Practical advice
After the first few weeks of university, I put up a blog post of 50 things I learnt in my first 4 weeks. A little further in, I've learnt a little more, and it seemed best to compile a list of actual, practical, things I've learnt. Aside from my course.
- Things are cheaper if you book them in advance, particularly trains.
- On that note, invest in a railcard. Always carry it.
- On the other hand, spontaneous adventures might be more expensive, but they're so worth it.
- On that note, have an emergency fund.
- Buy a portable charger, and always keep it fully charged (in case of spontaneous adventures).
- Carry a hard copy of important phone numbers. When your phone dies at 1:21am on a Thursday and you don't know how you're getting home, you'll be glad.
- Always have enough cash on you for a taxi home.
- There's no harm in memorising train and bus times, local taxi's numbers, where you can get cheap shots... you know the sort of thing. Local knowledge is key, whatever city you're in.
- Always carry a pen and paper. Not entirely sure about my justification for this.
- Always carry your ID, and any other cards you need, when you go places. Credit cards, bus cards, that kind of thing. Oyster card, if you're like me.
- Frozen veg is cheaper than fresh veg.
- You can freeze peppers if you cut them up. You don't even need to blanch them.
- You can freeze milk, but you shouldn't.
- If you do work as soon as you can, boring as it is, you can prat about in the evening, guilt free.
- There's a lot to be said for the following: mini toothpaste tubes; small deodorant cans; fold up hair brushes; compacts etc.
- Invest in a camping towel. Best advice I can give anyone. They actually dry things so much better than normal towels, they dry themselves really quick, and they pack up way smaller than normal towels.
- Learn to pack light. Apply above tips to help achieve this, as well as finding out which sets of clothes are most versatile and fold up smallest.
- Take advantage of student offers.
- Have a huge stock of breakfast bars. Same as an emergency fund and a portable charger, they aid with adventures.
- Keep a bottle of water with you wherever you go. Neck it at the end of a night out to reduce a hangover. Also, if you feel grim and unproductive, have a swig and at least feel like you've done something healthy (I know you can't afford and don't want fruit).
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