Belonging at Leeds
For most fresher’s, their first experience of University isn’t a lecture theatre, a seminar, or a library. It’s being thrown into a flat in the middle of a city they don’t yet know, with people that could become their best friends or their worst nightmare.
This is - naturally - an unnerving and difficult time for many.
I must admit that the residents of Block B at Montague Burton back in 2016 (one of whom, if you hadn’t guessed, was me) weren’t the most sociable block of students in the world. Amongst my friends, knowing somebody outside the block was like knowing a celebrity.
Despite this, it was partly in Monty B that I found where I belonged.
“Keep your door open as you move in!” or “Bake some cakes and put them on the kitchen table!” are the classic moving day tips for making friends. I certainly don’t mean to say that a slice of cake can’t go a long way*… but I can assure you that being myself, doing what felt the most natural, and spending some time making my bedroom feel like home was so important in making me feel like I belonged here at Leeds.
It’s also a cliche, and it certainly doesn’t suit everyone (and that’s ok!), but joining clubs and societies settled me in to life at Leeds ridiculously quickly. It can be hard only seeing fellow students in the classroom. People arrive at Leeds at all stages of their academic career, and it can be daunting surrounded by students who attend a top University in the country… but you’re one of them too!
I gave myself the downtime from intense academic conversation by joining my subject’s society, but also tried out a bunch of new things in both of my years so far at Leeds. It helps you humanise those around you, and helps you realise how exciting, rather than daunting, it can be to be a part of 36,000 students.
All the best for this new adventure,
Your Welfare Officer, Matt.
* (shout out to my flatmate Sophie’s nanna for her infrequent but delightful flapjack deliveries)
