… by Susanne / from Amsterdam / BSc Computer Science and Mathematics / 3rd Year (UG)
Let me first introduce myself; my name is Susanne and I am currently a third-year Computer Science and Maths student at the University. I was born in Germany but have spent all of my youth in Amsterdam, so no, I unfortunately do not speak German. Growing up I never saw myself leaving the comfort of that rainy cold country until I started to look into the options for universities. The thought of not only moving out of my parent’s house but also moving to a completely new country where I knew no one frightened me but also excited me, as it gave me the opportunity to study at such a wonderful university in such a vibrant and cultured city. I ended up choosing to move to Edinburgh, a city which I had heard much about but had never visited myself. My first day here was filled with decorating my new room and exploring the historic sites and landmarks that I had briefly researched before arriving. In this blog post I want to tell you about my experiences of moving somewhere you have never been before and where you don’t know a single soul, hopefully, you will learn something from my story.
The big question is of course, how do you meet people you can become friends with? My approach was to join as many interesting and fun societies as I could, and be as active as I could possibly be. In Welcome Week there was a fair where most of the 200+ societies had a little stand where you could chat with members and find out if joining would be something for you. I managed to convince my flatmates, who I had known less than one day, to come with me to help me feel less intimidated that I knew no one. Within half an hour I joined 5 societies and was on the mailing list of 10 more.
My mum gave me the advice of joining a sports club since apparently, you make very good friends with people that you suffer through a workout with. Having little athletic abilities, I decided that university would be the start of the new me, so logically I joined the one sport which seems most likely to force me to become the new healthy and fit me; athletics.
Now it was just a matter of going to every event and meeting people with similar interests. Easier said than done. At the beginning of the semester, every society ran one event a week, so I had a very busy schedule of running around trying to be on time for all of these. I stuck with my goal of becoming fit and even got voted the most committed member of athletics! In retrospect I must admit, athletics was not the best sport for me; when I competed in my first ever indoor track and field meet, I found out I am the slowest in Scotland at running the 400 metres, a title I wear with pride. However, I did discover I have a passion for powerlifting, which is something I would’ve never found out if I didn’t try out something different at university.
Going back to the issue of finding friends, I joined two societies that were course related: CompSoc and MathSoc. I foolishly thought that these societies would be full of nerds, even though they do the same degree. I couldn’t have been more wrong; not only had these societies amazingly fun nights out but very committed members as well. MathSoc even has academic families so first years get paired with older years to help them feel at home! This definitely contributed to the fact that a large number of my friends study maths.
So what I want you, the reader, to take away from this is that by trying out societies and putting yourself out there, you will find activities you enjoy and make friends for life. Moving to a strange city can be scary, but Edinburgh is a perfect city where I am sure you will feel at home.