University essentials

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Liz from Aberdeenshire is about to take a step into a wider world. But what should she pack into her satchel before she does?

I’m heading off to University in three months’ time and I know I’ll need to start getting some stuff together reasonably soon and I have no idea what I need to get.

Answer me this: what is the one VERY important, cannot-attend-University-without item that I should get my hands on before I move? Thanks.

When we trotted off the Ira Glass Academy For Advanced Podcasting, we made sure we were equipped with such dull-but-useful items as extension leads, kettle, our own bedding, capsule collection of kitchen knives, vitamin pills, mugs, teapot, rudimentary first aid kit, bottle-opener, spare bottle-opener, respectable dressing gown for early-morning fire alarms, fourteen dictionaries, photo montage, camera, crumpets, toy moose’s head, washing powder, fairy lights, flashing neon clock and a poster for a film that was halfway between populist and obscure. But what was the one item that YOU insisted upon? Tell Liz in the comments, do.

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16 Responses to “University essentials”

  1. Ashfae's avatar Ashfae Says:

    A security blanket!

  2. Matt's avatar Matt Says:

    A-levels

  3. Megan's avatar Megan Says:

    Oh yeah, and my George Foreman grill was brilliant, as we were too tight to buy a toaster, and actually quite liked stripy toast.

  4. Chris's avatar Chris Says:

    A few things for real. A washing basket is essential to hide all your dirty clothes since you wont have room to just leave them lying about. Also, if you have to do your washing at your halls then keep all the change you can. 20 pence and 50 pence pieces were always in short supply when I was living in halls 4 years ago.

  5. George Walters's avatar George Walters Says:

    Kettle and Toaster.

    You can not eat condoms,
    unfortunately

  6. Ryan's avatar Ryan Says:

    An Apple laptop computer 😀

  7. Holly's avatar Holly Says:

    Corkscrew and tin opener. Don’t let on that you’ve got them though or they get borrowed and never returned. Open your bottles and tins using stealth.

  8. Sarah's avatar Sarah Says:

    A coffee maker and packets of pro plus

  9. LAND's avatar LAND Says:

    I just graduated, and I found that the one thing I couldn’t live without were the furnishings/decorations I brought from home and my kettle. Regardless of who you are and what you’re studying, you’ll definitely want to bring posters, photos, lighting (fairy lights/lava lamps/plain old desk lamps), etc. – anything that can make your room feel less like a tomb – and lovely caffeinated beverages so you feel less like a corpse.

  10. Eimear's avatar Eimear Says:

    A sense of humour and ability to pretend you’re having fun even when you’re not/actually quite scared.

    In more practical terms, my toasted sandwich maker made me v popular with friends and was an excellent alternative to pasta.

  11. Megan's avatar Megan Says:

    And painkillers, to help recover from the alcohol.
    Also, washing powder. So you don’t have to ring your mum after the first night at uni and ask her to bring you some, because you may have possibly thrown up over yourself…

    Not that that ever happened to me…

  12. Jonny's avatar Jonny Says:

    I just finished uni! Two things you won’t want to do without; ambient lighting and a laptop… and good knowledge of your local Primark for when you can’t be bothered to wash your underwear.

    Enjoy yourself!

  13. MisterHathaway's avatar MisterHathaway Says:

    I’d say decent carrier bags are essential. You know, the heavy duty plastic ones with the wooden handles.

    Firstly, your supermarket of choice will be miles away, and those tins and pot noodles get heavy after a while in those crappy bags you get now. And secondly, they also double up as laundry bags. Unless student digs as vastly improved in the last 15 years, you’re going to have to lug your washing quite a distance to the laundrette.

  14. Msmagic's avatar Msmagic Says:

    I’d suggest stuff to decorate your room cause halls are UGLY!

  15. Msmagic's avatar Msmagic Says:

    Nag, they supply condoms at uni for free! My desk was covered in them when I moved into halls!

  16. Davey's avatar Davey Says:

    Condoms and alcohol. All the rest is just extras.

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