The prospect of moving cities, moving away from your family, your friends and maybe even your job can be pretty terrifying if you’re about to start your first year at university.

We’ve put together a list of all the dont’s, so you can learn from our mistakes.

1. Buying too much

It’s easy to assume that because your family home has a 12 piece crockery set you, too, will need a 12 piece crockery set. No. You get one cupboard. Try and restrain yourself in the Wilko Basics section and think about what you – one person – will actually need. Chances are, if you do forget something you’ll be able to borrow it from a flatmate anyway.

2. Packing all of your belongings

Yes, it might seem like a great idea to take all of your clothes with you. Who knows what the weather is like in that part of the country?! But maybe you should think carefully about what you would actually wear at home, and leave behind all of the things you rarely touch. Moving to a new city does not mean you’ll be more likely to grab for those old outfits.

3. Adding club promoters on Facebook

You accept all requests. The excitement that you will soon be partying every night of the week gets too much, and you are sure these promoters will get you in to the best events for your freshers experience. Wrong. Chances are you’ll be spammed with ticket links for possibly the worst clubs in town – but you won’t find that out until you get there.

4. Becoming a club promoter

Maybe you had a job throughout A levels and can’t bear the thought of not having extra money to spend on the essentials on ASOS. So, when you receieve that Facebook message telling you how you could earn some extra cash just by selling club tickets, you jump at the chance and receive the warm promoter welcome with open arms when you’re added to their group chat. Little do you know, you’ll never sell a single ticket because the sheer shame of spamming your friends with the purchase link is all too much.

5. Embarrass yourself in your flat group chat

The day you stumble upon people living in the same flat as you is a magical one. You suddenly have so many new friends. You just have to play it cool. Except, chances are, you’ll probably scare off your new roomies by oversharing and being the most active one in the conversation. It’s ok, you’ll have plenty of time to change their minds when you actually eventually meet.

6. Getting scared off by your course group chat

Most unis will have a group chat for your new course. It’s a chance to see what the people you’ll be studying with for the next three years will be like, to give you some familiar faces when you first start going to lectures. But, what no one prepares you for, is the number of people who know everythingabout your chosen subject. Maybe they’ll drop in a quote from Aristotle, or recite a passage from George Orwell. It’s okay if you feel inferior to these people. You’re probably right to. But you definitely won’t be alone.

7. Plan all of the societies you want to join

It’s very easy to get lost in the big wide world of the internet, and chances are you’ll fall into the cracks of your union website, that is the ‘clubs and societies’ page. If you’re genuinely excited about joining in with a club — great! But maybe leave your research until the freshers’ fair, so you can actually make up your mind if you want to be a part of the sky diving society or if you’d rather enjoy your new found hobbyless freedom. It’s up to you though.