons) student Toby.

We are quickly approaching the start of a new year at Falmouth University, meaning that thousands of new students will be enrolling into classes and getting settled into accommodation very soon. This can be a very big change and for most, will cause a lot of nerves. I’m going to share my experience of settling into uni here, to help calm any nerves and answer questions you may have about settling in.

Before I moved to university, I posted onto the “Falmouth Applicants and Offer Holders” Facebook Page (now the Discord server!), simply saying my course and where I will be living. I quickly got a response and was added to a group chat of people also starting my course this year. This helped with my nerves so greatly and I cannot recommend doing this enough, as it gave me a sense of comfort that I already knew the people who I will be working with for the next few years.

When it came to move-in day in September, I was the first of my flat in the Glasney Student Village accommodation to move in. I met up with some of the people in the course group chat and they quickly became my closest friends. While I was out, I left a note on my door to say hello to anyone who moved in while I was gone. This was helpful as I found myself exploring campus quite a lot in the first week and was not always around to greet my flatmates. Leaving a note on your door about yourself can also be helpful if you don’t feel up to greeting your flat just yet too, as the process of settling in can be overwhelming for some.

In the week following your accommodation move-in day, you may have some timetabled enrolment lectures to go to. Around this, it is well worth checking out the Freshers' Week activities that will be posted about on social media and The SU website. Some of the activities that happened during my Freshers' Week were the Kona Beach Party, the Falmouth Summer Ball, Alpaca petting etc. If you haven’t clicked with your flat or course mates yet, these can be great events to invite them along to, or to meet new people.

One event you really can’t miss during Freshers' Week is the Freshers' Fayre. This is where you can find out about all the societies and clubs here. There are hundreds of stalls set up around campus that will tell you all about their societies and give you a link to their group chats / social media pages. As well as these stalls, many local businesses also have stalls set up giving out coupons, pizza, free gifts etc.