Go Higher: The best years of your life

Once you have settled in student life is non-stop fun, writes Jacqui Bealing

Your first day at college. A whole new life lies in front of you. New friends and new experiences are waiting for you.

You feel excited, and a bit nervous. Everybody else appears so confident, so cool and casual, but they are probably shaking in their boots as well.

It's only natural. It might be the first time you have been away from home, away from all you know and that is familiar. Don't worry, everybody is in the same boat, they all have the same hopes and fears about what the next few years are going to hold.

There is another thought that is common amongst these people; they are going to enjoy themselves.

Anyone who has experienced freshers' week and lived to tell the tale will confess they had fears just like this.

"It was my first time away from home and I was quite apprehensive," recalls John Bland, now in his final year at Warwick University and studying mathematics and business studies.

"I was quite a shy person and I was worried about fitting in, meeting new people and being totally independent from my parents. I'd been given a set of pots and pans, but I couldn't cook. I remember the first week I only ate take-aways."

Within just a few weeks, however, John had blossomed into a confident, outgoing student who runs a personal development course for other students.

"Going to university was one of the best things that happened to me," he says.

The first day is daunting, but this doesn't mean it doesn't become fun very quickly. Virtually all universities and colleges lay on a spectacular amount of activities for the first week to help you get to know your fellow students.

It's helpful to remember that virtually everyone will be scared about making the first move in getting to know someone else, although there are some standard questions most people fall back on, such as:

What course are you on?

What A-levels did you do?

What results did you get?

If you haven't built up any rapport after this exchange, then you may not be destined to be bosom buddies. In fact, don't get too attached to anyone during your first week. You'll probably spend the next three years trying to avoid them.

Most students spend their first years in halls of residence. This can provide you with a set of instant friends. You are all together in the same place, with the same expectations and all wanting to have fun together.

"We all used to go out together in the first few weeks," remembers Nicholle Lennon, a French Studies student now in her second year at the University of Warwick. "All 24 of us would sit in a line in the bar, then we'd all get up and dance in a big circle." This, however, was unworkable for long, she adds.

"Eventually you find yourself breaking up into small groups."

Halls of residence can often lead to great friendships that can last for many years. They are good places for getting to know people. You may learn a lot about some of these people very quickly - you may be sharing a bathroom with a dozen of them from your corridor!

Freshers are usually a mixed bunch of students who have arrived straight from home and students who took a gap year and have become a little more worldly wise. Some will cope much better than others with those early days, but the idea, essentially, is that you're all there to help each other.

The start of university life is a great adventure, and something you will never forget. When you're old and settled, you'll still think back to those years, remembering the excitement of a new environment, the thrill of new experiences and the fun in studying (honestly, work is much duller than browsing through a library). You'll wish you could have that time again to take part in all those activities you always meant to do, but had found the pool table at the students' union bar too enticing at the time.

Ask any former students if they regret the time they spent at college, and you'll hear that old cliche; "They were the best years of my life."