Freshers Countdown… 4 Weeks to go!

Hey Freshers!
Welcome to the Furness freshers’ blog. In the next couple of weeks leading up to Welcome Week, here is where you can find the information you need to prepare for student life at Lancaster. We will be sharing tips on decorating, on settling into uni life, and giving you guides on both Lancaster and the University so that you will hopefully feel more at ease come Moving In Day! Today, let’s talk decorating!

Decorating your new room at university is such a fun thing to do to really personalise your space and make it your own, as is super important to do when you’re moving into this new and strange place. In Furness, every bedroom is provided with a desk, shelving, drawers, a wardrobe, a bin and a pinboard, and then either a sink in the bedroom or an ensuite toilet, depending on which accommodation you opted for. This means that there is plenty of ways to add originality to your new bedroom! I had the most fun with this because it really felt like the first step to becoming my own person and having my own space. The best advice I can give is to make it super homely, and so that you feel like you always have a piece of your home with you while you are away. This, obviously, can be done in so many ways. One way did this was using the same little air freshener in my room as we use at home, just to have a familiar smell. Here are some other ways that I made my uni room my own…

Pictures and posters! My pinboard in my room was covered with pictures of my friends and family, just as a reminder of home, whereas my flatmates had posters of their favourite TV shows. Little things like this really give you the opportunity to show your personality through your decoration. And, a lot of the time it is a great way to bond with your flatmates as they can act as a great icebreaker!

Fairy lights! These are another fab way to make your room feel very cosy, especially after those long days of lectures when all you really want to do is snuggle down with a cup of tea and watch Netflix and let the rest of the world go on without you for a little while. And, fairy lights are a great alternative to candles, which unfortunately you can’t have in your uni room for fire safety reasons – just make sure that you follow college rules and only use battery pack fairy lights (also for safety reasons)!

A blanket. Going back to the whole homely idea – blankets or throws are the easiest way to make your bedroom super cosy, especially in the winter time!

A plant. As if you don’t already need more responsibility going to uni… Just kidding (sort of)! A plant is a really nice way to bring some life into your room. You could even name it too if you’re missing your pets while you’re away!

Here is an example of how you could decorate your room:

And, to round it off here’s a list of things that you might like to pack with you to make things a little bit easier when you get to uni:
– Doorstop – to keep your door open, obviously. This is something I would consider essential, and open door policy really helped me and my flat bond in the first couple of weeks at uni! (If you forget, you can always use a tea towel and that works just as well)
– Lamp – but no halogen bulbs! (And only battery pack fairy lights, and NO candles)
– Washing basket – this makes things MUCH easier when you have to go down to the laundry
– Extension lead – for all those devices!
– Washing rack
– This one is optional, but one I definitely found useful in standard accommodation, some cheap plastic drawers for the bottom of my wardrobe and a plastic box just for shoe storage!

I think that’s it for now… but don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions! Really looking forward to meeting you all soon!