Welcome to Leicester!

So congratulations to all you that have successfully gained a place at the University of Leicester! Now that you have had a week to celebrate and mull over the fact you are off to University in just over a months’ time, now is a great time to get thinking about what you will need to take with you. There are a lot of things that are far easier to sort out before you arrive in Leicester if you can to save you that hassle there.

1. Cooking utensils, are something that are obviously vital, however it depends heavily on whether you are in catered or self-catered accommodation. I stayed in GMS catered, meaning breakfast (if you can get up early enough) and dinner were all sorted for me. So in regards to cooking things I only took some glasses, mugs, a pan, a few plates and a bit of cutlery for the likes of lunch, which lasted me fine for the year. Obviously if you are self-catered you will probably need more than just the one pan and a few plates.
2. If you are someone that uses trains to travel a lot, then a 16-25 railcard is a great investment. At around £70 for three years it will save you a lot of cash over your time at university with its third off rail travel.
3. As I am sure you know, Leicester’s student halls are based away from the campus itself meaning you will have to travel in on a day to day basis. If you are in the Oadby student village you have two choices, you can either walk/cycle, which it is about a 30 minute walk each way. Or you can invest in a bus pass. I personal recommend the bus pass, most people get one which make it very social. Plus it enables you travel anywhere within Leicester, so popping to town is easy to do.
4. I think it’s a good idea to bring enough cash for the first few days, that way you will avoid all the queues of people trying to get to the cash points in Uni for the first few days.

So there are a few things to think about over the next few weeks, I’ll write again soon about fresher’s week.