Things to bring to University...that you might not think of

Hey guys I've had this post drafted for a while but as everyone is getting their results today I figured now is the right time to put it up! Hope everyone got into the uni they wanted, and if not don't worry about it. I did deferred entry and took a gap year - which gives you plenty of time to earn money in preparation for starting uni next September :)

Anyway here are some things which might not feature on the usual 'university packing lists' which I recommend bringing. 

• pasta
• rice
• chopped tomatoes
• sauce (pesto/tomato/curry)
• biscuits
• tea bags

Chances are on your first day of uni you'll be stressed from moving in and won't want to do the big first food shop that day. I really recommend visiting Costco if you can and buying multipacks of rice and pasta (you can get giant plastic jugs of rice, mine lasted me the whole first year), and maybe tinned chopped tomatoes and pesto too. 

These multipacks will save you money throughout the year and mean you have a meal to make your first night without going shopping. However if your parents are around, it is worthwhile to try and do the first food shop with them (so they can pay muahaha) as this can be expensive and your loan might not have come in yet. Also tea bags and biscuits are good ice breakers when getting to know new flatmates/hall mates. A cup of tea and a hob knob goes a long way. 

• door stop
• posters
• printer
• washing tabs/colour catchers
• flash spray bleach/dettol

If your room at home is covered in posters (or like me, your uni room was modelled on a Swedish women's prison and had gross breezeblock walls that needed to be covered), definitely bring posters, photos and blu tack to put on the walls. These will make your room more homey and can be a point of conversation. If you go to Tesco photo online and sign up they will give you 60 free prints, and so will a lot of other companies so look out for offers like these to get some free photos for your uni room walls.

I think a lot of people will warn against taking a printer to uni, but honestly I found mine very useful. You don't need an expensive one and unless your course demands pictures in your work you will be mainly printing in black and white. However I do recommend keeping it on the down low that you have a printer or people will constantly ask you to print things for them (although I exchanged printing things for doritos, so you can make this work for you). Having a printer also saves running round campus looking for a computer cluster when you have a deadline. 

A doorstop is useful during freshers as most student room doors are fire safety ones which shut automatically, and it looks more friendly to have your door open as new flatmates move in. Washing powder/liquid tabs are useful to get beforehand as they can get expensive. Also I recommend having some kind of bathroom/surface cleaning product if you have a sink in your room (like I did) or an en suite. I mainly recommend this as I dye my hair a lot and spray bleach was useful to get blue stains out the sink/off the desk. 

I hope this was useful to any potential freshers, please feel free to email me (liquoricepearls@gmail.com) or ask me a question on my tumblr HERE if you have any questions about starting uni. xx